Operational Performance Coach

PNG Expat Opportunity | 28/28 Rotation | PNG Based role

Ready to take your drilling career beyond day-to-day operations into performance leadership?

High Arctic Energy Services is seeking an experienced Operational Performance Coach to support drilling operations across our sites in Papua New Guinea.

High Arctic has built a strong reputation in Papua New Guinea through its commitment to operational excellence, employee development and community engagement. We combine the capability of a leading drilling contractor with the agility of a smaller organisation, creating opportunities for our people to grow, influence outcomes and build rewarding careers.

This is a unique opportunity for an accomplished drilling professional who enjoys improving operational performance, coaching teams, challenging assumptions and helping organisations learn from experience.

Working alongside experienced drilling supervisors, rig leadership teams, engineers and contractors, you'll provide an independent performance lens that helps ensure plans are executed effectively, lessons are captured and operational performance continues to improve. This role is focused on operational excellence, disciplined execution and creating a culture of continuous improvement across our drilling operations.

About the Role

This is not a traditional drilling supervision role. Our rigs are staffed by experienced drilling professionals. Reporting to the Chief Operations Offficer, your role is to provide an independent performance perspective, helping operational teams understand what is working, what isn't, and where opportunities exist to improve execution and performance. Key responsibilities include:

• Monitoring operational performance against approved plans and schedules.
• Identifying execution gaps, operational inefficiencies and non-productive time (NPT).
• Facilitating operational reviews, after-action reviews and lessons learned sessions.
• Supporting operational readiness and planning reviews.
• Developing performance reporting and KPI dashboards.
• Promoting operational discipline and adherence to agreed work processes.
• Driving accountability for operational commitments and improvement actions.
• Assisting teams to identify root causes and implement sustainable solutions.
• Leading knowledge capture and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Supporting a strong safety and operational excellence culture across drilling operations.

Our ideal candidate

You’re a respected extractive industry professional who gains satisfaction from helping teams improve performance, not just delivering operations.

You have the credibility to engage experienced crews and leaders, the curiosity to understand why results vary from plan, and the confidence to challenge constructively when improvement opportunities exist.

You build trust, ask the right questions and help teams translate lessons learned into better execution. You're motivated by accountability, operational discipline and continuous improvement, and you take pride in helping people and operations perform at their best.

You'll bring substantial experience in drilling, wellsite operations or other high-risk environments, along with strong coaching, communication and influencing skills.

You will possess a minimum Diploma Level qualification in; Health & Safety, Frontline Management, Leadership, Coaching or similar disciplines

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role isn't measured by the number of wells drilled, success is measured by:

• Improved adherence to operational plans.
• Reduced execution variances.
• Improved operational readiness.
• Stronger accountability across crews and contractors.
• Effective closure of lessons learned and improvement actions.
• Reduced recurring performance losses.
• Enhanced knowledge sharing across operations.
• Better operational outcomes through disciplined execution.

Why Join Us?

This is a rare opportunity to influence the performance of a major drilling operation without being responsible for day-to-day drilling supervision.

You will work directly with highly experienced operational teams, helping to improve consistency, execution quality, operational learning and overall performance.

If you're the type of person who notices when reality differs from the plan, asks why, and helps teams perform better the next time, we'd like to hear from you. You'll also enjoy:

• 28/28 roster
• Company-funded flights
• Quality accommodation and camp facilities
• Excellent food and site amenities
• Exposure to world-class drilling operations supporting our client
• A strong team culture built on respect, safety and performance
• Career growth opportunities within a smaller, agile organisation where your contribution is visible and valued
• The opportunity to help shape how drilling operations are executed, reviewed and continuously improved
• If you're looking for a role where your drilling experience can directly influence operational performance, develop capability within teams and help shape the future of drilling operations, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply Now

Become part of a team committed to operational excellence, continuous improvement and world-class drilling performance. If your experience, skills, qualifications, and attributes meet the above-nominated specifications, please email your CV, Qualifications, References, and Licenses to: [email protected]

Applications Close: 31st July 2026