OpeningsFirst
How it worksPricingLog in
OpeningsFirst › Jobs in the United States › Jobs in Houston, Texas

Seismologist

Fervo Energy Company · fervoenergy.com
HoustonRemote
Apply on Fervo Energy Company’s site

Straight from the company’s own careers site.

The job in short

Seismology research.

Details

Found
32 d ago · posted 2026-09-09
Location
Houston, TX, US

Full description

Description Fervo Energy is bringing next-generation geothermal power to commercial scale — 24/7 carbon-free energy that firms the grid rather than relying on it. By applying horizontal drilling, multi-stage stimulation, and fiber-optic subsurface sensing to Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), Fervo has moved geothermal from a resource-constrained niche to a scalable, dispatchable source of clean power. Fervo is seeking a Seismologist to lead the design, deployment, and processing of surface and borehole seismic monitoring networks across our EGS development portfolio. You will own our arrays of three-component geophones and broadband seismometers — sited at the surface, in shallow vaults and boreholes, and downhole in monitoring wells — from network geometry and instrumentation through calibration, data quality, and continuous processing. The central deliverable of this role is a high-precision, defensible earthquake catalog. Proficiency with HypoDD and GrowClust is required, and you will build, relocate, quality-control, and defend the catalogs that feed fracture-network characterization, reservoir models, induced-seismicity mitigation protocols, and regulatory and community engagement. Fervo also operates fiber-optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) in a number of wells, and you will incorporate DAS alongside the conventional sensor network as a complementary observing system. Familiarity with DAS is valuable, but it is not the focus of the role and is not required at hire — the conventional network and the relocated catalog come first. Requirements Responsibilities Surface and Borehole Geophone & Seismometer Networks • Design, deploy, and maintain surface and borehole geophone and seismometer networks. • Set network geometry and instrumentation to meet detection, location-accuracy, and completeness targets. • Own instrument response, sensor orientation and calibration, timing, and continuous data QC. • Run automated detection, phase picking, and event association across the network. • Build and maintain 1D and 3D velocity models and station corrections. • Manage field campaigns, vendor scopes, and data-delivery standards. Earthquake Location, Relocation, and Catalog Development • Run HypoDD for double-difference relocation. • Run GrowClust for relative relocation and hierarchical clustering. • Generate waveform cross-correlation differential travel times and maintain automated relocation pipelines. • Determine source parameters — magnitude, focal mechanism, moment tensor, and stress drop. • Interpret relocated seismicity as fracture geometry, stimulated volume, and fault reactivation. • Maintain a versioned production catalog with documented magnitudes, completeness, and uncertainty. Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) — complementary observing system • Incorporate DAS data from instrumented wells alongside the conventional network. • Perform joint DAS and sensor processing where it improves the catalog. • Interpret DAS response in a borehole setting, including its resolution limits. Induced Seismicity, Hazard, and Risk • Track b-value and magnitude of completeness, and forecast seismicity rates and maximum magnitude. • Develop real-time hazard algorithms using physics-based, statistical, and machine-learning methods. • Maintain traffic light protocols and mitigation strategies with operations. • Link observed seismicity to Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical reservoir models. • Represent Fervo with regulators, partners, and communities on induced-seismicity questions. Qualifications Required • Ph.D. in Geophysics, Seismology, Applied Mathematics, or a closely related field. No minimum years of industry or post-doctoral experience are required — recent and upcoming graduates are encouraged to apply. • Working proficiency with HypoDD and GrowClust, including generation of waveform cross-correlation differential travel times, parameter selection, and assessment of relocation uncertainty. This may have been developed through thesis work, post-doctoral research, or industry practice. • Solid grounding in surface and borehole seismic monitoring — network geometry and detectability, instrument response, sensor orientation and calibration, and earthquake detection, picking, and location. • Knowledge of earthquake source analysis, including moment tensor inversion, focal mechanism determination, magnitude estimation, and stress drop estimation. • Understanding of induced seismicity and seismic hazard concepts — magnitude of completeness, b-value, Gutenberg-Richter statistics, and ground-motion estimation. • Python proficiency for seismic data processing (ObsPy, NumPy/SciPy, pandas, or equivalent tooling) and comfort working in Linux environments with shell scripting and version control. • Ability to build velocity models and to produce, quality-control, and defend earthquake catalogs that others rely on. • Willingness to travel to field sites for network deployment, commissioning, and troubleshooting up to 20%. Preferred • High Performance Computing and large-scale distributed processing of continuous seismic data. • Machine learning applied to seismological problems, including deep-learning phase pickers.

All Fervo Energy Company jobs

Get jobs like this every morning

Jobs in India · Jobs in the US · Who’s hiring in India · Who’s hiring in the US · How OpeningsFirst works · Free jobs widget
OpeningsFirst · Use with AI · Terms · Privacy · Refunds · Contact