Director of Software Engineering (Oakland)

Position Description

Fervo Energy is the leading developer of next-generation geothermal power. We design, build, own, and operate geothermal wellfields, pipelines, power plants, and transmission assets — delivering firm, flexible clean power to utilities and hyperscalers. As we scale our fleet of projects, we are building the digital infrastructure to match: a robust Azure-based data platform that unifies real-time operational data with back-office systems, and an enterprise application layer that puts that data to work.

Fervo is hiring a Director of Software Engineering to build and lead the software organization responsible for our internal application layer. Reporting directly to the CTO, this leader will own the architecture, roadmap, and delivery model for software products that support Fervo’s rapidly scaling business.

This is an opportunity to build production software at the intersection of energy infrastructure, industrial operations, data, and AI. The systems you build will help teams across Fervo improve workflows, connect information, and make more informed decisions as the company grows.

The ideal candidate is both an engineering leader and a product-minded builder: someone who can work closely with internal stakeholders, understand complex business and operational needs, and lead a team that ships durable, high-impact software.

Responsibilities

• Own the internal application architecture. Define and maintain the architecture for Fervo-built applications, including application patterns, service boundaries, integrations, deployment models, observability, and application-level security. Partner closely with data, IT, cybersecurity, and business stakeholders to ensure Fervo’s software ecosystem is scalable, secure, maintainable, and built to evolve with the company.
• Build business-facing software products. Lead the development of internal applications that translate data and operational context into clearer workflows, better visibility, and more effective decision‑making. These may include workflow tools, reporting systems, dashboards, automation capabilities, and AI-enabled applications.
• Work forward-deployed with operational teams. Embed directly with drilling engineers, wellfield operators, power plant technicians, and commercial leads to understand their workflows and pain points. Rapidly prototype and ship MVPs into live production environments, iterate with real users, and bring operational learnings back to the core engineering and data platform teams.
• Lead a product-oriented engineering model. Build a software team that works closely with stakeholders across the business to translate ambiguous needs into deployed software. Balance embedded discovery with centralized architecture and engineering discipline so that Fervo’s software ecosystem compounds over time.
• Build and lead the software engineering team. Hire, manage, and grow a team of full‑stack engineers, backend engineers, and product managers. Establish engineering culture, delivery practices, technical standards, and operating rhythms that allow a small, high‑leverage team to move quickly while building durable systems.
• Advance Fervo’s use of AI-enabled applications. Partner with technical and business leaders to identify, prioritize, and deliver practical AI-enabled software capabilities. Focus on production‑grade tools that improve workflows, reduce manual effort, and support better decision‑making.
• Establish engineering standards for the application stack. Set the practices that support high‑quality software delivery, including CI/CD, testing, code review, documentation, observability, incident response, and application security. Partner with IT and cybersecurity on identity, access management, infrastructure standards, and enterprise security requirements.
• Manage vendor and integration relationships. Own technical relationships for software vendors and integration partners that support Fervo’s internal application ecosystem.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, including at least 3 years in a technical leadership or engineering management role.
• Experience building and deploying production full-stack or backend applications in cloud environments.
• Strong backend engineering fundamentals, including modern programming languages, API design, authentication and authorization patterns, and production‑grade integration design.
• Hands‑on experience integrating applications with modern data platforms or enterprise systems.
• Experience deploying AI, machine learning, or automation-enabled features into production environments.
• Demonstrated ability to lead engineering teams, manage technical roadmaps, and make prioritization tradeoffs across competing business needs.
• Strong product judgment, with a track record of scoping and shipping the simplest useful solution to a real business problem.
• Ability to work with non‑technical stakeholders, understand complex workflows, and translate ambiguous needs into software requirements and deployed systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building applications on ontology-based or semantic data platforms — Palantir Foundry, Microsoft Fabric semantic models, custom ontology frameworks, or similar systems where application logic is expressed against real-world object models rather than raw tables.
• Energy, industrial operations, or infrastructure sector experience — oil & gas, power generation, mining, or utilities.
• Production experience building and deploying full-stack applications on Azure (App Service, Functions, AKS, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with operational technology data: SCADA, time‑series telemetry, or industrial IoT systems.
• Experience with Enverus or equivalent energy data platforms (OpenInvoice, Quorum, Aucerna).
• Startup or high-growth company background where you have built production systems under resource and time constraints.
• Experience with geospatial data, permitting workflows, or subsurface data management.

What We’re Looking For

In the first year, you will have established Fervo’s software engineering function as a high‑leverage partner to the business. You will have hired and developed a small team, defined the architecture for Fervo’s internal application layer, shipped production applications that improve critical workflows, and created a repeatable model for turning business needs into software products.

Longer term, your work will help Fervo build a connected, scalable software ecosystem that improves how teams access information, coordinate work, and make decisions as the company grows.

Why Fervo

Fervo is solving one of the most important problems in energy: delivering around-the-clock, carbon-free power at scale. We are combining geothermal innovation, operational execution, and modern technology to build a new category of clean energy company.

This role sits at the center of that transformation. You will help define how software, data, and AI become part of Fervo’s operating system as we scale.

Location

Fervo Energy is headquartered in Houston, TX with offices in Oakland, CA, Golden, CO, Reno, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT. This position is an in‑person role in our Oakland, CA; Golden, CO; Houston, TX headquarters. Travel up to 25% is required for this role.

Compensation & Benefits

Fervo provides a comprehensive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, short‑term and long‑term disability, flexible paid time off, and paid parental leave. Additionally, Fervo offers an incentive stock options program, a bonus incentive program, and a 401(k) plan with an employer match.

Fervo Energy is providing the compensation range and general description of other compensation and benefits that the company in good faith believes it might pay and/or offer for this position based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities in addition to internal equity and geographic location. Expected Salary: $269,115 - $300,000 based on Colorado locality, pay in other locations may vary.

Fervo Energy reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, or federal law.

Fervo Energy is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, gender, religion, marital status, registered domestic partner status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sex, genetic information, sexual orientation, military and veteran status or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local laws. It also prohibits unlawful discrimination based on the perception that anyone has any of those characteristics or is associated with a person who has or is perceived as having any of those characteristics.