Chief of Staff
Fervo Energy
Chief of Staff
Fervo Energy
Delivers 24/7 carbon-free geothermal energy
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.
The Chief of Staff to the VP of Operations will serve as a direct extension of the VP across Fervo’s Operations organization — spanning Operations Engineering, O&M, Production Engineering, and Commissioning — with accountability for keeping the full portfolio aligned, moving, and decision-ready. You will go where the leader cannot, represent the leader in forums the leader cannot attend, drive workstreams requiring senior coverage, and engage with full authority and accountability to make decisions on the leader’s behalf. This role reports directly to the VP of Operations.
Fervo is scaling an industry-defining geothermal program from Cape Station Phase I through a fleet of repeat-build plants, and the Chief of Staff to the VP of Operations owns the operational rhythm that enables a single leader to manage a program that would otherwise require three. You will track AFEs and forecast spend, reconcile change orders, prepare executive-grade deliverables, run cross-functional meetings, close action items, and stand in for the leader across engineering, commissioning, production engineering, and O&M coordination. You operate by reasoning from first principles, questioning every inherited requirement, eliminating what does not add value, simplifying what remains, accelerating where ownership permits, and building every output for repeatability across the next plant.
Strategic Partnership & Extension of Leadership
Serve as a direct extension of the VP of Operations, representing the leader in forums they cannot attend and driving workstreams that require senior coverage
Engage with full authority and accountability to make decisions on the leader’s behalf, keeping the full portfolio aligned, moving, and decision-ready
Anticipate slipping workstreams and overdue deliverables before being asked, surfacing causes and solutions proactively
Cross-Functional Coordination
Interface daily with Engineering, Commissioning, Production Engineering, O&M, HSSE, Supply Chain, and Finance to keep workstreams aligned and unblocked
Coordinate with external partners — OEMs, owner’s engineers, and vendor field service personnel — on behalf of Fervo leadership
Run cross-functional meetings: set agendas, drive decisions, capture action items, and follow them through to closure
Translate between disciplines so that engineering, operations, finance, and executives are working from the same picture
Financial Tracking & Cost Engineering
Own ongoing tracking of CapEx and OpEx budgets, AFEs, and actuals across owned workstreams; build and maintain monthly spend forecasts and variance analyses
Develop and refine cost models for Cape Station and follow-on plants — CapEx, OpEx, and lifecycle — in support of investment-grade forecasting and project decision-making
Manage vendor purchase orders, invoices, and accruals against scope and progress; flag commercial risk before it becomes a dispute
Prepare executive budget summaries, AFE narratives, and variance commentary that stand up to scrutiny from the ELT, the board, and external stakeholders
Risk, Schedule, & Decision Support
Track schedule, cost, and risk metrics across owned workstreams; produce the data and analysis leadership uses to make decisions
Maintain risk registers, RAG status reports, and 2-, 4-, and 8-week look-aheads. When a metric goes red, you bring a recovery plan, not a status update
Build executive-facing PowerPoint deliverables, briefing memos, and one-page summaries — clear, dense, and decision-ready
Process Standardization & Continuous Improvement
Identify duplicated effort, redundant approvals, and friction in current workflows; eliminate the unnecessary first, then simplify what remains
Build reusable templates, trackers, and standard operating procedures so that each successive plant begins with the accumulated advantage of those that came before it
Codify what works into Fervo’s playbook for plant delivery; treat every Cape Station deliverable as reusable IP for the next site
Question every inherited requirement — trace it to its source, and if no rationale can be established, treat it as a candidate for elimination
Special Initiatives & AI Adoption
Integrate AI tools into daily workflows to drive efficiency across reporting, cost tracking, scheduling, and cross-functional coordination; model their use for the broader operations team
Identify and lead special initiatives that fall outside existing functional lanes — process redesign, technology adoption, capability-building — and drive them to completion with the same ownership expected of core workstreams
Communication & Stakeholder Management
Draft executive communications, ELT QBR content, board materials, and regulatory submissions on behalf of leadership
Liaise with internal stakeholders (Engineering, Commissioning, Operations, Finance, HSSE, ELT) and external (OEMs, regulators, owner’s engineers) with discretion and judgment
Translate field reality into reporting that is concise enough for an executive and actionable enough for a craft foreman
Bachelor’s degree in an Engineering discipline (non-engineers will be considered if relevant experience can be demonstrated)
10+ years of experience in an engineering, finance, consulting, data science or operations role — preferably in the energy, oil & gas, or industrial sector
Demonstrated experience with project financial tracking: AFEs, budgets, change orders, vendor cost reconciliation, accruals, and variance analysis
Strong fluency reading and synthesizing engineering and construction documentation — P&IDs, schedules, drawings, vendor scope packages, commissioning procedures
Track record building executive-grade deliverables (PowerPoint, Excel models, written briefings) under tight deadlines
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to engage credibly with senior executives and field personnel alike
Track record of operating at the intersection of multiple disciplines — engineering, construction, commissioning, operations, finance
Comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and equally comfortable revising those decisions as better information becomes available
Willing and able (with or without reasonable accommodation) to travel to Cape Station and other Fervo locations up to 25% of the time
Direct experience with geothermal, ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle), combined-cycle gas, complex facilities, or other power plant commissioning, startup, or repowering projects
Prior chief-of-staff, business operations, or senior management role supporting a P&L owner or major program leader
Cost engineering, AFE management, or project controls background; experience with cost-loaded schedules, EVM, or formal project controls disciplines
Familiarity with various EDMS, Primavera P6, SmartPlant, Bluebeam, or comparable project execution and commissioning systems
Lean, Six Sigma, or TPS exposure, or a track record of cycle-time and cost reductions in a project execution environment
Experience preparing materials for ELT, board, investor, or regulatory audiences
Experience supporting or advising on PPAs and O&M agreements
Comfort leading RCA workshops, HAZOPs, MOC reviews, or other structured problem-solving forums
Startup-environment experience — comfortable building the process while running it
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 Houston, TX headquarters. Travel up to 25% is required for this role.
Benefits and programs are subject to eligibility requirements and may change.
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.
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.
Delivers 24/7 carbon-free geothermal energy
Fervo Energy develops and operates geothermal energy projects to provide 24/7 carbon-free power. It combines proven oil-and-gas technologies with geothermal science, notably horizontal drilling and distributed fiber-optic sensing, to unlock geothermal resources that were previously uneconomical. The company’s main product is a steady, carbon-free geothermal energy supply that can be sold to electricity providers seeking decarbonization. Its approach differs from competitors by applying oil-and-gas drilling methods and advanced sensing to unlock higher resource potential and deliver reliable, cost-effective energy. Fervo’s flagship Cape Station Project demonstrates this approach in action. The company’s goal is to accelerate the clean energy transition by delivering reliable, scalable geothermal energy and expanding geoscience-enabled solutions for decarbonizing the electricity sector.
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