The Corporate Reserves Manager owns SM Energy's end-to-end corporate reserves process and is accountable for the integrity, defensibility, and timeliness of the reserve estimates used in SEC filings, the standardized measure and supplemental disclosures, the year-end third-party reserves report, and the reserve-based lending (RBL) borrowing base. Reporting to the VP of Corporate Planning & Reserves, the role is the central link between the technical reserves function and the Accounting, Tax, Treasury, Internal Audit, and Investor Relations teams - and is expected not only to steward the process but to modernize it through stronger controls, better data, and the responsible adoption of analytics, automation, and emerging technologies.
Role & Responsibilities- Reserves process & SOX governance. Run the full corporate reserves cycle (year-end SEC case, mid-year, and interim/sensitivity cases); maintain internal SOX controls and a defensible audit trail; perform bi-annual volume reconciliations; and keep reserve definitions, categorization (PDP/PDNP/PUD), and methodology consistent across all operating areas per SEC rules and SPE-PRMS.
- Technical reserves evaluation. Direct and review technical reserves and resource work - staying personally proficient to evaluate hands-on when needed; advise on the reservoir-engineering toolkit (DCA, RTA, volumetrics, modeling, history matching) and on corporate pricing, sensitivity, and development assumptions; peer-review booking strategies; and maintain the ARIES reserves database.
- SEC compliance & external reporting. Prepare the reserves content of the Form 10-K (reserves tables, PUD disclosure / Item 1203); coordinate the SPEE-conforming year-end third-party reserves report; support the SMOG calculation; lead annual EIA filings; deliver bi-annual reserves presentations to executives and the Board; and respond to SEC comment letters.
- Cross-functional coordination & RBL. Partner with Accounting and Tax on impairment, DD&A, ARO, and tax estimates; feed reserves and economics into Planning, Budgeting, and FP&A; support Investor Relations with reserve metrics; and prepare the semiannual bank case and RBL models for the borrowing-base redetermination with Treasury and the bank group.
- Decision support, optimization & technology. Turn reserves and economics into decision support - full-cycle development economics, capital-efficiency screening, A&D and financial-transaction evaluation, and scenario analysis; modernize databases and automate workflows; and responsibly deploy emerging tools (advanced analytics, ML-assisted type-/decline-curve workflows, reporting automation) without compromising controls.
- Leadership & team development. Lead, mentor, and develop the reserves engineering and technician/analyst team; run annual ARIES and SPE-PRMS training and reserves-manual updates; and keep the process decision-useful, not merely compliant.
Core Competencies- Technical depth balanced with executive-level communication and disclosure judgment.
- A forward-thinking optimization mindset that adopts emerging technology without compromising control.
- High integrity in a controls and audit intensive public company environment
- Strong cross-functional influence
- People leadership and the ability to develop technical talent.
Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering or a closely related engineering/geoscience discipline.
- 10+ years of progressive oil & gas experience, with substantial reservoir-engineering and reserves-estimation work.
- Mastery of SEC reserves reporting (Reg S-K Items [redacted], Reg S-X Rule 4-10) and FASB ASC 932, including the standardized measure and PV-10; working knowledge of SPE-PRMS and SPEE standards.
- Hands-on ARIES and reserves-database expertise; command of core reservoir-engineering methods (DCA, RTA, volumetrics, probabilistic and deterministic estimation).
- Strong computer and data-analytics skills (SQL, Access, Spotfire) - able to model large datasets and automate workflows.
- Proven cross-functional coordination across accounting, tax, finance, and external evaluators under tight close and filing deadlines.
- Prior reserves manager/lead at a publicly traded E&P with direct ownership of the year-end SEC process and 10-K; 3+ years leading a team strongly preferred.
- Prior hands-on technical engineering roles; RBL/borrowing-base experience; multi-basin and unconventional/shale experience.
- Track record of process modernization; prior coding experience and demonstrated use of AI / data-analytics tools; PE license and/or SPEE membership.
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
