diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index fd364cf56..2de09a95a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${POET_SOURCE_DIR}/CMake")
 get_poet_version()
 
 find_package(MPI REQUIRED)
-
+find_package(HDF5 REQUIRED)
 find_package(RRuntime REQUIRED)
 
 add_subdirectory(src)
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 37fe5b408..10023d421 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ file(READ "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/R_lib/ai_surrogate_model.R" R_AI_SURROGATE_LIB)
 configure_file(poet.hpp.in poet.hpp @ONLY)
 include_directories("${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/ext/ai-surrogate-poet/include")
 add_executable(poet poet.cpp)
-target_link_libraries(poet PRIVATE POETLib MPI::MPI_C RRuntime CLI11::CLI11 ai naaice::middleware)
+target_link_libraries(poet PRIVATE POETLib MPI::MPI_C RRuntime CLI11::CLI11 ai naaice::middleware HDF5::HDF5)
 target_include_directories(poet PRIVATE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}")
 
 add_executable(poet_init initializer.cpp)