Should I take a job with Apollo?

Can’t speak to whether or not you should take the job but I am interested to know what the comp is like. How much of an increase is it over your current comp?

As for deciding on the offer, I would reach out the people at Apollo with engineering backgrounds on linkedin for additional insight. HR could also set you up with some phone calls. I had many company’s offer to put me in touch with current analysts when debating an offer. Definitely take advantage of talking to people at the firm

I'm currently a reservoir engineer at Shell and trying to transition to PE/IB. Have not had any luck with PE, can I ask how you got in contact with them?

Apollo has a reputation of grinding its (very highly compensated) associates into the dirt.

That said, it sounds like this is not an investment professional position and is instead more focused on management / operations for a specific port co or set of port cos. For this reason, I wouldn't worry too much about not having a strong background in finance - they aren't going to be looking at you to run models or pencil out returns.

With the disclaimer that I only know as much as you have shared here, if I had to guess, this will be a very similar roll to your prior one just with a financial sponsor "behind the curtain". This aspect may actually be a benefit relative to your prior job working at a public company as you will have access to the resources necessary to help make your job more efficient and productive.

Hope this helps

Knowing a few of their natural resources port cos, if I were a PE I would be very enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with those companies. Double Eagle especially is a very interesting group based on their Permian activity.

take it and reapply to tier 1 MBA program in 2 years

It's hard to say without knowing where you'd like to take your career in the future, but I think it would be a good move. In general, oil nationals and corporates manage their balance sheet/investments in a relatively different nature than PE firms.

For instance, I have seen very few PE firms play in the upstream space as dry-hole risk (and associated loss of capital) is too great to mitigate. Mid-stream and down-stream producing assets; with a focus on maximizing production and reducing cost, is a classic PE play with low risk relative to drilling a new well. Returning capital to investors, with strong returns, is the main investment goal.

In contrast, large oil majors will develop riskier assets with the chance to monopolize or claim a large portion of future production, and are willing to risk capital that may require significant re-investment if things don't go according to Plan A.

Since you are working in A&D, you likely have a reasonable grasp of O&G valuation. I think this role, if you are given good exposure, will likely make you a better operator in the long run as you will work with a different operating model.

Regarding work-life balance, it will likely be a little worse than a corporate, but most firms treat their technical staff well as they are can always leave for "industry" with regular working hours, which is not the case for junior bankers. It's ultimately up to your manager, so you never know.

Finally, I would take a little detail out of your post. It's a small world out there.

Prepare to be brutalized.

If you want to do reservoir engineering work, stay in O&G. If you want to switch to finance, you're probably better off transitioning to energy IBD, so you're not fully pigeon-holed as the reservoir engineering guy.

I would take it. Worst case scenario, you build your resume for two years and have a new experience to learn from while meeting a ton of smart people. I see this as 1) comp bump 2) resume' building for your future 3) great network building

I would suggest removing the name "Apollo", and replacing with "private equity mega fund"

Have nothing to offer, but just want to be a fly on the wall here and see where this goes.

Would love to see how this experience unfolds, from the daily grind to the exit opp.