GIS Data Administrator

Fervo Energy Co.; United States; Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Fervo Energy is seeking a GIS Data Administrator to own the integrity, architecture, and governance of its enterprise geodatabase and spatial data ecosystem.

The role sits on the data infrastructure side of the GIS program—administering the geodatabase, building data pipelines, and maintaining authoritative land status, project boundaries, and operational spatial datasets relied upon by GIS analysis, applications, and field operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in GIS, Geography, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field or equivalent professional experience.
• 4+ years of GIS data management, geodatabase administration, or spatial data engineering.
• Expert proficiency in ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Enterprise/Portal geodatabase administration.
• Hands-on experience with enterprise relational spatial databases (PostgreSQL/PostGIS or SQL Server Spatial).
• Demonstrated experience building and maintaining automated spatial data pipelines using Python.
• Strong understanding of GIS data quality, metadata standards, and governance practices.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and administer Fervo’s enterprise geodatabase environment (ArcGIS Enterprise/Portal and ArcGIS Online).
• Define and enforce geodatabase data models, feature class schemas, relationships, domains, and topology rules.
• Manage geodatabase versioning workflows for concurrent editing.
• Monitor geodatabase performance and plan storage/capacity needs.
• Administer back-end spatial databases (PostgreSQL/PostGIS or SQL Server Spatial).
• Develop and maintain ETL pipelines to ingest and publish spatial data.
• Build automated data update workflows using Python and ETL tools like FME.
• Integrate external data sources into the data environment on defined refresh schedules.
• Coordinate with GIS Developer on publication and hosted layer updates.
• Support CAD-to-GIS data conversion workflows with CAD Manager.

Skills

GIS data management

Geodatabase administration

Spatial data governance

Python scripting

ArcGIS Pro

PostgreSQL/PostGIS

Education

Bachelor’s degree in GIS, Geography, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field

Tools

ArcGIS Enterprise/Portal

PostgreSQL

SQL Server Spatial

FME

Python

Job description

The GIS Data Administrator owns the integrity, architecture, and governance of Fervo’s enterprise geodatabase and spatial data ecosystem.

Fervo is working to build the most cost-effective, repeatable power plants in the world, unlocking 24/7 carbon-free energy from geothermal. Delivering on this mission demands strategic clarity, organizational discipline, and the ability to execute with speed across a complex, capital-intensive business. As Fervo scales from first-of-a-kind demonstration into fleet-scale project development, the company is building the operational rigor, capital strategy, and cross-functional alignment required to deliver geothermal at global scale.

Description

The GIS Data Administrator owns the integrity, architecture, and governance of Fervo’s enterprise geodatabase and spatial data ecosystem. This role sits on the data infrastructure side of Fervo’s GIS program — administering the geodatabase, building data pipelines, and maintaining the authoritative land status, project boundary, and operational spatial datasets that GIS analysis, applications, and field operations all depend on.

The GIS Data Administrator works closely with the GIS Developer and GIS team to ensure that data is accurate, well-organized, and reliably accessible across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and administer Fervo’s enterprise geodatabase environment (ArcGIS Enterprise/Portal and ArcGIS Online), including schema design, version management, replica management, and database maintenance.
• Define and enforce geodatabase data models, feature class schemas, relationship classes, domains, and topology rules in alignment with project and regulatory requirements.
• Manage geodatabase versioning workflows to support concurrent editing by GIS analysts, developers, and field data collection systems.
• Monitor geodatabase performance, conduct routine maintenance (compress, rebuild indexes, analyze), and plan for storage and capacity needs.
• Administer back-end spatial database infrastructure (PostgreSQL/PostGIS or SQL Server Spatial) in coordination with IT.
• Develop and maintain ETL (extract, transform, load) pipelines to ingest, validate, and publish spatial and tabular data from land, engineering, permitting, and operational sources into the enterprise geodatabase.
• Build automated data update workflows using Python (ArcPy, arcgis module, pandas) and FME or similar integration tools.
• Integrate authoritative external data sources including BLM LR2000, state GIS portals, county assessors, USGS, and FEMA into Fervo’s data environment on defined refresh schedules.
• Coordinate with the GIS Developer on feature layer publication, web service schema, and hosted layer update automation.
• Support CAD-to-GIS data conversion workflows in partnership with the CAD Manager, ensuring geometric and attribute accuracy upon ingestion.

Data Governance & Quality Control

• Establish and enforce spatial data standards, metadata conventions, naming schemas, and coordinate reference system policies across the GIS program.
• Develop and implement automated data validation rules and QA/QC workflows to detect and flag data quality issues before publication.
• Conduct periodic audits of GIS datasets for currency, completeness, and accuracy; document findings and coordinate corrections with data owners.
• Maintain authoritative GIS datasets for land status, federal and state ownership, lease areas, project boundaries, well locations, infrastructure, and operational features across the Western U.S.
• Develop and maintain a GIS data catalog and metadata documentation to support discoverability and reuse across teams.

Organizational Support & Collaboration

• Serve as the internal subject-matter expert on spatial data infrastructure; advise project teams on data sourcing, schema design, and best practices.
• Coordinate with Land, Legal, Environmental, Permitting, and Engineering teams to understand data requirements and ensure GIS datasets support permitting, title diligence, and construction workflows.
• Support due diligence activities for land acquisitions and project financings by preparing accurate spatial data packages and summaries.
• Contribute to internal GIS documentation, data management training materials, and onboarding resources for new team members.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in GIS, Geography, Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field; or equivalent professional experience.
• 4+ years of professional experience in GIS data management, geodatabase administration, or spatial data engineering.
• Expert proficiency in ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Enterprise/Portal geodatabase administration.
• Hands-on experience with enterprise relational spatial databases (PostgreSQL/PostGIS or SQL Server Spatial).
• Demonstrated experience building and maintaining automated spatial data pipelines using Python.
• Strong understanding of GIS data quality principles, metadata standards, and spatial data governance practices.

Preferred

• Experience with Western U.S. federal and state land data sources (BLM, USFS, state trust land offices, county assessors) strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with FME (Feature Manipulation Engine) or similar ETL platforms a plus.
• Background in energy, natural resources, environmental consulting, or land development preferred.
• Strong organizational and documentation skills; able to manage a complex data environment with disciplined structure.
• Collaborative with a track record of working effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders to define and meet data needs.
• Self-directed with the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced, multi-project environment.

Location

Fervo Energy is headquartered in Houston, TX with growing offices in Oakland, CA, Golden, CO, Reno, NV, and Salt Lake City, UT. This position will be eligible for some hybrid work flexibility, but regular in-office presence at a Fervo office location will be required.

Fervo Energy commercializes technology to own, develop, and operate geothermal assets as the dispatchable foundation to a 100% clean energy future. As a 24/7, reliable clean energy resource, geothermal energy has a major role to play in the future electric grid and Fervo Energy’s key innovations bring a full suite of modern technology to make geothermal cost competitive. Fervo’s innovations include technologies such as advanced computational models, horizontal drilling, and distributed fiber optic sensing that we have developed with partners including Schlumberger, ARPA-E, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Fervo is supported through Cyclotron Road, the Department of Energy, Stanford University, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

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.