7 Crucial IT Jobs in Oil and Gas

Updated 06/27/2025

Few industries are undergoing digital transformation quite as rapidly as energy, leading to many open IT jobs in the oil and gas industry.

According to one recent study, the digital transformation market in oil and gas is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.5% between 2024 and 2029. Over this period, the market is expected to expand by approximately $56.4 billion.

A few different factors are contributing to this growth. Oil and gas companies are regularly embracing robotics, for example, to perform tasks that may be too difficult (or too dangerous) for humans.

In addition, oil and gas companies rely on automation to eliminate a lot of the time-consuming and menial tasks associated with things like drilling pipes and oil rigs. This frees up the valuable time of workers so that they can focus on more important matters.

Another example is Artificial intelligence (AI). AI capabilities have exploded in recent years, creating multiple opportunities in oil and gas. At a conference earlier this year, multiple executives shared how they’ve used AI to improve drilling. One study found that 44% of upstream organizations use AI in oil and gas exploration, with another 45% planning to do so within three years.

With these rapid technological advances, oil and gas companies need to hire Information Technology (IT) professionals quickly to keep up. This is a great opportunity for anyone currently working in IT and looking for a career change.

What is the Oil and Gas Industry?

In a broad sense, the oil and gas industry is one of the major players in the global energy market. They provide the primary fuel sources on the planet, making them one of the biggest influences on the global economy.

The objectives of individual companies within the sector will vary depending on where they operate. Generally speaking, the oil and gas industry can be divided into three sectors:

• Upstream
• Midstream
• Downstream

All of them play a critical role in providing energy to the global market, but they do so in different ways.

Upstream companies are mainly involved in the exploration of oil and gas along with its production. These are the companies that set up infrastructure like drilling rigs and pipelines.

Midstream organizations are those that primarily transport oil and gas resources around the world. They help make sure that oil and gas reserves produced in areas like the Middle East make it to the countries that need them. They also often operate intermediate storage facilities.

Downstream companies handle tasks like refining those energy resources and marketing them to end users. For example, they take crude oil, refine it into gasoline, and transport it to gas stations and eventually consumers.

While upstream, midstream, and downstream companies all do different things in the oil and gas industry, all of them rely on IT professionals.

Top 7 IT Jobs in Oil and Gas

The oil and gas industry relies on many IT professionals, all of whom play an invaluable role in supporting safe and effective practices for producing energy. Here are seven of the most common IT jobs in oil and gas.

Analyst/Developer

An oil and gas industry analyst/developer collects and analyzes data.

Market data can help find inefficiencies in an oil company’s strategy. It can also help them develop new ones based on changing consumer and industry behaviors.

This type of analysis can also help accurately forecast demand, allowing companies to develop educated long-term production plans. This was especially necessary over the last few years with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel and consumer behavior.

Application Engineer

Oil and gas industry application engineers perform many duties, like determining the specifications and performance requirements for equipment found in industrial environments.

They may also help calculate a cost analysis for integrating new technology and equipment into existing assets.

They also help use their knowledge of various programming languages to help take existing equipment and adapt it to unique oil and gas-related job applications.

Data Engineer

Oil and gas industry data engineers develop new processes and best practices to improve the reliability and quality of data. They are more involved with the collection of data than with the analysis of data.

Data engineers confirm the invaluable information they’re collecting is accurate and consistent. They also convert it to an appropriate format so it can be read by business intelligence tools.

Software Engineer

As is true with most industries, oil and gas companies depend on critical business software to function. That’s where software engineers enter the conversation. They help develop the tools necessary for everything from pipeline measurement to reservoir management and everything in between.

They can even help develop software that assists companies in predicting the best drilling locations, for example.

Technical Architect

In this context, a technical architect helps others like software engineers develop and implement critical business apps.

A technical architect collects information about long-term objectives and business requirements from all key stakeholders. They act as a bridge between organizational leadership and development teams as they work.

Think of them a bit like a project manager. They confirm everyone is on the same page about what must be done. They also help guarantee a new application or system does what it needs to.

Scrum Master

In an industry as heavily dependent on technology as the oil and gas sector, the presence of a Scrum Master becomes invaluable.

Scrum is a crucial part of the Agile software development methodology. This is an iterative approach to DevOps that helps teams deliver value to end users as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

A Scrum Master helps with tasks like developer onboarding. They help make sure the right people fill the appropriate positions. They conduct daily startup meetings, help eliminate inefficiencies, and prioritize certain deliverables in the development pipeline.

Finally, a Scrum Master empowers communication between oil and gas industry end users and the development teams designing their business applications.

UX Designer/Researcher

A piece of software that helps run an oil refinery is an inherently sophisticated piece of technology. But at the same time, it has to be easy to operate to the point where anyone can do so. It also needs to be efficient in a way that makes the lives of workers easier.

This is where user experience (UX) designers and researchers come into play. They take the time to understand not only what a business is trying to accomplish with an app, but also what can be done to make the app easier to engage with.

With the end user in mind, UX designers and UX researchers work to create an effective and intuitive experience for the software or app they’re creating.

Good user experience is critical in getting the program to perform valuable business tasks, like running the day-to-day aspects of an oil rig.

Hire IT Roles Today

As the oil and gas industry continues to embrace digital transformation, the demand for skilled IT professionals has never been higher. From cybersecurity analysts to cloud engineers, these roles are critical to driving innovation, improving operational efficiency, and staying competitive in a rapidly evolving market.

At Insight Global, we specialize in connecting top-tier IT talent with companies like yours. Whether you’re looking to fill one role or build an entire tech team, our experts understand the unique challenges of the energy sector and are ready to partner with you to find the right solution.

Contact Insight Global today to start hiring.

Looking to start an IT job in oil and gas? Check out our open roles!