Senior Telecommunications Engineer

Fervo Energy•Houston, TX

17d•Hybrid

About The Position

Fervo is seeking a Senior Telecommunications Engineer to build and own the company's physical network infrastructure program. This role is crucial for supporting geothermal operations, enterprise connectivity, and fiber optic sensing. The engineer will be responsible for the planning, design, records, and acceptance of outside plant (OSP) fiber, inside plant (ISP) fiber and structured copper cabling, pathways, telecommunications rooms, racks, cabinets, and passive connectivity. This is a senior individual contributor role that reports to the IT Infrastructure Manager and is based in Salt Lake City, UT, or Houston, TX. The position requires an average of 30% travel with significant field presence during construction.

Requirements

Seven or more years of relevant telecommunications infrastructure experience, including OSP fiber and premises fiber/copper structured cabling design and independent project ownership through construction acceptance.
Demonstrated experience building or running a fiber records program using a fiber management system or GIS as the authoritative record for strand inventory, splice documentation, as-builts, and field reconciliation.
Experience designing pathways, telecommunications spaces, racks, cabinets, and passive connectivity; ability to produce or direct construction drawings and specifications using GIS and CAD tools.
Working knowledge of applicable TIA and BICSI practices and installation codes; ability to translate network, sensing, and other specialist requirements into coordinated physical infrastructure designs.
Ability to interpret OTDR traces, optical loss measurements, and copper cabling certification reports; troubleshoot physical-layer faults and make evidence-based acceptance decisions.
Experience developing bid packages, managing contractors, resolving field discrepancies, and enforcing documentation and closeout requirements.
Demonstrated self-sufficiency, sound technical judgment, clear documentation, and ability to prioritize multiple sites and escalate risks with actionable recommendations.
Degree in engineering, telecommunications, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Nice To Haves

BICSI Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD) credential; BICSI Outside Plant (OSP) or relevant fiber and copper testing credentials.
Experience in telecommunications consulting, structured cabling design, utilities, industrial facilities, or large campus infrastructure.
Experience launching a records program from scratch or implementing GIS and fiber management tools across multiple sites.
Entrepreneurial mindset demonstrated by establishing practical standards and scalable processes in an evolving environment.
Familiarity with fiber optic sensing, including distributed acoustic or temperature sensing; industrial OT/I&C; or infrastructure audit evidence practices.

Responsibilities

Own the authoritative fiber management system and geographic information system (GIS) records, including strand allocation, dark fiber, splice schematics, conduit occupancy, and routes.
Build the infrastructure records program, select and implement appropriate tools, and establish a verified baseline.
Maintain copper cable identifiers, outlets, patch-panel ports, rack layouts, and physical connectivity alongside fiber records.
Require contractor as-builts within 10 business days of construction completion and gate contractor closeout and final payment on delivery, review, acceptance, and ingestion of as-builts and related documentation.
Document splices, reroutes, strand reassignments, cable additions, and patching changes through change control, treating undocumented changes as defects.
Reconcile records against physical infrastructure at least annually and after major projects, tracking discrepancies and verifying remediation.
Design shared OSP and ISP fiber and structured copper infrastructure with IT, OT/I&C, sensing, and construction teams, planning capacity, route diversity, building entrances, terminations, and future expansion.
Prepare and review route drawings, cable and strand schedules, splice plans, optical loss budgets, rack elevations, patching layouts, bills of materials, and construction specifications using GIS and CAD tools.
Define telecommunications requirements for conduit, duct banks, innerduct, cable trays, rooms, racks, and cabinets, coordinating with civil, electrical, and facilities teams.
Plan physical connectivity for access points, cameras, access-control devices, and industrial network endpoints, accounting for cable reach, media, environment, and Power over Ethernet requirements.
Establish cabling standards for capacity, separation, labeling, and testing, and coordinate access-point placement with the RF design team.
Translate sensing-team and vendor requirements into fiber, pathway, splicing, termination, testing, and documentation specifications, supporting installation and troubleshooting.
Develop competitive bid packages, scopes, estimates, schedules, and acceptance criteria; evaluate proposals and recommend vendors.
Direct contractors and design consultants through detailed design and construction.
Review submittals and field changes, inspect installations, and resolve design and workmanship deficiencies.
Coordinate site access, work sequencing, and service impacts with project and operations teams.
Review optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) traces, optical loss results, copper permanent-link certification, labeling, and workmanship against specifications, requiring correction of deficient work before acceptance.
Diagnose physical connectivity faults and direct restoration with contractors and network engineers, verifying repair quality, service handoff, and record updates.
Coordinate field work with site safety and work-control processes.
Maintain controlled, traceable fiber records supporting applicable NERC CIP-005/CIP-006 audit evidence and SOX IT general controls change documentation with Cybersecurity and Compliance.