Do you have downhole drilling tool experience? Do you want to be part of the Geothermal energy revolution and develop innovative new technologies to drill deeper, hotter, and more cost-effectively than ever before? If the answer is yes to both, come join the team at GA Drilling, a global leader in hard, hot rock drilling, and help make Geothermal Anywhere a reality.

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We seek a Project Manager with 15+ years of experience in engineering development, testing and commercialization of complex drilling/oilfield systems. The ideal candidate owned highly technical, low TRL new product development projects end to end— from concept through test and redesign to field deployment — in a relevant field: drilling technology, downhole tools, oilfield equipment, geothermal drilling.

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This is a delivery role. If you have taken hardware from a drawing through test and redesign and out to a well, and you want to do it again somewhere small enough that you can make the call and see it through, we would like to hear from you.

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You will own

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• The programme plan and the schedule. A single, current plan, with every commitment carrying a named owner and a date.
• Driving concept through design, build, test, iteration, qualification and field deployment — including the redesign work that follows each round of test results.
• Follow-through on commitments. Keeping what was agreed in the room visible, and closing it out.
• Sub-contractors and suppliers. Scope, delivery and quality, with slippage raised and corrected immediately
• Budget, cost forecast and stage-gate readiness, working with Finance and Engineering Management.
• Technical and delivery risk — identified early, mitigated, and escalated with a recommendation rather than a question.
• Design reviews, gate reviews and change control, properly documented and confidently presented

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What you must be able to evidence:

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We will ask you to take one project/programme apart in detail. Come ready.

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• A hardware development programme that you personally owned end to end — requirements definition, design, build, bench and rig test, iteration, qualification, and into field deployment. Not one phase of it. The whole arc.
• On that programme you held the schedule and the budget, had engineers reporting to you directly or via dotted line, were accountable to gates you could not move yourself, and had sub-contractors delivering against your instruction.
• Low-TRL development. Front-end work below TRL 6, where the answer is not known at the outset and the design/solution iterates its way forward through test.
• Coordination across mechanical, electrical, controls, test, operations and manufacturing. You do not need depth in all of these. You do need to recognise when the picture coming out of one of them does not add up, and to work with the team until it does.
• Drilling and downhole grounding sufficient to engage a drilling argument on its merits rather than refer it upwards.
• Working in or moving to a startup company. Either you have already made that move, or you can tell us convincingly why you want to.
• Degree in mechanical engineering or a related discipline. Formal project management certification is welcome but will not substitute for the above.
• Fluent working English and the right to work in the UK without sponsorship.

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What we expect from you:

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• You take ownership of the gap / risk
• You go and look at the hardware rather than read a status report about it.
• You are direct, comfortable with robust technical debate, and steady under pressure.

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Scope of the role:

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• Technology direction sits elsewhere. This is not a Chief Engineer or technical authority position.
• This is a permanent employed position, not an advisory or consultancy engagement.
• The priority is delivering the current design to its gates rather than reopening it.

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What we offer:

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• Ownership of the delivery of a technology that changes how hard, hot rock is drilled.
• An experienced and highly motivated team, and direct access to the leadership.
• Work alongside the industry's major operators and service companies.
• A reward package weighted towards share equity alongside salary and benefits, so a meaningful part of what you earn tracks the company's success. We are looking for people who want that alignment.

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How to apply:

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Send your CV and one page covering a single hardware programme you personally owned end to end:

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• What it was and what it had to do.
• How many people reported to you, and who held the budget and the schedule.
• What the test results told you, and what you changed as a result.
• Where it got to — what TRL, and whether it reached the field.

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Please do include that page; we read it alongside the CV. Let us know your earliest start date and confirm that an on-site role at Gloucester works for you.

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