Technical Product Manager – Robotics Solutions

About the role

The Technical Product Manager – Robotics Solutions defines the product strategy, operational workflows, and technical requirements for robotic drilling solutions. This role bridges drilling operations, engineering, customers, and technology partners, translating business and operational objectives into actionable engineering requirements. The position requires strong technical leadership, project management, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to integrate robotic systems into the drilling fleet while focusing on customer value and operational performance. Reports to the Director of Controls & Automation.

Responsibilities

• Product Strategy & Roadmap
  • Develop and maintain the product roadmap for robotic drilling solutions.
  • Identify opportunities to improve safety, operational efficiency, drilling performance, and automation capability.
  • Develop business cases supporting new automation products and features.
  • Prioritize features and releases based on customer needs, operational value, business objectives, and engineering capacity.
  • Evaluate industry trends, emerging technologies, and competitive automation solutions to inform long-term strategy.
• Operational Workflow Development
  • Develop automated workflows for drilling connections, tripping operations, pipe handling, tubular handling, and other repetitive drilling activities.
  • Define interactions among operators, robotic systems, drilling equipment, and control systems throughout each workflow.
  • Create operational playbooks, process maps, workflow diagrams, and use cases that define expected system behavior.
  • Define operational acceptance criteria and product success metrics.
  • Validate workflows with drilling personnel, customers, technical services, and subject matter experts.
• Solution Development & Equipment Gap Analysis
  • Evaluate existing drilling equipment and processes for automation suitability.
  • Identify mechanical, electrical, controls, instrumentation, communications, software, operational, and safety limitations that prevent automated operation.
  • Develop conceptual solutions to eliminate identified gaps.
  • Recommend equipment modifications, instrumentation upgrades, sensing technologies, tooling, or process improvements to support robotic automation.
  • Develop high-level solution concepts prior to engineering implementation.
  • Support development of retrofit strategies for existing drilling equipment.
• Technology Evaluation & Vendor Management
  • Identify and evaluate commercially available robotics, automation, sensing, vision, tooling, and industrial control technologies.
  • Work with robotics suppliers, OEMs, system integrators, and technology vendors to evaluate alternatives.
  • Develop high-level technical requirements for vendor-supplied equipment.
  • Coordinate technology demonstrations, proof-of-concept evaluations, and vendor assessments.
  • Support vendor selection and technology sourcing activities.
  • Build strong technical relationships with strategic technology partners.
• Product Requirements Development
  • Translate operational workflows into complete engineering requirements.
  • Develop Product Requirement Documents (PRDs), functional specifications, workflow diagrams, user stories, acceptance criteria, and feature definitions.
  • Define HMI concepts and operator interaction requirements.
  • Maintain and prioritize the product backlog.
  • Ensure engineering teams have a continuous pipeline of complete, well-defined, and actionable requirements.
• Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Serve as the primary interface among Operations, Product Management, Controls Engineering, Software Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Technical Services, HSE, customers, and equipment vendors.
  • Coordinate design workshops, requirement reviews, backlog refinement sessions, and project planning activities.
  • Maintain alignment between operational requirements and engineering implementation.
  • Identify project risks, resolve requirement ambiguities, and facilitate technical decision-making across stakeholders.
  • Support engineering teams throughout the development lifecycle by providing product clarification and operational guidance.
• Product Validation & Commercialization
  • Support Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), pilot deployments, and field trials.
  • Validate engineering solutions against operational requirements and product objectives.
  • Capture customer and field feedback to drive continuous product improvement.
  • Analyze operational performance data and recommend product enhancements.
  • Support commercialization activities including customer demonstrations, training materials, operational documentation, marketing support, and product launches.

Requirements

• Ability to independently manage multiple technical projects across cross-functional teams.
• Strong understanding of drilling operations, drilling equipment, and drilling workflows.
• Ability to translate operational challenges into practical product and engineering requirements.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to evaluate technical alternatives.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to communicate effectively with operations personnel, engineering teams, customers, and vendors.
• Ability to effectively facilitate meetings, workshops, and technical discussions.
• Ability to regularly travel to facilities, customer locations, vendor sites, and drilling rigs.
• Ability to safely navigate office, manufacturing, shop, and drilling rig environments while utilizing required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
• Foster a collaborative, respectful, and high-performing engineering culture.
• Ability to proficiently use Microsoft Office Suite to develop presentations, reports, schedules, and technical documentation.
• Ability to work on weekends and be on call after hours as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Applied Science, or related technical discipline.
• 7+ years of experience in drilling operations, drilling automation, controls engineering, product development, or related technical field.
• 3+ years leading multidisciplinary product development or technical projects.
• Strong understanding of drilling rig equipment and drilling operations.
• Experience developing Product Requirement Documents (PRDs), functional specifications, workflow diagrams, and technical requirements.
• Experience evaluating industrial equipment, automation technologies, or technical solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional engineering and product development activities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with drilling rig automation systems.
• Experience with robotic systems and industrial automation technologies.
• Experience evaluating robotics, sensing, tooling, instrumentation, or industrial control solutions.
• Experience working with robotics suppliers, equipment OEMs, and technology partners.
• Strong understanding of drilling workflows including drilling connections, tripping operations, pipe handling, and tubular handling.
• Experience with Agile product development methodologies and project management tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, or equivalent.
• Experience supporting Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), field deployments, and product commercialization.