Staff Innovation Engineer, Operational Innovation

Cenovus Energy•Calgary, AB

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Operational Innovation, the Staff Innovation Engineer is responsible for identifying, evaluating, and executing high-impact innovation opportunities across Cenovus producing assets. This role operates at the interface of facilities, reservoir, and field operations - translating complex technical challenges into structured innovation scopes, and derisking activities. These can include engineering studies, laboratory testing programs, and field pilots. The successful candidate supports a portfolio of innovation initiatives, driving concepts from early-stage screening through pilot execution and scale-up recommendations that have a line of sight to commercial scale value propositions. The position requires deep technical expertise, disciplined project execution, and the ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and external partners. Success is defined by delivering defensible technical insights, de-risking emerging technologies, and enabling scalable solutions that integrate into asset development plans. Travel to operating sites and vendor or technology partner locations will be required to support meetings and field trial execution activities.

Requirements

Must be legally entitled to work in Canada
Bachelor’s degree in engineering with Professional Engineering designation (P. Eng).
Minimum of 12+ years of professional engineering experience required including experience with thermal (SAGD) operations and facilities.
Strong process engineering expertise, including facilities and production systems, with practical experience executing field pilots or trials.
Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent projects end-to-end, including planning, execution, tracking, scheduling, and cost forecasting
Experience working with novel technologies and external partners (vendors, labs, research/funding organizations)
Solid understanding of experimental design, data analysis, and scale-up considerations

Nice To Haves

Candidates with production chemistry, water treatment and gas handling strongly desired.
familiarity with AI tools for operational and strategic applications
Experience using Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a functional tool day to day as well as in larger strategic application within the projects themselves is highly desirable.

Responsibilities

Define complex production and facilities challenges and translate them into actionable innovation scopes and work plans
Evaluate and advance new technologies through stage-gated processes, including screening, lab validation, and field pilots
Collaborate with cross-functional teams and external partners to align project goals and execution
Design and lead field pilots end-to-end, including trial design, KPIs, monitoring, testing, and risk management
Analyze lab and field data to generate insights and link results to commercial applications
Manage external vendors, including scope, performance, and contract considerations
Develop feasibility assessments, technical reports, and scale-up/deployment strategies aligned with business needs
Oversee project planning and controls, including schedules, cost forecasting, stakeholder reporting, and ongoing communication