drilling engineer
Drilling engineers develop and supervise the drilling of gas and oil wells. They assist in the designing, testing and creation of wells and are employed on land or offshore platforms. Drilling engineers work with other mining professionals and oversee the drilling progress and safety of the site.
drilling engineer drilling engineers develop and supervise the drilling of gas and oil wells. They assist in the designing, testing and creation of wells and are employed on land or offshore platforms. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include geology, ensure compliance with environmental legislation, liaise with specialist contractors for well operations, design well paths, manage drilling team.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £51,366 a year for Civil engineers (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £39,802 to £65,000 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 2121). ONS rates this estimate reasonably precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only drilling engineer, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Engineering and Technology
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Computers and Electronics
- Chemistry
- Administration and Management
- Economics and Accounting
- Administrative
What you'd actually do
- Specify and supervise well modification and stimulation programs to maximize oil and gas recovery.
- Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production.
- Maintain records of drilling and production operations.
- Analyze data to recommend placement of wells and supplementary processes to enhance production.
- Assist engineering and other personnel to solve operating problems.
- Direct and monitor the completion and evaluation of wells, well testing, or well surveys.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does drilling engineer do?
Drilling engineers develop and supervise the drilling of gas and oil wells. They assist in the designing, testing and creation of wells and are employed on land or offshore platforms. Drilling engineers work with other mining professionals and oversee the drilling progress and safety of the site.
What skills does drilling engineer need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include geology, ensure compliance with environmental legislation, liaise with specialist contractors for well operations, design well paths, manage drilling team, troubleshoot. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace drilling engineer?
Our AI-durability model gives drilling engineer a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.