How To Become A Completion Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a completion engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Completion engineers usually work in the oil and gas industries. They design and develop wells in order to maximize the production process. Completion engineers are usually involved with every aspect of extraction from design to completion. They choose optimal sites for wells, design the well layout and material, and supervise the drilling process. Completion engineers also test wells to make sure that they comply with safety standards and won't cause environmental damage. Completion engineers need to be able to work with computer technologies to model designs, have extensive knowledge of oil and gas extraction, and be able to communicate vital information to other workers.

Almost all completion engineers have a bachelor's or even a master's degree in engineering. They also need several years of practical experience working as engineers in the petroleum industry before taking on this position.

The energy industry is a growing, rapid industry. The demand for completion engineers is growing, and successful engineers earn an average salary of $147,803 a year.

ScoreCompletion EngineerUS Average

Salary

9.1

Avg. Salary $156,228

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.0

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.29%

Asian 17.12%

Black or African American 4.23%

Hispanic or Latino 10.57%

Unknown 4.72%

White 63.07%

Gender

female 8.62%

male 91.38%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

8.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a completion engineer

Explore completion engineer education requirements

Most common completion engineer degrees

Bachelor's

77.3 %

Master's

10.6 %

Associate

5.3 %

Start to develop specific completion engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Rig	14.15%
AFE	12.10%
Cost Estimates	8.29%
Completion Operations	5.44%
Engineering Support	4.67%

Complete relevant completion engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New completion engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a completion engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real completion engineer resumes.

Research completion engineer duties and responsibilities

Lead a group of 9 engineers responsible for technology development for handling electronic packages (computer CPU) during HVM.
Complete CO2, N2 and C1 base gas injection study by thermal simulation during wind-down phase SAGD process.
Perform detailed analysis of compression project install in area of responsibility; identify incremental volumes and subsequently recommend for reserves booking
Re-Define prior system network synchronization and timing distribution architecture, and work with hardware & software design engineers to implement.

Get completion engineer experience

Generally, it takes 6-8 years to become a completion engineer. The most common roles before becoming a completion engineer include field engineer, drilling engineer team lead and internship.

Prepare your completion engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your completion engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a completion engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable completion engineer resume templates

Build a professional completion engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your completion engineer resume.