Sustaining Engineering Lead

The Sustaining Engineering Lead is responsible for maintaining and improving the performance, reliability, and manufacturability of released HULK products. This role leads sustaining engineering projects from initiation through completion, manages engineering changes, and provides technical support to manufacturing and field operations. The position serves as the engineering project owner, utilizing structured tools and formal change control processes to deliver consistent, production-ready solutions. This role reports to the Engineering Manager and may provide leadership and direction to a team of engineers, designers, or technicians.

Responsibilities

•  Own and execute sustaining engineering projects end-to-end, from problem definition through implementation and validation.
• Manage scope, schedule, risk, and technical decisions across multiple concurrent projects.
• Serve as the single-point engineering owner for sustaining initiatives supporting manufacturing, field reliability, cost reduction, and supplier changes.
• Lead, manage, and mentor sustaining engineers, designers, and/or technicians.
• Plan, track, and report sustaining work using JIRA.
• Drive engineering change execution, including ECRs, BOM accuracy, revision control, and disposition planning.
• Maintain configuration control across assemblies and components.
• Provide engineering support to manufacturing, quality, suppliers, and field operations.
• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective actions for production and field issues.
• Review technical work for quality, completeness, and process compliance.

Qualifications

•  Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or related field.
• 15+ years of engineering experience in oil & gas downhole tools.
• 5+ years in sustaining, production, or operations-focused engineering roles.
• 3+ years of people leadership experience or experience managing direct reports.
• Highly organized, execution driven, with strong respect for balancing timelines and sound engineering fundamentals.
• Expertise in project management, reliability engineering, and root-cause analysis.
• Strong mechanical design background in oil & gas downhole tools.
• Experience developing test setups to validate product performance.
• Proficiency in SolidWorks, SolidWorks PDM, JIRA, SAP/NetSuite, and Microsoft Office.
• Hands-on capability in a test lab and/or manufacturing environment.
• Solid understanding of materials, manufacturing processes, and assembly methods.
• Strong communication skills and independent decision-making ability.
• Travel less than 10%, as needed for testing or field deployment.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

Physical Demands: This job is a mostly sedentary role; however, moderate physical activity is occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, reach, carry, pull, lift, or otherwise move objects up to 50 pounds.  Employees are required to have specific vision abilities which include close and distant vision, peripheral vision, color vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.  Employees are also required to talk and listen. 

Work Environment: This job operates in a professional office/field/shop environment.  The noise level is moderate and in a well-lit area.  This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, printers, photocopiers, and filing cabinets.