Senior Network Operations Engineer Jobs in Houston, TX

Description

Fervo is working to build the most cost-effective, repeatable geothermal power plants in the world. Achieving this mission requires secure, resilient, and highly available infrastructure that can scale from early-stage development to full commercial operations. Joining Fervo means operating at the intersection of energy infrastructure and modern enterprise systems, where reliability, safety, and disciplined execution are foundational.

As Fervo expands across corporate offices, cloud environments, and operating sites, network architecture is a critical enabler of safety, cybersecurity, reliability, and business performance. Fervo uses Fortinet as the core enterprise IT networking platform and Cisco within portions of its operational technology environment. This role will ensure those environments are secure, resilient, well integrated, and increasingly automated.

Position Description

The Senior Network Architect is Fervo's technical authority for network strategy and architecture across corporate IT, hybrid cloud, and operating sites. This role owns the long-term direction, standards, governance, and lifecycle strategy for the network domain, with accountability for ensuring that Fervo's enterprise and operational environments remain secure, resilient, scalable, and supportable as the company grows. The Senior Network Architect will establish how the Fortinet Security Fabric integrates with Cisco-based OT networks, cloud services, cybersecurity controls, and future technology platforms. 

This is a senior individual contributor role that combines enterprise-level strategy with selective hands-on technical leadership. The Senior Network Architect will set direction, make and govern high-impact architectural decisions, and advise technical and executive stakeholders. This individual will remain engaged in critical implementations, commissioning, major transformations, and the most complex incidents, while enabling network engineers and external partners to execute consistently against clear standards. The role will partner closely with the Manager of Infrastructure, Hybrid Cloud Architect, cybersecurity, site teams, engineering teams, and external providers to build a repeatable network platform increasingly delivered through automation and CI/CD.

Requirements

Responsibilities

Network Architecture & Technical Direction

• Own the enterprise-wide network strategy and target-state architecture across corporate, cloud, WAN and SD-WAN, wireless, and operating-site environments, balancing reliability, security, maintainability, scalability, and cost
• Set architectural standards, governance, and lifecycle strategy for the Fortinet Security Fabric, including high availability, capacity, firmware, licensing, technical debt, and multiyear platform roadmaps
• Establish secure integration patterns and decision frameworks between Fortinet-based IT networks and Cisco-based OT environments, including routing, segmentation, access control, resilient interconnects, and clear ownership boundaries
• Govern the reference architectures, topology standards, technical decision records, configuration standards, and implementation guidance that serve as Fervo's authoritative network source of truth
• Serve as the final technical authority for significant network design decisions, clearly communicating recommendations, tradeoffs, investment needs, and risk to engineers, business leaders, and executives
• Own the network capability roadmap and maturity model, translating business outcomes into sequenced architecture decisions, investments, dependencies, and measurable delivery standards
• Lead strategic platform decisions across SASE, SD-WAN, ZTNA, and centralized management, including evaluation of Cato and Fortinet options and the migration paths, risks, and commercial tradeoffs associated with each
• Establish network infrastructure visibility as a foundational capability through authoritative device, circuit, and IP address management using NetBox, automated discovery, and integrated IPAM

Automation & Platform Engineering

• Define and sponsor the roadmap for version-controlled, automated network provisioning and change management through CI/CD, including adoption standards, controls, and measures of success
• Establish reusable automation patterns and guide implementation using FortiManager, APIs, Python, Ansible, Terraform, or comparable infrastructure-as-code tools
• Set governance for testing, validation, monitoring, approval, and rollback of automated network changes
• Partner with the Hybrid Cloud Architect and cybersecurity leaders to align network, cloud, identity, and security architecture across on-premise and cloud environments

Delivery, Reliability & Operations

• Provide hands-on technical leadership during critical deployments, commissioning, major upgrades, architecture transitions, and complex troubleshooting across Fortinet and Cisco infrastructure
• Serve as the highest technical escalation point for complex or high-impact network incidents, directing root-cause analysis, risk decisions, and durable remediation
• Set the architecture and delivery model for new site builds, plant commissioning, expansions, acquisitions, and major infrastructure refreshes
• Own the network architecture for Cape Station expansion and future geothermal sites, including ORCs, well pads, PDCs, administrative facilities, grid-sync, commissioning, and scalable IT/OT boundary design
• Direct the modernization of regional offices onto Fervo's standard network architecture, coordinating near-term connectivity, Fortinet hardware refreshes, centralized policy, and repeatable site-cutover patterns
• Provide authoritative technical direction across routing and switching, BGP and OSPF, SD-WAN, VPN, QoS, wireless, segmentation, and high-availability design
• Define the network observability, performance, capacity, and operational-readiness strategy using FortiAnalyzer and related platforms
• Shape vendor and managed-service strategy, evaluate platform investments, and hold Fortinet, Cisco, and service partners accountable for technical quality, risk reduction, and outcomes
• Define the architecture, access model, runbooks, escalation paths, and control requirements for a managed 24/7 network operations capability, ensuring third-party support strengthens coverage without weakening security or change governance

Security, Governance & Team Enablement

• Establish and govern firewall policy, network access control, segmentation, secure remote access, and logging architecture in partnership with cybersecurity
• Maintain secure IT/OT and BES boundaries, including no-direct-ingress and DMZ store-and-forward patterns, and ensure new network segments, remote access, and vendor connectivity are evaluated for NERC CIP and SOX ITGC impact
• Guide material network initiatives through Fervo's Technology Assurance Process, ensuring architecture, risk, stakeholders, delivery readiness, and lifecycle ownership are addressed before implementation
• Provide senior technical leadership for incident response, enterprise risk assessments, audits, and remediation, translating network risk into clear business decisions and priorities
• Chair architecture and design reviews for material network changes; mentor engineers, architects, and contractors; and raise the organization's ability to make sound, scalable technical decisions
• Establish governance that keeps runbooks, standards, lifecycle records, and operational ownership current, reducing technical debt and dependence on individual knowledge

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• 10+ years of progressive experience in network engineering and architecture, including ownership of enterprise network strategy, standards, roadmaps, and complex design decisions across distributed environments
• Deep expertise across the Fortinet Security Fabric, particularly FortiGate, FortiSwitch, FortiAP, FortiManager, FortiAnalyzer, FortiNAC, and Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, with experience setting standards across a complex enterprise environment
• Expert-level Cisco routing and switching knowledge and demonstrated success designing secure integration between enterprise IT and OT or industrial environments
• Advanced knowledge of BGP, OSPF, VLANs and VRFs, IPsec and SSL VPN, QoS, high availability, and network segmentation
• Experience owning hybrid cloud network architecture in Azure or AWS, including connectivity, segmentation, resiliency, security, and operating models
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise SASE or SD-WAN platform strategy, regional network modernization, centralized configuration and observability, and managed network-service transitions
• Experience architecting networks for industrial sites, major construction or expansion programs, and commissioning activities involving complex IT/OT dependencies
• Experience establishing network automation and CI/CD strategy using scripting, APIs, and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Python, Ansible, or Terraform
• Demonstrated technical judgment and troubleshooting leadership in complex, uptime-critical environments where safety, operational continuity, and risk must be balanced
• Executive-level written and verbal communication, including the ability to influence investment decisions, explain technical risk, and build alignment across technical and business leaders

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced Fortinet certification such as FCSS in Secure Networking or Network Security; FCX preferred
• Advanced Cisco certification such as CCNP or CCIE
• Experience supporting industrial control systems, operational technology networks, or site commissioning, particularly in regulated infrastructure, plus familiarity with NIST, ISO 27001, IEC 62443, or NERC CIP

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 at our Houston office will be required.