Engineering Manager

Fervo Energy; Houston (TX); Hybrid; USD 189,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Bonus program

401(k) with company match

Flexible PTO

Paid parental leave

Hybrid office schedule

Job summary

Fervo Energy seeks an Engineering Manager to own the ORC equipment and plant layout, leading a cross-disciplinary team from conception through startup. You will coordinate thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid systems across multiple projects, ensuring on-time delivery and strong collaboration with OEMs and suppliers.

The role requires a track record of shipping hardware, a willingness to travel to sites, and a hybrid office schedule in Houston and other locations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, or another engineering discipline.
• 6+ years of professional engineering experience designing, building, and delivering hardware in a manufacturing, energy, aerospace, automotive, or heavy industrial environment.
• Experience directly managing an engineering team, including hiring, performance management, and technical mentorship.
• Experience owning a piece of equipment or a system from concept and design through analysis, procurement, build, test, and startup or production release.
• Track record of high performance in a fast-paced, fast-scaling, or manufacturing-mode environment.
• A highly collaborative approach and dedication to continuous improvement.
• Willingness to travel to project sites and OEM facilities as needed, including time in the field during construction, commissioning, and startup.

Responsibilities

• Own budget, schedule, and technical execution for the ORC equipment and layout scope, including air-cooled condenser, heat exchangers, recuperators, feed pumps, piping, cabling layout, and associated low-voltage equipment, across all projects and basins.
• Take responsibility from preliminary design through detailed engineering, analysis, procurement, fabrication, construction, commissioning, and startup, and hand it over to Operations.
• Own the plant layout and 3D model: where the equipment sits, how the pipe and cable are routed, and whether people can build it, reach it, and maintain it.
• Support the whole group’s design reviews and disseminate higher level requirements to the group to help them determine their individual equipment and system requirements.
• Own how our OEMs perform on your equipment: evaluate technical bids, own the specifications and datasheets, review vendor drawings, run factory acceptance tests and inspection plans.
• Supply Chain owns the commercial side; you own the technical side, and you work as one team.
• Make the heat exchange train cheaper and better with every version using thermal analysis, process simulation, and performance data.
• Hire, mentor and lead a team of engineers while holding a high technical bar, driving individual ownership and ensuring everyone understands the priorities/goals of the company.
• Help build out processes and strategy that will allow for an order of magnitude scaling in both speed and number of deployed units.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Thermodynamics

Project management

Team mentorship

Cross-functional collaboration

3D CAD

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Chemical Engineering

Tools

SolidWorks

Inventor

AutoCAD Plant 3D

SmartPlant

Revit

HTRI

Aspen HYSYS

CFD

Job description

Fervo Energy (NASDAQ: FRVO) is a modern power company developing next-generation geothermal resources to meet the growing demand for affordable, reliable, 24/7 carbon-free energy. Our mission is to transform geothermal into America’s most dependable and affordable source of clean, around-the-clock power. By combining innovations in horizontal drilling, fiber-optic sensing, and advanced reservoir engineering, Fervo has developed a repeatable approach to building utility-scale enhanced geothermal systems. Our flagship Cape Station development in Utah is planned to deliver 500 MW of firm, carbon-free power, and we are advancing a development pipeline of more than 50 GW. Join us and work alongside world-class engineers, geoscientists, operators, project builders, and business leaders working to make geothermal a cornerstone of a more reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy future.

Position Description

The Engineering Manager owns the ORC equipment and plant layout: everything in the power cycle except the turbine and generator. That means the air-cooled condenser, heat exchangers, pumps, piping, cabling layout, and associated low-voltage equipment. You own design, cost, and schedule for that scope from preliminary design through startup, on every project in every basin Fervo builds in. You lead a cross-functional team of process, mechanical, electrical, and structural/civil engineers and are accountable for schedule, budget, cost forecasting, quality of work, and the performance of the OEMs and suppliers who build the equipment. You will work every day with the electrical, controls, turbine and pipeline teams, as well as with Supply Chain, Construction, and Operations. We are looking for an engineer who knows thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid systems cold, has led and grown a team of engineers before, and has shipped real hardware in a manufacturing or hardware business. This role reports to the Director of Engineering.

Responsibilities

Own budget, schedule, and technical execution for the ORC equipment and layout scope, including air-cooled condenser, heat exchangers, recuperators, feed pumps, piping, cabling layout, and associated low-voltage equipment, across all projects and basins

Take responsibility from preliminary design through detailed engineering, analysis, procurement, fabrication, construction, commissioning, and startup, and hand it over to Operations

Own the plant layout and 3D model: where the equipment sits, how the pipe and cable are routed, and whether people can build it, reach it, and maintain it.

Support the whole group’s design reviews and disseminate higher level requirements to the group to help them determine their individual equipment and system requirements

Own how our OEMs perform on your equipment: evaluate technical bids, own the specifications and datasheets, review vendor drawings, run factory acceptance tests and inspection plans. Supply Chain owns the commercial side; you own the technical side, and you work as one team

Make the heat exchange train cheaper and better with every version using thermal analysis, process simulation, and performance data

Hire, mentor and lead a team of engineers while holding a high technical bar, driving individual ownership and ensuring everyone understands the priorities/goals of the company

Help build out processes and strategy that will allow for an order of magnitude scaling in both speed and number of deployed units. This encompasses technical infrastructure, communication practices and technical capability.

Qualifications

Required

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, or another engineering discipline

6+ years of professional engineering experience designing, building, and delivering hardware in a manufacturing, energy, aerospace, automotive, or heavy industrial environment

Experience directly managing an engineering team, including hiring, performance management, and technical mentorship

Experience owning a piece of equipment or a system from concept and design through analysis, procurement, build, test, and startup or production release

Track record of high performance in a fast-paced, fast-scaling, or manufacturing-mode environment

A highly collaborative approach and dedication to continuous improvement

Willingness to travel to project sites and OEM facilities as needed, including time in the field during construction, commissioning, and startup

Preferred

Proficiency in 3D CAD (SolidWorks, Inventor, NX, Creo or similar) or plant design tools (AutoCAD Plant 3D, SmartPlant, Revit or similar)

Strong thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics background applied to heat exchangers, air-cooled condensers, pumps, and ORC, steam, or refrigeration cycles

Experience with thermal and process analysis tools such as HTRI, Aspen HYSYS or CFD

Working knowledge of the codes and standards this equipment is built to including ASME B31.1/B31.3 piping and ASME Section VIII pressure vessels, API 610/660/661 and NFPA

Experience managing OEMs and suppliers, including technical bid evaluation, vendor drawing review, factory acceptance testing (FAT), and inspection and test plans (ITPs)

Piping design, pipe stress analysis, pipe support, and plant layout experience

Experience running design reviews, change control, and standardizing or modularizing a product that used to be built one at a time

Hands-on commissioning and startup experience with rotating equipment, heat exchangers, or process piping systems

Power generation, geothermal, renewable energy, oil and gas, or chemical process facilities background

Experience working with EPC contractors and managing multiple projects simultaneously

Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Location

Fervo Energy has offices in Houston, TX, Golden, CO, Reno, NV, Oakland, CA, and Salt Lake City, UT. This position will be eligible for some hybrid work flexibility, but regular in-office presence at any of the above locations will be required.

Compensation

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:$188,554 - $225,000 based on location and experience.

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 offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your health, financial well-being, and life outside of work. Benefits for eligible employees include:
• Medical, dental, and vision plan options
• Employer-paid basic life insurance and short-term and long-term disability coverage
• A 401(k) plan with a dollar-for-dollar company match
• Flexible paid time off and paid parental leave
• Family-building, fertility, hormonal health, pregnancy, postpartum, and parenting support through Carrot
• A dependent care FSA for eligible child and elder care expenses
• An annual Lifestyle Spending Account for eligible wellness expenses, including fitness, financial planning, pet insurance, and pet care
• Employee ownership opportunities through Fervo’s Employee Stock Purchase Program, as well as stock option grants and bonus opportunities for eligible roles

Benefits and programs are subject to eligibility requirements and may change.

Our Workplace

Fervo Energy highly values having employees work in the office to foster collaboration and strengthen our company culture. This role follows a hybrid schedule, with team members expected to work in the office three days per week. Fervo considers this in-office schedule an essential function of the role. Your recruiter can share more information about the schedule.

Equal Opportunity Employer

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 or veteran status, or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state, or local law. Fervo also prohibits discrimination based on the perception that an individual has any of these characteristics or is associated with a person who has or is perceived as having any of these characteristics.