Lead Development Systems Engineer

BP•Houston, TX

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

bpx energy is a major U.S. oil and gas producer with operations in Texas and Louisiana and is part of BP. The company describes its environment as high-energy and high-intensity, with accountability, collegiality, innovation, empowerment, collaboration, continuous improvement, and inclusion. The Lead Development Systems Engineer will serve as the senior technical authority for the Corporate Land team. This individual-contributor role bridges business operations and technical delivery, shaping architecture, roadmaps, and engineering standards for scalable automation, data, and AI-enabled solutions. The position combines hands-on engineering with the judgment and influence to lead complex work across organizational boundaries. The role is hybrid, with negligible travel expected. It is not eligible for relocation assistance. Base compensation is $170,000–$200,000. Benefits may include medical, dental, and vision insurance, paid time off, a discretionary annual bonus program, a long-term incentive program, and a 401(k) matching program. Applicants must be legally authorized to work full-time in the United States for an employer other than their current employer and must not require current or future employment visa sponsorship.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field, or equivalent relevant experience.
10 or more years of experience in software development, data engineering, automation, analytics engineering, or a closely related technical field.
Demonstrated experience leading architecture and end-to-end delivery of complex, production-grade data, software, automation, or AI solutions.
Advanced proficiency in Python and SQL, with a track record of producing clean, maintainable, well-tested code.
Advanced hands-on experience with modern cloud data platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, or Palantir, including data modeling and performance optimization.
Strong knowledge of data architecture, ETL/ELT, APIs, governance, security, CI/CD, observability, and software development lifecycle practices.
Experience setting technical direction, defining reusable standards, conducting design and code reviews, and mentoring technical contributors.
Ability to influence senior technical and business stakeholders, navigate ambiguity, and make sound decisions across competing priorities.
Legally authorized to work full-time in the United States for an employer other than the current employer.
Must not require employment visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the energy or oil and gas industry, particularly with land, ownership, contracts, leases, title, or related business processes.
Experience building internal applications, workflow tools, dashboards, or self-service analytics products.
Experience with AI-assisted development tools, prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, LLM APIs, or deploying AI-enabled applications.
Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS or Azure and infrastructure-as-code concepts.
Experience with data orchestration and transformation tools such as Airflow, dbt, or Databricks Workflows.

Responsibilities

Serve as technical lead and solutions architect for Corporate Land, translating complex business needs into scalable, supportable technical solutions.
Own solution architecture and end-to-end delivery for automation, data, analytics, and AI-enabled products, from discovery through deployment and lifecycle support.
Design and guide development of data pipelines, queries, applications, and analytical products using Snowflake, Databricks, Palantir, and related platforms.
Establish reusable engineering patterns, technical standards, and quality controls for code, testing, documentation, observability, security, and deployment.
Build and maintain a prioritized technical roadmap aligned with Corporate Land strategy, business value, enterprise architecture, and platform direction.
Lead technical decision-making across complex or ambiguous initiatives, evaluating tradeoffs involving scalability, maintainability, reliability, cost, and speed.
Influence cross-functional stakeholders and partner with data, architecture, security, and business teams to resolve dependencies and accelerate delivery.
Mentor engineers, analysts, and business builders through design reviews, code reviews, coaching, and practical knowledge transfer.
Monitor solution performance, reliability, adoption, and cost; identify technical debt and lead continuous improvement of deployed products.