Founding Engineer, (Next-Gen Geothermal)

About Marble

Marble is a climate tech venture studio. We partner with scientists, engineers, and operators to create companies solving hard climate problems in the world's largest industries.

Our first 12 companies are building transformative products across energy, industry, agriculture, and climate resilience. 100% have been successful in raising follow-on to date. We are looking to partner with exceptional individuals to create our next venture.

Making Geothermal Scaleable

Electricity demand is projected to rise sharply over the next decade, requiring new generation capacity at a pace well beyond today’s build rates. In the US alone, rapid load growth is expected to reach 25% by 2030, driven by electrification, data centers, AI infrastructure, and industrial buildout. This demand explosion calls for a massive increase in clean firm power, which next-generation geothermal is uniquely positioned to provide.

Despite the vast availability of geothermal heat, most remains inaccessible. Many geothermal reservoirs, especially those in low-permeability or geologically complex settings, cannot deliver sufficient flow using conventional vertical or mildly deviated wells. Most recently EGS has expanded the resource potential, but still remains constrained by technical limitations, such as water usage and thermal breakthroughs, high costs, and community and regulatory resistance due to concerns about induced seismicity. As a result, today’s projects tap only a small fraction of the subsurface, keeping geothermal below 1% of global electricity, despite IEA estimates of up to ~800 GW of potential by 2050.

The Opportunity

We are building a next-generation geothermal company focused on deploying novel well architectures that significantly increase reservoir contact and heat extraction.

By enabling access to a larger effective rock volume, we are targeting 2–3× greater well productivity. Combined with disciplined drilling execution, this will allow us to drive down costs that lead us on a path to the $50/MWh LCOE target.

We have de-risked all fundamental technical aspects, initiated discussions with key technical partners, and identified potential site geographies for pilots and first-of-a-kind.

We are looking for a Founding Reservoir Engineer with hands-on geothermal experience. You will define the subsurface thesis of the company, including how we select sites, model risk, design well architectures, and turn project development into a repeatable process.

Your work will cut across geology, drilling, completions, and surface engineering, to maximize reservoir performance, reduce uncertainty, and improve predictability.

You will join a stellar CEO who was the former COO at Fervo Energy, with 20+ years in energy with technical and strategic roles across oil & gas, geothermal, utilities, hydropower, and long-duration storage. She brings deep experience building and scaling energy companies from the ground up.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the company’s reservoir modeling and subsurface strategy

• Build and validate numerical geothermal reservoir models to guide site selection, well design and orientation, and development plans

• Develop performance forecasts and uncertainty ranges that stand up to technical diligence

• Lead field development concepts; design and optimize well patterns, injection/production strategies, and stimulation concepts

• Define data acquisition strategy to reduce uncertainty; integrate geology, geophysics, petrophysics, drilling data, and operations into a unified subsurface model

• Represent the subsurface story to investors, partners, and technical reviewers

• Participate and represent the company in industry meetings and conferences

Requirements

We are looking for an entrepreneurial reservoir engineer, who brings hands-on experience in geothermal reservoir modeling and a driving motivation to build the future of geothermal.

Must have: deep technical expertise in reservoir engineering fundamentals (e.g. MS or PhD in petroleum engineering or related) with reservoir modeling experience including EGS, AGS, or other novel geothermal systems, and great communication skills.

Key skills we're looking for include:

• Reservoir engineering fundamentals, including multiphase flow, thermal systems, and numerical simulation

• Proficiency with simulation tools such as COMSOL, TOUGH2, CMG, Eclipse

• Strong understanding of well-reservoir interaction and production/injection strategy

• Ability to integrate geology, geophysics, drilling, and well test data into a cohesive subsurface model

• Experience supporting field development planning and long-term reservoir management

The ideal candidate will have prior experience supporting projects from early-stage concept through development and operations. Above all the candidate should have an entrepreneurial mindset and comfort working with uncertainty.

Location: We are primarily seeking candidates based in the US, with a preference for the Western U.S, with the ability to travel to project sites across the region when necessary.

Example of relevant backgrounds:

• PhD or Postdoc with focus on reservoir modeling, with experience consulting or interning in geothermal projects / companies

• Reservoir Engineer, with direct simulation experience for geothermal project development (e.g. startup, consultant, geothermal company, etc)

You’re encouraged to apply even if your background isn’t a perfect match. Above all, we value intelligence, creativity, and founder potential.

What We Offer

As a Founding Reservoir Engineer, you will partner with a Marble Founder in Residence who has been developing this project and will take on the CEO role.

We're primarily looking for someone to join this company as early employee with a competitive compensation package, equity incentive and career growth potential.

However, depending on the candidate experience, we'd be open to explore alternative options, whether it's an internship for a reservoir engineering PhD student, or a full-time co-founder opportunity for a more experienced entrepreneurial profile.

We believe that a diverse group of minds is key to solving the climate crisis. We encourage women and people of colour to apply. Studies have shown that under-represented candidates are less likely to apply for an opportunity unless they feel they meet every single qualification. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and mission-driven cohort. If you’re excited about the programme but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with what you read on our website, we encourage you to apply anyways!

FAQs

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