UAS Team Lead

Occidental Petroleum•Houston, TX

39d•Onsite

About The Position

Oxy produces, markets, and transports oil and natural gas to maximize value and provide resources fundamental to life. The company leverages its global leadership in carbon management to advance lower-carbon technologies and products. Headquartered in Houston, Oxy primarily operates in the United States, Middle East and North Africa. Oxy strives to attract and retain talented employees by investing in their professional development and providing rewarding opportunities for personal growth. Our goal is to meet the highest employer standards by ensuring the health and safety of our employees, protecting the environment and positively impacting our communities where we do business. The UAS Operations Team Leader is responsible for the leadership, daily management, and continuous advancement of the organization's internal unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drone) program. This role serves as the primary technical authority and operational leader for all drone-based activities supporting Oxy’s oil and gas operations including, facility and well pad imaging, pipeline and midstream infrastructure inspections, drone based compliance inspections, electrical transmission and distribution asset imaging and inspections, offshore inspections, and related industrial inspection programs. The Team Leader ensures all UAS operations are executed to the standards and procedure set forth by Oxy and result in safe, efficient, and compliant day to day operations. This individual manages a team of certified pilots and mission specialists, maintains a multi-platform fleet of UAS infrastructure, drives capability development, interfaces with internal stakeholders and is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of actionable inspection data and analytical products to operations, asset integrity, and engineering teams.

Requirements

FAA Part 107 certification
Experience managing a team of certified pilots and mission specialists
Experience with fleet management of UAS infrastructure
Experience with capability development in UAS operations
Experience interfacing with internal stakeholders
Experience with end-to-end delivery of actionable inspection data and analytical products
Experience with facility and well pad imaging
Experience with pipeline and midstream infrastructure inspections
Experience with drone-based compliance inspections
Experience with electrical transmission and distribution asset imaging and inspections
Experience with offshore inspections
Experience with industrial inspection programs
Knowledge of Safety Management Systems (SMS)
Knowledge of FAA Part 107 regulations, BVLOS waivers, COAs
Experience developing and maintaining Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Emergency Response Procedures (ERPs), and Mission Risk Assessments (MRAs)
Experience with pre-mission hazard identification and risk mitigation processes
Experience with incident investigation protocols and root cause analysis
Knowledge of Process Safety Management (PSM) and OSHA regulations
Experience with full lifecycle management of UAS fleet, including sensor packages and payloads
Experience developing and enforcing scheduled preventive maintenance programs
Experience managing payload inventory (RGB cameras, thermal imagers, LiDAR scanners, gas detection sensors)
Experience managing secure transport, storage, and readiness of equipment
Experience maintaining insurance documentation and records for airframes
Experience recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and managing UAS pilots and mission specialists
Experience developing and administering internal pilot proficiency programs
Experience conducting pilot proficiency evaluations and check rides
Experience maintaining individual pilot training records and currency logs
Experience establishing mentorship and career progression pathways for pilots
Experience training pilots and data technicians on data collection protocols, payload operation, and sensor calibration
Experience identifying and managing external training providers
Experience administering performance reviews and implementing individual development plans
Experience overseeing daily UAS flight operations (planning, execution, data processing, debriefs)
Experience coordinating with site operations, mechanical integrity, HSE, pipeline integrity, facilities maintenance, and electrical transmission teams
Experience managing simultaneous field campaigns across multiple asset types and geographies
Experience logging flight operations in a digital operations management system
Experience monitoring real-time weather, NOTAMs, TFRs, and airspace status
Experience establishing and enforcing pre-flight checklists, mission briefing standards, and post-flight debrief protocols
Experience maintaining and communicating a rolling backlog and mission queue
Experience designing and implementing intake and prioritization frameworks
Experience building and managing a master schedule for UAS operations
Experience producing operational forecasts
Experience triaging and responding to unplanned inspection requests
Experience coordinating with planning and maintenance departments for access windows
Experience tracking open work orders and inspection assignments
Experience maintaining KPI dashboards for UAS operations
Experience ensuring a robust data pipeline from raw sensor capture through processing, QA/QC, and delivery
Experience managing delivery of data products to GIS platforms (Esri ArcGIS) and asset management systems (SAP PM)
Experience integrating UAS data, images, and findings into standardized workflows
Experience ensuring data governance standards (file naming, metadata, CRS, archive/retrieval)
Experience ensuring QA/QC processes for data deliverables
Experience tracking data delivery SLAs and reporting on turnaround time KPIs
Experience leading research, evaluation, and integration of emerging UAS technologies
Experience developing business cases and ROI analyses for new capability investments
Experience evaluating AI/ML-powered automated recognition platforms
Experience developing and socializing internal technical standards for UAS-based inspection methodologies and data products

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary safety authority for all UAS operations, establishing and enforcing a comprehensive Safety Management System (SMS) aligned with company HSE and Aviation policies and industry best practices.
Ensure full compliance with FAA Part 107 regulations, BVLOS waivers, COAs, and any applicable international aviation authority requirements for cross-border or offshore operations.
Develop, maintain, and enforce UAS-specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Emergency Response Procedures (ERPs), and Mission Risk Assessments (MRAs) for all operation types.
Improve upon and support pre-mission hazard identification and risk mitigation processes, including airspace conflict analysis, weather assessment, electromagnetic interference evaluation, and site-specific hazard reviews.
Maintain thorough incident investigation protocols; lead or delegate root cause analysis and corrective action implementation for any UAS-related incident, near-miss, or equipment loss.
Enforce strict adherence to Process Safety Management (PSM) and OSHA regulations when operating in and around hazardous energy environments (refineries, compressor stations, tank farms, gas plants).
Ensure pilots and crew maintain current certifications, medical fitness (where applicable), and substance abuse compliance per company policy.
Own the full lifecycle management of the UAS fleet, including sensor packages and associated payloads.
Establish procurement, maintenance, and end-of-life procedures.
Work with management to establish routine refreshes of critical equipment to ensure fleet and mission readiness.
Develop and enforce scheduled preventive maintenance programs, component lifecycle tracking (motor hours, prop cycles, battery charge cycles), and mandatory inspection intervals for each platform class.
Oversee firmware and software updates across the fleet, evaluating and validating changes in a controlled test environment prior to operational deployment.
Manage payload inventory including RGB cameras, lighting kits, radiometric thermal imagers, LiDAR scanners, methane/gas detection sensors.
Manage secure transport, storage, and readiness of equipment for rapid field deployment including cases, charging infrastructure, and environmental storage requirements.
Maintain insurance documentation and records for all airframes; interface with risk management and aviation as needed.
Recruit, hire, onboard, and manage a team of FAA Part 107-certified UAS pilots and mission specialists, ensuring adequate coverage for operational demand across multiple simultaneous campaigns.
Develop and administer a structured internal pilot proficiency program encompassing initial qualification, platform type ratings, mission category endorsements, and annual recurrency requirements.
Conduct regular proficiency evaluations, standardization flights, and documented check for all pilots; maintain individual pilot training records and currency logs.
Ensure training programs exist and are available for fleet pilots and staff pilots.
Establish a mentorship and career progression pathway for junior pilots to advance to mission-lead and senior pilot roles.
Train pilots and data technicians on data collection protocols, payload operation, sensor calibration, etc.
Identify and manage approved external training providers and recurrency programs to supplement internal capability development.
Administer performance reviews, identify skill gaps, and implement individual development plans for all direct reports as needed.
Foster a culture of continuous learning, safety-first decision-making, and operational excellence across the entire UAS team.
Oversee and direct all daily UAS flight operations including pre-mission planning, mission execution, post-mission data processing, and associated debriefs.
Coordinate with site operations, mechanical integrity, HSE, pipeline integrity, facilities maintenance, and electrical transmission teams to align drone mission execution with site access, permit-to-work (PTW), and operational windows.
Manage simultaneous field campaigns across multiple asset types and geographies, including remote pipeline corridors, offshore platforms, tank batteries, compressor stations, substations, and transmission towers.
Ensure all flight operations are logged in a digital operations management system, capturing flight hours, battery cycles, anomalies, and personnel records in compliance with FAA and company documentation requirements.
Monitor real-time weather conditions, NOTAMs, TFRs, and airspace status for all active and planned operation areas; make go/no-go decisions with appropriate authority.
Establish and enforce strict pre-flight checklists, mission briefing standards, and post-flight debrief protocols.
Maintain and communicate a rolling backlog and mission queue integrating requests from multiple internal customers including asset integrity, pipeline operations, electrical transmission, HSE, and engineering.
Design and implement a structured intake and prioritization framework that accounts for regulatory inspection intervals, risk-ranked asset criticality, operational urgency, weather windows, and resource availability.
Build and manage a detailed master schedule for all UAS operations, balancing planned inspection programs, reactive/emergency response deployments, and capability development activities.
Produce monthly and quarterly operational forecasts for crew utilization, flight hours, equipment usage, and data delivery timelines; communicate proactively with stakeholders on scheduling constraints.
Triage and respond to unplanned inspection requests (e.g., leak detection, post-storm damage assessment, pre-turnaround surveys, incident response support) with rapid mobilization capability.
Coordinate with planning and maintenance departments to align UAS access windows with planned outages, turnarounds, maintenance campaigns, and construction activities to maximize operational efficiency.
Track open work orders and inspection assignments to completion, escalating blockers and resource conflicts to management with clear recommendations.
Maintain KPI dashboards tracking planned vs. actual flight hours, mission completion rates, backlog age, schedule adherence, and data delivery cycle times.
Work and coordinate with support staff to ensure a robust data pipeline from raw sensor capture through processing, quality assurance, and delivery to end-user stakeholders.
Manage delivery of data products to GIS platforms (Esri ArcGIS), asset management systems (SAP PM) and inspection management platforms.
Seek ways to integrate UAS data, images and findings into standardized workflows.
Work with support staff to ensure data governance standards including file naming conventions, metadata tagging, coordinate reference system (CRS) management, and long-term archive and retrieval procedures.
Work with support staff to ensure QA/QC processes for all data deliverables, including independent review protocols and defect detection validation against manual inspection findings where available.
Track data delivery SLAs against stakeholder commitments; report on turnaround time KPIs and identify bottlenecks in the processing workflow.
Lead the research, evaluation, and integration of emerging UAS technologies, including advanced payload sensors, autonomous/semi-autonomous flight systems, AI-assisted detection, and drone dock systems.
Develop business cases and ROI analyses for new capability investments, comparing drone-based approaches against traditional inspection methods in terms of cost, cycle time, data quality, and safety risk reduction.
Work with relevant teams to evaluate AI/ML-powered automated recognition platforms for integration into the inspection data workflow.
Develop and socialize internal technical standards for UAS-based inspection methodologies and data products to achieve consistency across asset classes and operating regions.