Jason Duncan is the Senior Operations Manager for Oceaneering’s Manufactured Products Group in Houston, Texas. A mechanical engineer by trade, he previously served as Engineering Group Manager for six of his 11 years with Oceaneering before stepping into his new role in 2024.
A proud alumnus of Prairie View A&M University, Jason has spent most of his career in the oil and gas industry, working at various companies. “A lot of my time has been spent as a research and development engineer, as I have a passion for new products.”
He describes his career progression as starting as a young design engineer focused on calculations and overnight testing, advancing to a senior project engineer working on new developments, and ultimately transitioning into leadership. Before assuming his current role, he managed diverse teams of engineers. Now, as the day-to-day leader of all operational activities within his business unit, he plays a critical role in ensuring efficiency and excellence.
As Senior Operations Manager, Jason oversees all manufacturing activities for the company’s four product lines: subsea umbilical termination hardware, standard product lines, BOP spares equipment, and pipeline connection and repair systems. The equipment produced by these groups is typically pressure-containing or hydraulic control hardware.
“The types of requests that we get range from urgent pipeline repair design requests that have to be completed in days to weeks, to multi-year subsea field developments where the design effort alone can take one to two years.”
Beyond delivering high-quality products to meet customer needs, Jason finds fulfillment in working alongside his team and tackling challenges together. “I have a great team of highly intelligent, highly driven managers, supervisors, and technicians that I get to work with, and we get opportunities to try to solve the unsolvable every day. That’s what gets me up in the morning.”
Although he is deeply committed to his work, Jason prioritizes maintaining a balance between his professional and personal life. “I’m someone who doesn’t mind going to work at midnight or 3:00 in the morning, but I refuse to miss my son’s ballgame.”
He also encourages his team to set boundaries. “The phrase I use with them all the time is ‘your time is your time.’ It’s just my way of reiterating to them that boundaries are important.”
For those considering a career at Oceaneering, Jason offers this advice:
“If you have passion behind what you do, you don’t feel like you’re really working. And to me, the great thing about working at a place like Oceaneering is that they reward people who work hard and are passionate about their job.”