Permitting Lead

Alaska-Santos•Anchorage, AK

About The Position

The Oil Search (Alaska) LLC is a Regional Business Unit (RBU) of Santos Limited (Santos) and is responsible for appraising discovered resources in Alaska, commercializing the appraised resources, developing a project leading to oil production. In addition, the RBU will be responsible for exploration, appraisal and pre-development activities on additional acreage. The Environmental, Health, Safety and Security (EHSS) department supports the business by providing technical expertise and support to RBU activity planning and execution. The environmental team supports the business through preparing and administering environmental permitting processes, development of regulatory and environmental compliance training and tools, planning and execution of environmental studies and surveys, tracking and reporting of environmental key performance indicators and serving as the primary interface between RBU operations and environmental regulatory personnel. Position Purpose Reporting to RBU Permitting and Compliance Manager, the Permitting Lead will be responsible for managing the team that is responsible for acquisition of all environmental approvals for Santos activities withing the RBU. The incumbent will coordinate with RBU functions during field activity planning to identify permit requirements, developing permit strategies and performing risk assessments. They will be responsible for engaging with regulatory agencies and for communicating regulatory information to key OSA stakeholders. In addition to being accountable for timely permit acquisition, the incumbent will be responsible for the development and modification of programs, processes, procedures and tools as necessary to ensure work is conducted in compliance with the Santos Management System. The Permitting Lead role requires strong management skills, attention to detail, and ability to plan, budget and prioritize work on a continual basis and identify permit related schedule risks to the RBU, in an integrated environment.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree from an accredited four-year university or college.
Over five years of environmental regulatory experience with emphasis on permitting and/or regulatory compliance work.
People, time, contractor and cost management skills to plan, coordinate and achieve delivery to the desired quality to exceed customer expectations.
Extensive experience with State of Alaska, federal, and North Slope Borough environmental and land use regulations; including NEPA and its application to oil and gas exploration and production operations.
Working knowledge of political and legislation changes within the state.
Organizational, project management and planning skills.
Keen eye for the detail of specific tasks, combined with an understanding of how those tasks fit into complex, interdisciplinary projects.
Working knowledge of project management processes and tools (e.g., project planning, prioritization, scheduling, critical path analysis, cost tracking).
Ability to work accurately and methodically under pressure and strict deadlines.
Excellent oral and written communication skills, including presentations to large and sometimes hostile audiences.
Strong proficiency with MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook etc.), as well as other applications and business systems.

Nice To Haves

Degree Specialization in Environmental Sciences/Engineering.

Responsibilities

Accountable for the acquisition and renewal of environmental permits for RBU field activities, in consultation with Project Managers, external clients, and regulatory agencies.
Promote and lead the implementation of Santos Ltd policies and procedures, across safety, health, environment, process, people and planning.
Present and interpret regulatory requirements, risks, and implications to key stakeholders to support informed decision and work planning.
Present and interpret regulatory requirements, risks, and implications to key stakeholders to support informed decision and work planning.
Provide oversight for the quality control and management of information required to complete and file compliance reports with regulatory agencies.
Partner with the Environmental Compliance function in the development of field compliance tools and data management and reporting systems
Ensure strict adherence to approval workflow, timeframes, and other permitting requirements.
Lead regulatory agency engagements and participate in community meetings in support of work planning and permitting.
Work with multi-disciplinary teams to ensure that all scoped field activities are considered throughout the permitting cycle.
Maintain awareness of legislative and regulatory changes that may impact the permitting processes for the project.
Travel to project sites, affected communities, and regulator offices within and outside of Alaska to support permitting, regulatory engagement and project oversight. Travel may require multiple days and occur on weekends.