Senior Software Engineer

AIQ is an Abu Dhabi-based technology company that develops and deploys industrial artificial intelligence (AI) technologies at scale, focused on the energy sector. As a venture between Presight (G42) and ADNOC, AIQ has productized 15 AI-enabled solutions that support clients to perform better, protect teams and equipment, keep operations sustainable, and rapidly scale successes. The organization embraces an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, looking to push boundaries and solve transformational challenges across industry.

It welcomes professionals that share the desire to make meaningful and impactful contributions to the mission to deliver responsible AI to the heart of industrial processes. Always on the forefront of technology, AIQ provides its talent with an environment to thrive and excel. Working at AIQ includes participating in some of the most significant industrial transformation projects, interacting with massive data pools, utilizing sophisticated AI infrastructure that is powered by a NVIDIA GPU cloud computing platform, and access to abundant computing, storage, and network resources made available from across the G42 ecosystem.

AIQ is building Robo Well APC, the autonomous execution layer of its production platform: a model-predictive control (MPC) engine that runs on edge hardware inside the operator’s OT environment and closes the loop on wells in real time. The first target is smart completions — wells equipped with downhole inflow control valves (ICVs), permanent downhole gauges and surface chokes — where the APC will continuously re-optimise zonal inflow and lift settings against reservoir, well-integrity and facility constraints, with the control room supervising rather than driving.

We are looking for a hands‑on technical lead who can take this from control-algorithm design and simulator validation all the way to a hardened, containerised, cyber‑compliant deployment on field edge devices, integrated with the DCS/SCADA and with AIQ’s IT layer (NextGenCCR, AiPSO, the IT/OT bridge). You will own the software architecture of the edge controller and be the engineer who makes it run safely on real wells.

• Design and implement MPC / constrained-optimisation controllers for multi-zone smart-completion wells (ICV position, choke, gas-lift or ESP set-points), including the process models, constraint handling, disturbance estimation and objective functions they rely on.
• Build the supervisory logic around the controller: operating envelopes, well-integrity and equipment limits, mode management (auto / advisory / manual), bumpless transfer, fallback and safe-state behaviour.
• Work with production and reservoir engineers to translate operating philosophy and constraints into controller behaviour, and to define the KPIs the APC is judged on.

• Own the edge software architecture: soft-real-time execution in C++ / Python on industrial edge hardware (Linux), containerised (Docker / OCI), with deterministic scheduling, watchdogs, state persistence and remote update.
• Implement the southbound integration to the control system — OPC UA, Modbus/TCP, DNP3 or vendor protocols — with read-back verification, write-permission handling and full change traceability.
• Implement the northbound integration to the AIQ IT layer through the IT/OT bridge (policy-enforced fetcher, DMZ / containment zone): model and configuration distribution, telemetry and observability from every hop back to the control centre.
• Meet operator OT cybersecurity requirements (IEC 62443 zoning, hardening, signed artefacts, secrets handling, audit logging) and support site surveys, FAT/SAT and cyber approvals for…