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Category
Geotechnical & Survey
Reports To
Lead Metocean Engineer / Technical Authority
Position Overview
The Metocean Engineer specializes in the analysis and specification of meteorological and oceanographic conditions for offshore developments, providing the environmental design criteria that underpin all offshore engineering and operational planning. This role is critical for ensuring that offshore structures, vessels, and operations are designed and planned to withstand the environmental forces they will encounter.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop metocean design criteria for offshore structures including extreme wave, wind, and current conditions (return period analysis)
- Perform metocean data analysis including statistical extremes, operational windows, and persistence statistics
- Specify and manage metocean measurement campaigns (wave buoys, ADCPs, current meters, weather stations)
- Develop operational weather criteria and downtime analysis for offshore installation and construction campaigns
- Perform metocean assessments for pipeline and cable route selection including current and wave-induced loading
- Review and validate metocean study deliverables from specialist consultants and contractors
- Develop metocean input for mooring design, riser analysis, and floating system design
- Assess climate change impacts on metocean design criteria and operational assumptions
- Provide metocean support for marine operations planning including weather window assessment and vessel operability analysis
- Ensure metocean work products comply with relevant standards (DNV, API, ISO) and regulatory requirements
Qualifications
Required
- Education: Bachelor's degree in Oceanography, Meteorology, Marine Science, or Civil/Coastal Engineering; Master's degree strongly preferred
- Certifications: Chartered Engineer or Chartered Scientist status preferred
- Experience: Minimum 5 years in metocean engineering for offshore oil & gas or renewable energy projects
- Technical Skills: Extreme value statistics; spectral wave analysis; ocean current modeling; metocean database management; MATLAB/Python for data analysis; DNV/API metocean standards
Preferred
- Experience with tropical cyclone/hurricane-prone regions
- Offshore wind metocean assessment experience
- Coupled metocean-structural analysis knowledge
- Climate change impact assessment expertise
Market Intelligence
$550–$900/day
Shortage Level: High
Key Skills Gap: Metocean Engineers who combine deep statistical analysis capability with practical understanding of how metocean data drives engineering and operational decisions; the discipline is small and specialized
Regions in Highest Demand: North Sea, East Coast US, East Asia, Australia, Middle East
Demand Drivers: Offshore wind development in new regions requiring site-specific metocean studies; floating wind requiring advanced metocean input; climate change increasing uncertainty in design criteria; decommissioning requiring reassessment of environmental conditions