Director, AI Products and Solutions

Patterson-UTI Drilling Company is seeking an experienced oil and gas drilling leader to define, develop, and drive the adoption of AI-powered products and digital solutions across drilling operations and customer workflows.

The ideal candidate will bring deep domain expertise in oil and gas drilling, gained through significant experience with an Exploration & Production (E&P) operator, drilling contractor, or drilling focused service provider. The successful candidate must understand how drilling organizations operate, how wells are planned and executed, how drilling performance is measured and improved, and how technology is evaluated, deployed, and adopted in field operations.

In addition to strong drilling domain expertise, the candidate should have a demonstrated track record of applying digital technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Generative AI (GenAI) to real world oil and gas problems and successfully moving solutions from concept and pilot through production deployment and user adoption.

Reporting to the Vice President of Digital Solutions, the Director – AI Products & Solutions will lead the AI product strategy and roadmap for Patterson-UTI Drilling Company. This individual will work directly with customers, drilling operations, performance and optimization teams, Product Management, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, Data Science, and technology partners to identify high-value opportunities and transform them into scalable products that deliver measurable operational and commercial value.

This is not primarily a Data Science or AI research position. It is a drilling domain, product, and business leadership role requiring sufficient technical depth to understand modern AI technologies and architectures and the ability to translate them into practical solutions for drilling operations and customers.

• Lead the vision, strategy, roadmap, and lifecycle management of AI-enabled products supporting drilling operations, performance and optimization, equipment reliability, HSE, and customer facing digital solutions.
• Partner with drilling operations, engineering, customers, and commercial teams to identify high-value opportunities where AI, GenAI, analytics, and automation can improve operational performance and create differentiated customer value.
• Translate drilling and business challenges into product requirements, use cases, business cases, and measurable success criteria; lead solutions from concept and field trials through production deployment, commercialization, and continuous improvement.
• Define product requirements for integrating real-time and historical data from rig telemetry, drilling reports, downhole and directional services, equipment systems, HSE applications, customer systems, and third-party service providers.
• Champion the practical application and adoption of Generative AI, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, intelligent automation, AI copilots, natural language interfaces, and operational decision-support technologies within drilling workflows.
• Partner closely with Data Science, Software Engineering, and Data Engineering to integrate physics-based models, predictive analytics, AI capabilities, and operational data into secure, scalable, production-ready products.
• Evaluate emerging AI platforms, technologies, and strategic partners—including OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, cloud providers, and other technology companies—based on their ability to solve drilling and customer problems and accelerate product delivery.
• Build, lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing AI Products & Solutions team while providing leadership and prioritization across multiple concurrent product initiatives.
• Drive field deployment, change management, training, and user adoption to ensure AI-enabled products become embedded in operational and customer workflows and deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Maintain strong engagement with customers and field operations, including time at drilling rigs and customer locations, and represent Patterson-UTI in strategic customer, technology partner, and industry discussions.
• Identify opportunities to create differentiated, commercially…