Careers at KBR

Mission

KBR provide a range of engineering, technology and consulting services to commercial and government entities, designed to bring efficiency, safety and quality to construction and infrastructure projects worldwide.

Business segments

KBR divides its operations into three core business segments:

  • Technology and Consulting, through which the Company provides technologies and customer-facing consulting services, under its Granherne, Energo and GVA consulting brands;
  • Engineering and Construction, through which the Company provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and maintenance services;
  • Government Services, through which the Company focuses on long-term government service contracts, particularly for the governments of the UK, Australia, and the US.

KBR also reports on two non-core segments:

  • Non-Strategic Business, comprising operations and activities that the Company’s intends to exit upon completion of existing contracts.
  • Other, comprising corporate expenses and general and administrative expenses that do not meet the criteria for group presentation.

History

KBR was formed as a unified entity in 1998 when M W Kellogg merged its operations with those of Brown and Root Engineering and Construction (“Brown and Root”). Both M W Kellogg and Brown and Root were established in the early 20th Century, respectively by Morris Woodruff Kellogg and by Herman Brown and Daniel Root. The two companies established themselves as significant domestic and international engineering groups, with both companies contributing their service to the war effort in the 1940s.

By the 1990s, M W Kellogg was operating as a subsidiary of Dresser Industries, which was acquired by Halliburton in 1998. Following this acquisition, M W Kellogg was merged with Brown and Root, which had already been acquired by Halliburton in the 1960s, forming KBR as it is now organised, and creating one of the largest engineering, procurement, construction and services companies. KBR operated as a Halliburton subsidiary until 2007, when it was separated from the group.

KBR was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006, raising $473 million in its initial public offering. It continues to be a publicly traded company, trading under the ticker symbol KBR, and has a current market capitalisation of $2.14 billion.

Business model of KBR

Customer Segments

KBR provides a range of services targeted primarily at commercial entities operating within the global hydrocarbons and international government services market sectors. The Company serves customers across the entirety of the oil and gas value chain, including companies within the following sectors:

  • Offshore and onshore oil and gas extraction companies;
  • Oil and gas refiners;
  • Petrochemicals producers;
  • Speciality chemicals producers; and
  • Fertiliser producers.

In 2015 the only client that accounted for more than 10% of KBR’s total revenue was Chevron, largely relating to a liquefied natural gas project in Australia. KBR also serves a number of government entities, particularly organisations belonging to the governments of the US, the UK, and Australia.

KBR serves customers across approximately 70 countries. The US continues to be the Company’s largest market, with projects in the US accounting for more than 40% of the Company’s total revenue for 2015.

Value Propositions

KBR provides value to its customers in the following ways:

  • Its reputation and industry standing, with a proven track-record for successfully delivering large, complex and difficult projects to clients globally;
  • Its health and safety and environmental record, with the Company implementing secure and fully compliant planning, assessment, and execution practices;
  • Its industry experience and technical expertise, with the Company providing technologically up-to-date services and employing highly-skilled and experienced staff up to the executive level;
  • Its asset services, with the Company providing comprehensive asset services throughout the course of long-term contracts and projects;
  • Its global reach, with the Company participating in projects across 70 countries worldwide.

Channels

KBR operates a website at www.kbr.com, through which its provides customers with information on its various activities, locations and projects. The nature of the Company’s services does not lend itself to the operation of an online sales channel.

KBR operates a network of physical sales and project offices across its numerous operating jurisdictions, including in India, Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, the UAE, China, and Angola. The Company operates direct sales teams organised geographically.

KBR also provides services through a number of joint-venture companies, where it works with regional partners on projects and groups of projects. These joint-ventures include Mantenimiento Marino de Mexico, Aspire Defence Holdings, and Brown and Root Industrial Services.

Customer Relationships

KBR does not offer any services to its customers on a self-service basis. The complex nature of the Company’s various projects requires that it consults directly with its customers to jointly outline a detailed project brief, including budget requirements and resource management. The Company works largely on a project-by-project basis, providing tailored services to each individual client. It, however, seeks to establish ongoing relationships, securing recurring business from its clients.

KBR provides ongoing support to its clients throughout their relationships. It also enables new and existing clients to contact the Company’s various departments and regional offices with enquiries, posting email and telephone contact information on its website. KBR additionally keeps its customers updated with company developments through its news portal and its social media accounts, including with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Key Activities

KBR is an engineering, procurement, construction and services company, primarily serving clients operating within the global hydrocarbons and international government services market sectors, including leading oil and gas groups such as Chevron.

The Company operates principally through three core business segments: Technology and Consulting, comprising its knowledge-based services activities with those of its three consulting brands as a single unit; Engineering and Construction, comprising project delivery solutions from conceptual planning, to delivery and ongoing asset services, such as maintenance; and .Government Services, comprising its engagement in service contracts for international government, principally those of the US, the UK, and Australia.

Key Partners

KBR collaborates in a number of ways with partner companies, with a view to extending its own range of services and supporting its various project operations. These partnerships can broadly be categorised as:

  • Joint Venture Partners, comprising other engineering firms and financial investors with which the Company typically collaborates on a regional basis or on specific projects through mutually-owned entities;
  • Alliance Partners, primarily comprising a range of industrial, engineering, and infrastructure companies with which the Company collaborates on non-core projects and shares tools and resources; and
  • Supplier Partners, comprising a range of resource and service providers that supplement KBR’s own offerings and support its project activities.

KBR has a number of joint-venture tie-ups, including with US-based Bernhard Capital Partner, Japan’s JGC and Choyoda, and Grupo R in Mexico. It has also recently launched a project with alliance partners John Holland, VicRoads, Metro Trains Melbourne, Public Transport Victoria, and the Level Crossing Removal Authority to undertake rail infrastructure renovations in Australia.

Key Resources

KBR’s key resources are its technologies and intellectual properties, its equipment and physical infrastructure, its supply chain, its partnerships, and its personnel.

KBR has developed or has the right to license a range of technologies, including technologies held under license from third parties, used for the production of a variety of petrochemicals and chemicals, which the Company believes differentiates it from its competitors. KBR protects these technologies through various patents and agreements.

Cost Structure

KBR incurs costs in relation to the maintenance and operation of its physical infrastructure and equipment, the management of its supply chain, the management of its partnerships, and the retention of its personnel.

In 2015, the Company’s accrued general and administrative costs in the amount of $155 million, comprising corporate overhead expenses corporate business development, information technology, finance and corporate accounting, and the payment of salaries and benefits to its workforce of 22,000 employees worldwide.

Revenue Streams

KBR generates revenue through the provision of various engineering and consulting services, divided across its three core segments:

  • Technology and Consulting, comprising revenue derived by the Company’s three consulting units and its knowledge-based services;
  • Engineering and Construction, comprising revenue derived from the Company’s participation in large-scale engineering and infrastructure projects; and
  • Government Services, comprising revenue derived from government service contracts.

In 2015 KBR generated annual revenue of $5.10 billion, down considerably on the $6.37 billion recorded by the Company in 2014. The Company attributed this decrease to the completion of several large engineering and construction projects and the deconsolidation of its industrial Services Americas business.

The vast majority of KBR’s revenue is generated by its Engineering and Construction segment, which recorded an annual revenue of $3.50 billion in 2015. The Government Services segment recorded revenue of $663 million, while the Technology and Consulting segment recorded $324.

Our team

Stuart Bradie,
President and Chief Executive Officer

info: Stuart (“Bradie”) joined KBR in 2014, assuming the role of President and Chief Executive Officer on his arrival. Bradie has worked within the engineering and consulting industry for close to 30 years. Prior to joining KBR, Bradie worked as Worley Parsons, which he had joined in 2001. He served initially in regional management roles, including positions within Ranhill Worley Sdn Bhd of Malaysia. He went on to serve as Managing Director of Worley Parsons’s operations across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and later as Group Managing Director of Operations and Delivery. Before joining Worley Parsons, Bradie served in Managing Director and Country Manager roles at PT Kvaerner Indonesia and Kvaerner Philippines.

Brian Ferraioli,
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

info: Brian (“Ferraioli”) has served as Executive Vice President and chief Financial Officer at KBR since 2013. Ferraioli has more than 37 years of financial and accounting experience within the engineering and construction industries. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Shaw Group in Baton Rouge, leaving the company for KBR following its sale in 2013 to Chicago Bridge and Iron. Prior to his time at The Shaw Group, Ferraioli was a long-serving employee of Foster Wheeler, an engineering consultancy and project management firm he had first joined in 1979 as an internal auditor. He went on to serve as Vice President and Corporate Controller before leaving the company in 2007.

Graham Hill,
Executive Vice President of Global Business Development and Strategy

info: Graham (“Hill”) is KBR's joined KBR in 2014 as its Executive Vice President responsible for Global Business Development and Strategy. Hill has worked within the engineering and consulting services industry since the 1970s. Like Bradie, he joined KBR from Worley Parsons, where he had served since 2002, primarily as Senior Vice President of Business Development across Asia Pacific and Senior Vice President of Global Business Development. Before joining Worley Parsons, he worked briefly at KBC Advanced Technologies as Vice President of Asia Pacific, prior to which he was a long-serving employee of Kvaerner Engineering and Construction, which he joined in 1979. He served in a number of roles at the company, particularly within the Asia Pacific region, including a spell as Senior Vice President of Hydrocarbons for Asia Pacific.