AbstractIn this contribution an FE‐algorithm for parameter identification of geometrically‐linear fluid‐saturated porous media is proposed, in which non‐uniform distributions of the state variables such as stresses, strains and excess pore fluid pressure gradient are taken into account. Thereby, a least‐squares functional consisting of experimental and simulated data is minimized, and where the simulated data are obtained with the FE‐method. In order to improve the efficiency of the minimization process, a gradient‐based optimization algorithm is applied, and therefore the corresponding sensitivity analysis is briefly explained. The performance of the strategy is demonstrated for a slope stability problem.