Job Description

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Quest (www.questenergygroup.com) is Houston's Leading Oil and Gas Executive Search and Talent Acquisition Firm.

Senior Computational Geomechanics Scientist

Hydraulic Fracture Simulation and Scientific Software Development

Houston, Texas | Full-Time | In-Office

Quest Energy Group is representing an established engineering software company seeking a Ph.D.-level scientist to help advance the computational engine behind a commercial hydraulic-fracture simulator.

This is a long-term strategic opportunity within a small, highly specialized team. You will have a meaningful voice in technical decisions, work closely with experienced subject-matter experts, and directly influence software used to solve complex field-development challenges.

The Role

You will develop, validate, maintain, and modernize the numerical methods and scientific code that model hydraulic-fracture growth and interaction. The work combines computational geomechanics, fracture mechanics, finite-element methods, and scientific software development.

Success requires personally translating mathematical formulations and fracture physics into reliable simulation code, supported by direct industry experience developing hydraulic-fracture simulation capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and improve numerical formulations for coupled fluid flow, rock deformation, fracture opening, height growth, and propagation.
• Advance models for interacting fractures, including stress shadowing, cluster competition, stage sequencing, and well-to-well interference.
• Maintain and modernize an established simulation codebase while protecting accuracy, reliability, and continuity.
• Improve solver performance, convergence, numerical stability, scalability, and memory efficiency.
• Evaluate and implement methods involving sparse matrices, preconditioning, meshing, and parallel computing.
• Build verification, validation, benchmarking, and regression-testing workflows.
• Collaborate with engineering and software colleagues to translate research and field observations into commercially supported simulation capabilities.

Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. in computational mechanics, geomechanics, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, petroleum engineering, applied mathematics, or a closely related discipline.
• At least five years of direct, hands-on industry experience developing, validating, and enhancing FEM code or other numerical methods for hydraulic-fracture simulation.
• Expert knowledge of geomechanics, fracture mechanics, and finite-element methods.
• Substantial experience modeling hydraulic-fracture initiation, propagation, and interaction.
• Deep understanding of coupled fluid-solid mechanics, nonlinear numerical methods, numerical linear algebra, discretization, convergence, stability, and error control.
• Strong scientific-programming skills in at least one compiled language and the ability to contribute effectively within a mature engineering codebase.
• Demonstrated ability to formulate mathematical models and implement accurate, efficient, maintainable scientific software.
• A strong publication, dissertation, or software-development record relevant to computational geomechanics or fracture simulation.

Academic research alone, or experience limited to operating commercial simulation packages, does not satisfy the required industry development experience.

Preferred Experience

• Multi-cluster, multi-stage, or multi-well hydraulic-fracture simulation.
• Stress-shadow calculations, limited-entry effects, fluid and proppant transport, reservoir coupling, or treatment-history matching.
• C++, modern Fortran, Python, MATLAB, or comparable scientific-computing environments.
• Parallel computing, GPU acceleration, domain decomposition, advanced preconditioning, or adaptive meshing.
• Moving research algorithms into tested, commercially supported software.

Why Consider This Opportunity

• Make a direct contribution to the core technology of an established commercial product.
• Join a collaborative specialist team with very low turnover.
• Have visibility, access to decision-makers, and a meaningful voice in technical direction.
• Build a lasting technical role with the opportunity to become a key leader in simulation development.

To Apply

Contact Quest Energy Group with your résumé or CV and a brief description of the hydraulic-fracture simulation methods or scientific software you have personally developed. Relevant publications and nonconfidential examples of technical work are welcome.

The client’s identity will be shared during a confidential discussion.