Water scarcity critically affects agricultural productivity in arid and semi-arid regions, impacting wolfberry cultivation in Northwest China. To enhance water use efficiency, subsurface irrigation with ceramic emitters (SICE) has been proposed. However, determining an optimal working water head under SICE to minimize water loss and improve water utilization of wolfberry remains underexplored. We used the HYDRUS-2D model to simulate SICE under three climate scenarios (wet, normal and dry year) and optimized dynamic working water head based on water balance components and evaluated by field experiment. Results showed that soil water content under SICE in various constant working water heads generally remained stable between 80 % and 100 % field capacity. Moreover, soil wetting patterns at 10 cm, 20 cm and 30 cm working water head matched wolfberry root zone. Furthermore, cumulative evapotranspiration and deep percolation significantly as working water head rising from 0 cm to 50 cm in three climate scenarios. Meanwhile, a dynamic working water head rising from 10 cm to 30 cm at 40 days after bud burst and dropping to 10 cm at 100 days (10-30-10 cm) is recommended for dry and normal years (rainfall < 200 mm), outperforming two constant working water heads in yield, water use efficiency, and vitamin C content by 29.5 %, 33.3 %, and 41.1 %, respectively. For wet year (rainfall > 200 mm), a dynamic working water head of 0-10-0 cm is suggested. This study highlights the effectiveness of dynamic working water head strategies under SICE to optimize water uptake and minimize deep percolation risks, providing a practical irrigation solution for sustainable agriculture in water-limited regions.