How to hire a petroleum engineer

How to hire a petroleum engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step petroleum engineer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a petroleum engineer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new petroleum engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a petroleum engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The petroleum engineer hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a petroleum engineer to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a petroleum engineer that fits the bill.

   This list shows salaries for various types of petroleum engineers.

   Type of Petroleum Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Petroleum Engineer	Petroleum engineers design and develop methods for extracting oil and gas from deposits below the Earth’s surface. Petroleum engineers also find new ways to extract oil and gas from older wells.	$31-72
   Gas Analyst	A gas analyst is faced with different responsibilities in the workplace. They are required to manage internal physical transactions with the gas management system... Show more	$24-48
   Drilling Fluids Engineer	Together with a drilling rig engineer, a drilling fluids engineer helps with the pumping of fluids, testing liquids for unwanted particles. They also are involved in mixing fluids needed to drill oil or gas... Show more	$25-74

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Reservoir Engineering
   • Eclipse
   • Production Engineering
   • Business Development
   • Petrel
   • AFE
   • Economic Analysis
   • Technical Support
   • Technical Reports
   • BLM
   • Aries
   • Workovers
   • Production Operations
   • Completion Operations

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage development and production on several large, fast-track projects including waterfloods, a steamflood, and CO2 EOR.
   • Develop and manage a Spotfire production dashboard for cross-divisional consumption and reporting.
   • Design and approve SCADA system for offshore platforms.
   • Supervise well stimulation procedures to improve CO2 injector wells.
   • Improve the operation of a facility's HVAC system.
   • Direct the improvements and repairs need for proper operation of the HVAC system.

   More petroleum engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your petroleum engineer job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A petroleum engineer salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, petroleum engineers' average salary in arkansas is 56% less than in nevada.
   • Seniority. Entry-level petroleum engineers earn 57% less than senior-level petroleum engineers.
   • Certifications. A petroleum engineer with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a petroleum engineer's salary.

   Average petroleum engineer salary

   $99,505yearly

   $47.84 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level petroleum engineer salary

   $65,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 23, 2025

   Average petroleum engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Nevada	$127,531	$61
   2	Alaska	$109,220	$53
   3	California	$107,571	$52
   4	Texas	$105,129	$51
   5	Connecticut	$101,628	$49
   6	Massachusetts	$101,003	$49
   7	Oklahoma	$90,781	$44
   8	Oregon	$89,469	$43
   9	Colorado	$85,713	$41
   10	Louisiana	$84,859	$41
   11	New Mexico	$63,299	$30
   12	West Virginia	$62,741	$30

   Average petroleum engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Berry Petroleum Company	$165,887	$79.75
   2	Shell Trading	$161,074	$77.44
   3	Exxon Mobil	$144,609	$69.52
   4	Hess	$142,924	$68.71
   5	Chevron	$142,556	$68.54
   6	BP America Inc	$136,819	$65.78	1
   7	Marathon Oil	$136,603	$65.67
   8	Sanchez Oil & Gas	$136,467	$65.61
   9	Cimarex Energy Co.	$135,319	$65.06
   10	Occidental Petroleum	$129,952	$62.48	8
   11	Aera Energy	$129,783	$62.40
   12	Mewbourne Oil Co	$128,162	$61.62	2
   13	Morgan Stanley	$125,093	$60.14
   14	Cudd Energy Services	$124,935	$60.06	1
   15	Baker Hughes	$120,324	$57.85	12
   16	Halliburton	$120,230	$57.80
   17	Aramco Services Company	$115,779	$55.66
   18	Populus Group	$112,149	$53.92
   19	The Sinclair Companies	$112,099	$53.89
   20	EnerVest	$110,913	$53.32

4. Writing a petroleum engineer job description

   A petroleum engineer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a petroleum engineer job description:

   Petroleum engineer job description example

   
   **Petroleum Engineer**
   
   **Who We Are**
   
   At WSP, we are driven by inspiring future-ready pioneers to innovate. We're looking to grow our teams with people who are ready to collaborate in building communities and expanding our skylines. To do this, we hire candidates of all experiences, skillsets, backgrounds and walks of life. We actively foster a work environment and culture where inclusion and diversity is part of our fundamental structure. This is delivered behaviorally, through our policies, trainings, local partnerships with professional diverse organizations, internal networks and most importantly with the support and sponsorship of our leaders who help drive our commitment to an inclusive, diverse, welcoming and equitable work environment. Anything is within our reach and yours as a WSP employee. Come join us and help shape the future!
   
   WSP is currently initiating a search for a **Petroleum Engineer** for our **Houston, TX or Baton Rouge, LA** offices. Be involved in projects with our **Underground Storage Team** in WSP's **Energy** group and work for a growing organization that meets our client's energy storage needs through engineering, project management and execution as part of our **Regulatory Engineering and Geologic Services (REGS)** team.
   
   Duties and Responsibilities:
   
   + The Regulatory Engineering & Geological Services Team supports clients with subsurface geological and engineering concerns for site selection, feasibility, permitting, and petitioning of underground injection control wells for nonhazardous/hazardous waste injection and carbon sequestration. The team also interacts regularly with state and federal regulatory agencies on behalf of our clients.
   
   + Support industrial waste disposal and carbon sequestration projects. Project sites are located across the U.S.
   
   + Comfortable working with subsurface uncertainty.
   
   + Develop and review regulatory documentation developed for various underground injection control wells.
   
   + Provide expertise in a broad range of petroleum engineering activities related to underground storage and other porous media applications, including but not limited to reservoir, drilling and completions.
   
   + Directly perform engineering evaluations and analyses such as volumetrics, reservoir characterization, and deliverability and flow calculations in a variety of depositional scenarios for commodities such as natural gas, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and disposal liquids.
   
   + Interface between Regulatory Geological Services Team and Drilling, Mechanical Integrity Testing, and Workover Groups.
   
   + Participate in feasibility studies, supports drilling activities (remotely), supports regulatory compliance issues, and other duties as assigned.
   
   + Act as primary contact with client and regulating agency on small and medium sized projects.
   
   + Complete high-quality deliverables on-time within project scope-of-work and budgeted hours.
   
   + Work with multidisciplinary team of geologists, engineers, CAD specialists, and administrative assistants to deliver successful projects
   
   + Other duties as assigned.
   
   Talent is the essence of meeting our client's objectives, goals and challenges. If this sounds like a fit for you, we'd love to have that first discussion of you joining our team.
   
   Minimum Qualifications
   
   + Bachelor of Science in Engineering.
   
   + 3+ years of experience working as petroleum reservoir or drilling engineer.
   
   + 3+ years of experience with regular and sustained client and subcontractor engagement.
   
   + Experienced with technical writing and developing large technical documents.
   
   + Experienced with well design, well construction, downhole monitoring instrumentation, and drilling operations.
   
   + Willingness to travel to project sites, client and regulator offices, industry conferences, etc. Travel expected to be< 10%.
   
   + Exercise responsible and ethical decision-making regarding company funds, resources and conduct and adhere to WSP's Code of Conduct and related policies and procedures.
   
   + Proven track record of upholding workplace safety and ability to abide by WSP's health, safety and drug/alcohol and harassment policies.
   
   + Exercise responsible and ethical decision-making regarding company funds, resources and conduct and adhere to WSP's Code of Conduct and related policies and procedures (DO NOT DELETE THIS REQUIREMENT)
   
   + Proven track record of upholding workplace safety and ability to abide by WSP's health, safety and drug/alcohol and harassment policies (DO NOT DELETE THIS REQUIREMENT)
   
   + This role is subject to a client mandated drug/alcohol testing policy. As such, employee may be subject to random drug/alcohol tests. A copy of the client mandated drug/alcohol testing policy will be provided during employee onboarding and is available upon applicant request. " should be included as a basic qualification.
   
   + Must successfully complete and pass WSP's Motor Vehicle screening.
   
   Preferred Qualifications:
   
   + Drilling experience for deep well injection and/or petroleum exploration/development.
   
   + Familiarity or experience with well testing and reservoir modeling.
   
   + Wastewater injection well experience, Class I programs, EOR with either water floods or carbon dioxide, or others.
   
   + Permitting experience in Underground Injection Control (UIC) experience.
   
   + Project management experience and training with multidisciplinary teams and multiple external stakeholders.
   
   + Professional Engineering (petroleum) license or EIT in Texas and/or Louisiana with availability to apply by comity to other states as needed.
   
   + PMP certification a plus.
   
   \#LI-MC1
   
   **Additional Requirements**
   
   + To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential job duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.
   
   **Additional Details**
   
   + **Travel Required:** 25%
   
   + **Job Status:** Regular
   
   + **Employee Type:** Full
   
   + **Primary Location:** HOUSTON - PARK ROW
   
   + **All locations:** US-LA-Baton Rouge, US-TX-Houston
   
   **About WSP**
   
   WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 12,000 employees in over 200 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper. www.wsp.com
   
   WSP provides a flexible, agile and hybrid workplace model while meeting client needs. Employees are also afforded a comprehensive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, and retirement savings focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee's career.
   
   At WSP, we want to give our employees the challenges they seek to grow their careers and knowledge base. Your daily contributions to your team will be essential in meeting client objectives, goals and challenges. Are you ready to get started?
   
   WSP USA (and all of its U.S. companies) is an Equal Opportunity Employer Race/Age/Color/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Disability or Protected Veteran Status.
   
   The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find petroleum engineers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any petroleum engineers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level petroleum engineers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your petroleum engineer job on Zippia to find and recruit petroleum engineer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit petroleum engineers, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new petroleum engineer

   Once you've selected the best petroleum engineer candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new petroleum engineer first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a petroleum engineer?