Driving diversity in Aramco’s field operations

Aramco is committed to being the best work environment for talented employees and providing career opportunities for female employees. Women have risen to the challenge as engineers, research scientists, lawyers, and subject matter experts, as well as progressing into leadership positions in the company.

The most recent example of this trend is Fai K. Aldossary, now at the end of a one-year assignment at the Ras Tanura Refinery (RTR). During her assignment, Aldossary has had the distinction of becoming the company’s first female foreman in an industrial facility, serving as a maintenance foreman for process control instrumentation and electrical systems. She is planned for additional assignments as an operations foreman.

Being in a leadership post within an industrial facility and within the refinery fence is a challenging yet exciting opportunity.
— Fai K. Aldossary

“Being in the field complements my previous technical assignments across the company, allowing me to build a stronger technical foundation and exposing me to the different operational and maintenance processes across Aramco.”

The company has a strong record in empowering women in leadership with women having served in executive management and as chief engineer. “Successful deployment of women across Aramco facilities will grant them the opportunity to build on their theoretical knowledge as they deploy across different businesses within the company,” 

Aldossary said. 

Rising up the ranks

For Abdulsalam A. Alsaif, manager of RTR Operations, providing field assignments for rising female leaders is not only good for those women’s careers, but also for Aramco.

“It is part of the company talent development process for our potential future leaders,” Alsaif said. “Fai is planned for an operational assignment next, which will further expose her to various operational processes within an industrial facility, to help strengthen her critical thinking, improve decision making, and equip her with emergency response skills. Such skills will allow Fai to tailor her communication to various audiences within her role. To date, Fai has been instrumental within her leadership role.”

Preparing future leaders

In the decade since the launch of Aramco’s Accelerated Transformation Program, the company has developed innovative ways to prepare future leaders for the business lines. One program is the Young Leaders Advisory Board (YLAB), established in 2011, which acts as a bridge between corporate management and the youth of the company. Aldossary was selected for YLAB, and she said that the program gave her an opportunity to be involved with corporate management on key strategic issues.

“As a YLAB alumna, I have been involved in the various efforts undertaken by corporate management to prepare the company for the youth, and prepare the youth for the company as an enabler to our corporate strategic intent.”

Now, as her first assignment as maintenance foreman draws to a close, Aldossary is preparing for her next assignment at the refinery, serving as foreman for operations. To prepare for this assignment, she has identified two mentors within RTR, along with others who have worked in the RTR Operations Department, to capture lessons learned and industry best practices. She has also completed a number of mandatory courses for industrial unit heads.

Appreciating the experience

“Operations indeed has an added component of complexity, due to dealing with live equipment and machinery along with the management of overall plant performance, all while trying to meet monthly production targets,” said Aldossary. 

Her experience at RT has been an honor, Aldossary said. “I would never have appreciated the magnitude of the RTR function from an article or from hearing about it from colleagues as I do now in the midst of it with a scale that is beyond comprehension. RTR is recognized as the largest refinery in the region, and it continues to grow.”