Principal Subsea Engineer

Job Overview:

The Principal Subsea Engineering is responsible for interpreting internal or external business issues and recommending best practices. They will be tasked with solving complex pipeline-related problems and will work independently with minimal guidance. The Principal Subsea Engineer may be responsible for leading functional teams or projects and is regarded as a specialist in the field of pipeline advanced analysis related engineering. As such, they must have in-depth expertise in pipeline FEA and advanced analysis engineering as well as broad knowledge of the Subsea engineering discipline within the engineering function.

Job Responsibility:

Technical Leadership & Engineering

• Act as a subject matter expert in pipeline advanced engineering.
• Solve complex engineering challenges independently and recommend best practices.
• Develop, review, and approve engineering philosophies, specifications, design reports, procedures, and calculations.
• Ensure engineering integrity, quality, and compliance with project and contractual requirements.
• Lead technical reviews, interdisciplinary checks, and design verification activities.

Project Execution & Coordination

• Understand project scope, schedules, specifications, and deliverables.
• Identify risks, technical issues, and scope changes early, raising change notices and variation orders where required.
• Coordinate closely with engineering disciplines, project management, fabrication, marine, planning, and procurement teams.
• Participate in project kick-off meetings, design reviews, vendor meetings, and offshore surveys.

Procurement & Vendor Management

• Support procurement activities by preparing requisitions and evaluating technical bids.
• Review and approve vendor and subcontractor documentation.
• Ensure purchased equipment and services meet project specifications and customer requirements.
• Monitor vendor deliverables and closeout documentation.

Construction & Fabrication Support

• Provide technical support during fabrication and installation.
• Respond to fabrication queries and support defect assessment and rectification activities.
• Review construction sequences and project schedules to ensure engineering alignment.

Quality, Compliance & Customer Interface

• Ensure compliance with company procedures, industry standards, and customer specifications.
• Participate in technical quality audits and certification reviews.
• Interface with customers, certifying authorities, auditors, and third parties to resolve technical issues.
• Maintain documentation of significant technical decisions and communications.

Planning, Reporting & Cost Control

• Prepare engineering estimates, work-hour forecasts, and bid proposal inputs.
• Monitor engineering progress, productivity, and costs.
• Keep management informed of technical, budget, schedule, and resource concerns.

People Development & Knowledge Management

• Mentor and supervise junior engineers.
• Provide technical training and guidance on procedures, software, calculations, and industry standards.
• Capture lessons learned and contribute to organizational knowledge databases.
• Support development of company standards, procedures, software tools, and industry initiatives (e.g., API committees).
• Contribute to employee performance feedback and professional development activities.

Assist the Discipline manager in interviewing job applicants.

• Prepare, review, and (as Lead Engineer) approve the following for pipelines and their components:
• Material specifications and datasheets.
• Fabrication specifications.
• Installation specifications.
• Pipeline advanced FEA, design and installation analyses.
• Material takeoffs.
• Pipeline reports and installation manuals.

Perform, review, and (as Lead Engineer) approve the following designs, analyses, and evaluations for pipelines and their components:

• Wall thickness designs.
• On-bottom stability analyses.
• Pipeline cathodic protection designs.
• Free-span analyses.
• Pipeline expansion and rigid riser stress analyses using finite element analysis (FEA) tools.
• Route selection designs.
• Bottom roughness evaluations.
• Crossing support designs.
• Dropped object protection structure designs.
• Clamp designs.
• Subsea structure designs.
• Shore approach designs.
• Onshore pipeline designs.
• Pipeline local and global buckling mitigation designs.
• Pipeline seismic analyses.
• Installation analyses.
• Pipeline Lateral Buckling and Walking Analysis

When acting as Lead Engineer, in addition:

• Act as project-based Discipline point of contact in communications and meetings with Customer counterparts.
• Ensure substantive communications are documented.
• Prepare bids and project Discipline engineering budget and execution plans, updating as required.
• Identify project staff needs based on knowledge of individual engineers' skill sets and provide requests to the Discipline manager.
• Plan, organize, and assign tasks, responsibilities, and workhour budgets to the discipline team, and verify tasks are completed within budgets.
• Plan Discipline Level 4 detail deliverable schedule / register compliant with the overall execution plan.
• Prepare working forecasts identifying change management plans, corrective action, and real schedule.
• Provide Discipline inputs for actual, planning, and forecasting progress reports including associated productivity.
• Alert the project team of any deviation from the scope or a need to change the order.
• Monitor KPI measurement results and take corrective action as necessary to improve Discipline performance, including performance at interfaces with others.
• Coordinate with other Discipline Lead Engineers and Designers to ensure timely receipt of necessary design inputs.
• Review and approve requisitions, technical quotation evaluations and queries, compiled bid tabulations and recommendations, and purchase requisitions; and coordinate with Procurement to expedite vendor documents as required.
• Lead the Discipline team during project audits (internal, Customer, and third-party technical audits) and Design Reviews.
• Review comments from Customers & other agencies on documents and drawings produced by the team and resolve and give guidance on their updates and incorporation.
• Assist the Discipline manager in the preparation of quarterly forecasts and manpower planning Anticipate project engineering needs and plan accordingly.
• Coordinate with vendor for discipline-managed / procured items.
• Assist the Discipline manager and Project Engineering Manager or Project Manager in the Performance Evaluation of project team members.