VP, People

Fervo Energy; Houston (TX); Hybrid; USD 250,000 - 420,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) matching

Flexible PTO and parental leave

Employee stock purchase program

Bonus opportunities

Job summary

Fervo Energy is seeking a VP of People to own the people strategy, governance, and culture across a fast-growing energy company. You will design organization structure, lead compensation and equity programs, and ensure fair pay, development, and high engagement at scale.

This role reports to the COO and operates with significant autonomy to enable quick, informed decisions. The ideal leader will partner with all teams to anticipate risks, design talent programs, and drive a high-performance

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree; advanced degree is a plus.
• 10+ years in people leadership, including 5+ years leading a People function at a fast-paced company.
• Direct experience preparing for and presenting to a board audience.
• Expertise in compensation design and equity programs.
• Track record of building a team and holding them to high performance.
• Experience scaling an organization’s headcount.
• Command of multi-state employment compliance.

Responsibilities

• Own the long-range people strategy and org design across field crews, plant operators, engineers, and corporate teams.
• Partner with all functions on headcount planning and organizational design to surface risks early.
• Lead compensation, equity, and benefits philosophy and execution including merit cycles and pay equity analytics.
• Own engagement, retention, and cross-site talent strategies to prevent attrition and bottlenecks.
• Oversee and lead talent acquisition strategy for hourly/field and salaried/technical roles.
• Build a high-performing People team with clear goals and accountability.
• Develop systems and analytics to make People a source of operational insight.

Skills

People leadership

Board communication

Compensation design

Equity programs

Team building

Headcount scaling

Multi-state compliance

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree

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 VP of People will own Fervo’s people strategy and run the function independently. They will hold a high bar for themselves and their team as the architects of Fervo’s people strategy and culture. They will ensure we hire exceptional people, pay them fairly and competitively, develop them, and keep them highly engaged. They will also run high-stakes work such as compensation, compliance, and board governance, and they will work proactively with the leaders of every team to spot risks before they become problems, whether that is a project deadline that lands over the holidays or a staffing gap that is about to open, and put the morale and financial support structures in place early. This person will report to the COO, who will act as a strategic thought partner, but the role will operate with significant autonomy, proposing direction and translating it into a high-performing People function.

We care more about how this person thinks than where they have worked, and they must have proven rigor in the fundamentals of running a people-first organization. We are at an inflection point, and the right leader will help design the organization deliberately, measure success, and make it easier to scale with every site we bring online.

Responsibilities

Own the long-range people strategy, including org design, workforce planning, and leadership development, and tie it to the GeoBlock deployment roadmap. Design the organization we need ahead of demand across field crews, plant operators, engineers, and corporate teams.

Partner with all Fervo functions on headcount planning and organizational design, surfacing people risks and constraints before they become bottlenecks.

Serve as the architect of our compensation, equity, and benefits philosophy and execution, including leveling, benchmarking, bonus design, annual equity refresh, and the annual benefits renewal. Run the annual merit cycle with pay-equity analytics and clear, transparent communication.

Own engagement and retention strategy, understanding why people stay and why they leave, and act before trends manifest as attrition.

Oversee and lead talent acquisition strategy and continually raise the hiring bar as we grow headcount across both hourly/field and salaried/technical roles.

Build and develop a high-performing People team, with clear goals and strong accountability.

Build the systems and analytics that make People a source of operational insight, not just administration.

Be one of Fervo’s most visible culture carriers, including at our sites.

Own public-company people disclosure and multi-state employment compliance in partnership with Legal and Finance.

Own the board-level compensation committee preparation and delivery, from analysis and materials to presenting alongside the COO.

Bolster an explicit and durable culture. Raise the performance bar through manager capability, honest feedback, and differentiated performance management systems.

Qualifications

Required

Bachelor’s degree; advanced degree is a plus

10+ years in people leadership, including 5+ years leading a People function or major People discipline at a fast-paced company

Direct experience preparing for and presenting to a board audience

Expertise in compensation design and equity programs

Track record of building a team and holding them accountable to high performance

Experience scaling an organization’s headcount

A command of multi-state employment compliance

Preferred

Public company experience, including public company disclosure requirements

Experience with both hourly/field and salaried/technical workforces

Background in energy, industrial, manufacturing, or hardware

Experience designing or redesigning a comp system, hiring engine, or culture program

Excellent executive presence and communication skills, from board presentations to site-level town halls

Who Thrives at Fervo

We screen for attributes as much as experience. The people who do best here share a few things in common:

First-principles thinkers – they question conventional wisdom and can explain the "why" behind every decision

Extreme ownership mindset – when something isn’t working, they own the diagnosis and the fix

Bias for speed and iteration – they ship imperfect things and make them better over time

Simplifiers – they cut complexity

Data-driven and decisive – they set metrics for success, drive creative analyses, and trust their instincts when interpreting the data

Direct communicators – comfortable delivering hard feedback and having hard conversations

Mission-driven – they believe geothermal energy matters and want to build first-of-a-kind energy systems

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 in our Houston office will be required.

• 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 up to 6% 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 LTI 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.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Fervo Energy’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.