Director of Mineral Processing

About the Company 

The mining industry has steadily become worse at finding new ore deposits, requiring >10X more capital to make discoveries compared to 30 years ago. The easy-to-find, near-surface deposits have largely been found, and the industry has chronically under-invested in new exploration technology, relying on the manual techniques of yesteryear – even as demand accelerates for copper, lithium, and other metals to build electric vehicles, renewable energy, and data centers.

KoBold builds AI models for mineral exploration and deploys those models—alongside our novel sensors—to guide decisions on KoBold-owned-and-operated exploration programs. In the six years since founding, KoBold has become by far both the largest independent mineral exploration company and the largest exploration technology developer. Our data scientists and software engineers, who come from leading technology companies, jointly lead exploration programs with our renowned exploration geologists.

KoBold has proven its first discovery with materially less capital than the industry average and found one of the best copper deposits ever discovered: the copper is far more concentrated than the global average of copper mines, and this asset alone is expected to generate meaningful revenue for decades. KoBold has a portfolio of more than 60 other projects, each of which has the potential for another high-quality discovery.

KoBold is privately held; investors include institutional asset managers T. Rowe Price and Canada Pension Plan Investments; technology venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BOND Capital, Durable Capital, StepStone, and Standard Investments; and natural resources companies Equinor, BHP, and Mitsubishi.

About the Role

The Mineral Processing Lead will contribute to and lead the development and execution of mineral processing strategy across KoBold’s portfolio, with an initial focus on the Mingomba copper project in Zambia. Reporting to the CTO, this role is responsible for all aspects of process engineering from early-stage metallurgical testwork through feasibility study design and operational readiness. You will define the flowsheet, drive geometallurgical characterization, evaluate processing routes (concentration, hydrometallurgy, smelting), and ensure that mineral processing considerations are integrated into mine planning and economic modeling from the earliest stages.

Responsibilities

Process Engineering & Flowsheet Development

• Own the process flowsheet design for Mingomba and future KoBold projects, from scoping through feasibility.
• Work hands on and with your team to define and manage metallurgical testwork programs: comminution characterization, flotation optimization, hydrometallurgical evaluation, and pilot-scale campaigns.
• Evaluate and recommend processing routes including froth flotation to concentrate, SX-EW, pressure oxidation, and smelter/refinery toll arrangements. Quantify the economic trade-offs of each.
• Develop process design criteria, mass and water balances, and equipment specifications for feasibility-level engineering.
• Lead the assessment of tailings characteristics, reprocessing potential, and environmental implications of process residues.

Geometallurgy & Integration

• Build and maintain a geometallurgical framework that links ore variability (mineralogy, texture, grade distribution) to processing performance with first principles and statistical models.
• Collaborate with geologists and data scientists to integrate geometallurgical statistics into resource models, mine schedules, and economic analyses.
• Define sampling protocols for metallurgical characterization of drill core and ensure adequate coverage of ore variability.
• Ensure mineral processing assumptions are reflected in techno-economic models including TC/RC structures, payable metal calculations, and concentrate penalty elements.

Technical Leadership & Team Building

• Build, lead, and mentor a mineral processing function within KoBold’s Advanced Technology Group.
• Direct and manage relationships with metallurgical consultants, contract laboratories, and engineering firms.
• Serve as one of KoBold’s internal experts and external representatives on mineral processing for investor presentations, partner discussions, and technical reviews.
• Contribute to feasibility study management and preparation of technical reports (NI 43-101 / JORC-compliant as applicable).
• Identify and evaluate emerging processing technologies relevant to KoBold’s target commodities (copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt) along with the existing team.

Cross-functional Collaboration

• Work with mine engineers to optimize cut-off grade strategies and ore scheduling based on processing constraints.
• Partner with KoBold’s data science team to apply machine learning and statistical methods to metallurgical datasets.
• Coordinate with business development and commercial teams on offtake strategy, concentrate marketing, and smelter negotiations.
• Support environmental and permitting workstreams with process-related inputs on water use, reagent consumption, emissions, and waste management.

Qualifications

Required

• 15+ years of experience with large scale (ton-kton / day) chemical processes
• Quantitative, statistical, and scientific rigor, including execution of experimental designs to optimize multistage processing of complex feedstocks
• Experience with design/build from lab test work through large scale production
• Track record of managing consultants, laboratories, and multidisciplinary technical teams
• Strong technical writing skills, including preparation of technical reports 
• Willingness to travel to project sites in Zambia and other KoBold locations (estimated 20–30%).

Preferred

• Experience in mineral processing, with significant time spent on copper sulfide projects from testwork through to operating plant design or commissioning.
• Direct experience leading metallurgical testwork programs and translating results into process design criteria and flowsheet selection.
• Deep understanding of comminution, flotation, hydrometallurgy, and concentrate handling for base metals.
• Experience contributing to pre-feasibility and/or feasibility studies as the responsible mineral processing engineer.
• Experience with sediment-hosted copper deposits (Zambian Copperbelt or Central African Copperbelt geology).
• Familiarity with lithium processing (spodumene flotation, acid roast, DLE) and/or nickel laterite processing.
• Experience with geometallurgical modeling and integration into block models.
• Exposure to SX-EW operations and direct copper cathode production.
• Comfort beyond spreadsheets in working with data science tools (Python, SQL) for scientific analysis

KoBold Metals is an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunities for people of any race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, age, citizenship, disability, or veteran status.

This position is Full-time Exempt

The US base salary range for this full-time exempt position is $150,000–$300,000, plus equity and benefits including 401k matching.

Location: Remote. Preference will be given to candidates legally authorized to work in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, or Zambia. 20–30% travel required, primarily to Zambia project sites.

About the Company

The mining industry has steadily become worse at finding new ore deposits, requiring >10X more capital to make discoveries compared to 30 years ago. The easy-to-find, near-surface deposits have largely been found, and the industry has chronically under-invested in new exploration technology, relying on the manual techniques of yesteryear – even as demand accelerates for copper, lithium, and other metals to build electric vehicles, renewable energy, and data centers.

KoBold builds AI models for mineral exploration and deploys those models—alongside our novel sensors—to guide decisions on KoBold-owned-and-operated exploration programs. In the six years since founding, KoBold has become by far both the largest independent mineral exploration company and the largest exploration technology developer. Our data scientists and software engineers, who come from leading technology companies, jointly lead exploration programs with our renowned exploration geologists.

KoBold has proven its first discovery with materially less capital than the industry average and found one of the best copper deposits ever discovered: the copper is far more concentrated than the global average of copper mines, and this asset alone is expected to generate meaningful revenue for decades. KoBold has a portfolio of more than 60 other projects, each of which has the potential for another high-quality discovery.

KoBold is privately held; investors include institutional asset managers T. Rowe Price and Canada Pension Plan Investments; technology venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BOND Capital, Durable Capital, StepStone, and Standard Investments; and natural resources companies Equinor, BHP, and Mitsubishi.

About the Role

KoBold’s IT function supports a globally distributed team of ~280 geoscientists, data scientists, and engineers working across North America, Zambia, the DRC, and field exploration sites around the world. As we scale, our IT needs are evolving rapidly—from reactive, break/fix helpdesk support toward proactive, automated IT operations that work seamlessly across geographies, including remote field sites with limited connectivity.

In this role, you will own the full operational scope of Global IT. That means endpoint management, software procurement and renewals, identity and access administration, license optimization, vendor management, employee onboarding and offboarding, hardware lifecycle management, and IT training. You’ll lead a team of IT support staff, set technical direction, manage the annual software budget, and be the person who makes sure nothing falls through the cracks—renewals don’t expire, new hires have everything they need on day one, and the fleet is healthy and compliant.

This is a player-coach role. You’ll spend meaningful time building and configuring systems yourself—writing Okta provisioning workflows, managing Jamf and Intune policies in Terraform, scripting automation for repetitive work—while also coaching and mentoring your direct reports, setting priorities, and raising the bar for what IT operations looks like at a fast-moving exploration technology company.

Responsibilities

Endpoint Management & Fleet Operations

• Own the Global IT roadmap, setting technical direction for endpoint management, fleet automation, and IT operations across all KoBold offices and field sites in 10+ countries
• Design and implement zero-touch provisioning and automated reimaging workflows for macOS (Jamf) and Windows (Intune) endpoints
• Build endpoint monitoring, alerting, and fleet health dashboards to shift IT from reactive to proactive support
• Drive device lifecycle management including EoL/EoS tracking, hardware refresh planning, and inventory management across Jamf, Intune, CrowdStrike, and related tooling
• Create self-service application deployment and access workflows to reduce helpdesk volume and empower employees
• Apply DevOps principles to IT operations: configuration-as-code (e.g. managing Intune policies via Terraform), infrastructure automation, version-controlled policies, and repeatable processes
• Own internet reliability and network performance at all global remote KoBold sites

Software Procurement, Licensing & Vendor Management

• Manage the full software procurement lifecycle: new purchases, renewals, expansions, and cancellations, ensuring user access is never disrupted by lapsed licenses or last-minute renewals
• Own and drive execution of the annual software budget, including process improvements year-over-year and proactive renewal pipeline visibility for legal and finance
• Optimize license utilization across the SaaS portfolio—track usage, right-size seat counts, consolidate redundant tools, and negotiate pricing with vendors
• Coordinate with legal on contract review, working within the existing procurement process to move quickly on low-risk purchases while ensuring appropriate review for larger spend
• Onboard new SaaS applications with proper Okta integration (SSO, SCIM) before launch, and manage decommissioning of deprecated tools

Identity, Access & Employee Lifecycle

• Own Okta administration including SSO integrations, SCIM provisioning, group management, access request workflows, and lifecycle automation
• Manage Google Workspace administration, including license management, security settings, and break-glass super-admin governance
• Build automation for minimal-touch employee onboarding and offboarding—ensuring new hires are fully provisioned on day one and departing employees are cleanly deprovisioned
• Support AI tooling rollout (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and related tools) across the endpoint fleet, including deployment, configuration, and employee training

Team Leadership & Training

• Supervise and mentor IT support staff, providing technical coaching, priority-setting, performance management, and career development
• Develop and maintain IT training programs for new hires and ongoing employee enablement, including documentation, video walkthroughs, and live onboarding sessions
• Provide helpdesk backup on high-volume days, modeling the standard of responsiveness and quality you expect from the team

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Learn about mineral exploration by working closely with exploration teams, including time in the field in remote operations
• Collaborate with infrastructure engineering and security teams on cross-cutting initiatives including observability, access controls, endpoint security posture, and incident response
• Partner across the company to contribute to specification, vendor selection, and change management on new software requests
• Partner with finance on budget tracking, invoice approvals, and AFE submissions for software spend
• Work with legal to streamline the contract review pipeline, maintain lead times on renewals, and advocate for tiered review processes that match risk to effort
• Coordinate digitization efforts across the globe, ensuring consistent standards and tooling for converting physical records to digital archives at field and office sites

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in IT engineering, IT management, or a similar role combining hands-on technical depth with operational ownership
• Strong experience with MDM platforms, particularly Jamf (macOS) and Microsoft Intune (Windows), including policy configuration, automated enrollment, compliance enforcement, and ideally infrastructure-as-code approaches (e.g. Terraform)
• Experience with identity and access management platforms (Okta strongly preferred), including SSO integration, SCIM provisioning, access request workflows, and lifecycle automation
• Experience managing software procurement and renewals: specification and change management, vendor negotiation, license optimization, renewal pipeline management, and budget ownership
• Hands-on experience building zero-touch provisioning, automated reimaging, and self-service deployment workflows
• Experience with endpoint monitoring and fleet management at scale, including remote/distributed environments
• People management or technical lead experience: demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, and grow IT staff while maintaining high execution standards
• Strong scripting skills (Python, Bash, PowerShell, or similar) for building automation and tooling
• Intellectually curious; eager to learn about the substance of mineral exploration and exploration technology
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills—comfortable working across disciplines with engineers, scientists, legal, finance, and leadership in a remote-first environment
• Proven ability to take ownership: you build the roadmap, do the research, implement the solution, write the documentation, and communicate the rollout
• Strong prioritization instincts—you can look at a long list of IT initiatives and distinguish what actually matters from nice-to-haves, and you can explain why
• Comfort with ambiguity and a dynamic work environment; eagerness to take on an evolving range of responsibilities at a fast-growing company
• Experience supporting global teams across multiple time zones is a strong plus
• Familiarity with Google Workspace administration, CrowdStrike, Datadog, or similar tooling is a plus

KoBold Metals is an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity for people of any race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, age, citizenship, disability, or veteran status.

This position is full-time, exempt.

The US base salary range for this full-time exempt position is $150,000 - $180,000 USD, plus equity and benefits including 401k matching.

Location: KoBold is a remote-first workplace. We are open to candidates currently residing anywhere in the United States or Canada. CST or EST time zone preferred. All candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States or Canada.

Laboratory Manager – Minerals Analysis, Sudbury Canada

About the Role

In the role of Laboratory Manager, you will help build and manage our first in-country laboratory in Sudbury, Canada. You will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the new facility, ensuring the efficient and high-quality processing of mineral exploration samples (ex. soil and stream sediment).  You will develop and guide a high-performing team whose responsibilities include oversight and management of samples from receipt through preparation, analysis, and archiving. You will collaborate with colleagues around the world to guide and improve state-of-the-art software and hardware that supports the laboratory. You will act as the primary lab manager, suggesting and implementing opportunities for continuous process improvement, and ensuring the laboratory delivers accurate, timely, and traceable data to support KoBold’s exploration programs.

Responsibilities

• Laboratory management: ensure safe and efficient operation of the laboratory
• Teamwork: serve as a hands-on team leader, clearly communicate hazards and opportunities for improvement. 
• Oversee analytic workflow: ensure adherence to effective operating procedures that guide sample preparation, instrument operation, sample archiving, and data storage 
• Process Optimization: Continuously evaluate and improve sample preparation and measurement procedures (washing, loading, and automated analysis with analytic instruments) to increase efficiency, precision, and turnaround time. Help develop analytical methods.
• Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC): operate and maintain rigorous QA/QC protocols, utilizing specialized software to track every sample through each stage of the process, ensuring data integrity and traceability.
• Equipment Maintenance: Oversee the maintenance and calibration of all laboratory equipment, minimizing downtime.  
• Stakeholder Communication: Report on laboratory performance, capacity, and quality metrics to the exploration and operations leadership teams.

Qualifications

You must have:

• At least 5 years of laboratory experience in mineral exploration & mining, oil & gas, or a related industry.
• Proven, extensive experience in operating a commercial or exploration mineral laboratory, with a focus on instrumentation for geochemical analysis such as laboratory balances, microscopes, and spectrometers
• Experience with sample preparation methods for various sample types (soil, sediment, rock/drill core).
• A track record of identifying inefficiencies and suggesting or implementing process improvements in a laboratory or operational environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to and familiarity with developing and implementing high standards of health & safety in the workplace
• A high degree of independence and the ability to work effectively with limited supervision while simultaneously feeling comfortable raising issues to teammates
• Excitement about joining a fast-growing, early-stage company, comfort with a dynamic work environment, and eagerness to take on an evolving range of responsibilities.
• Experience working with QA/QC software or Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) to ensure sample traceability and data quality; high comfort level in interfacing with software development teams.
• Enjoyment in working closely with people in a wide variety of disciplines and different parts of the world
• Ability to explain technical problems to and collaborate on solutions with domain experts from different disciplines. Comfortable asking questions and requesting help. A strong communicator who enjoys working with colleagues across the company.

It is helpful but not required to have:

• Worked in a small company or as a member of a very small team with a broad mandate working in a fast paced project environment. 

KoBold Metals is an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity for people of any race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, age, citizenship, disability, or veteran status.

Location: Sudbury, Canada. All candidates must be legally authorized to live and work within Canada.

Compensation: $170,000 - $210,000 CAD

About the Company 

The mining industry has steadily become worse at finding new ore deposits, requiring >10X more capital to make discoveries compared to 30 years ago. The easy-to-find, near-surface deposits have largely been found, and the industry has chronically under-invested in new exploration technology, relying on the manual techniques of yesteryear – even as demand accelerates for copper, lithium, and other metals to build electric vehicles, renewable energy, and data centers.

KoBold builds AI models for mineral exploration and deploys those models—alongside our novel sensors—to guide decisions on KoBold-owned-and-operated exploration programs. In the six years since founding, KoBold has become by far both the largest independent mineral exploration company and the largest exploration technology developer. Our data scientists and software engineers, who come from leading technology companies, jointly lead exploration programs with our renowned exploration geologists.

KoBold has proven its first discovery with materially less capital than the industry average and found one of the best copper deposits ever discovered: the copper is far more concentrated than the global average of copper mines, and this asset alone is expected to generate meaningful revenue for decades. KoBold has a portfolio of more than 60 other projects, each of which has the potential for another high-quality discovery.

KoBold is privately held; investors include institutional asset managers T. Rowe Price and Canada Pension Plan Investments; technology venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BOND Capital, Durable Capital, StepStone, and Standard Investments; and natural resources companies Equinor, BHP, and Mitsubishi.

About the Role

This role will drive the design, development, and deployment of a next-generation hardware technology that will transform how KoBold collects and interprets exploration data. This role is ideal for a mechanical engineer who thrives at the intersection of science, engineering, and data and is excited about bringing new technology to life. 

In this role, you will lead the full technical lifecycle of a critical new hardware system: from concept and prototyping through validation, automation, manufacturing, and deployment in the field. You will work closely with our data scientists, engineers, and geoscientists to design instrumentation that produces rich, high-quality datasets, feeding the machine learning models that drive KoBold’s mineral exploration around the world.  You will be a key member of a hardware development team and contributor to various novel hardware projects.  

You will also help to build the hardware development discipline and organization at Kobold, contributing to a culture and process that will make our engineering efforts innovative, scalable and repeatable. You will report to the Head of Hardware and join a world-class team of data scientists, engineers and geoscientists developing novel technologies to accelerate the discovery of critical minerals for batteries and electrification.  

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical development of a novel, automated sensing and imaging system from concept and prototype to deployment of multiple systems in remote field sites.  Coordinate with and orchestrate internal and external resources across hardware and software engineering to deliver.  
• Lead system architecture definition, navigating technical tradeoffs through rigorous research and analysis and balancing cost, complexity, and timeline.  
• Collaborate with KoBold's data systems and exploration teams to integrate the new data stream into KoBold's proprietary data system and ensure usability for exploration projects.
• Build a deep understanding of mineral exploration science and operations to ensure the system and data generated meet user needs and field requirements. 
• Build partnerships, source, and contract with service providers and vendors to develop hardware solutions that solve KoBold exploration needs.
• Create effective product plans and mechanical, mechatronic and automation designs - from concept through prototyping and production. 
• Contribute engineering expertise, analysis, and design to various hardware projects across Kobold.
• Help develop Kobold’s hardware development tools and processes.

Qualifications

A great Hardware Development Engineer candidate will have:

• A successful track record of developing and deploying complex state-of-the-art automated scientific equipment. 
• Experience deploying and supporting complex equipment to remote sites including commissioning, validation, training and monitoring.  
• The ability to simultaneously and gracefully wear many hats including technical lead, project manager, product manager, and hands on in-the-weeds engineer. 
• Excellent communication skills for a highly interdisciplinary workplace.

Technical skills, including extensive experience with:

• Leading teams to execute end-to-end technical product development from concept through testing and deployment. 
• Physical measurement and data analysis systems. 
• Applying scientific knowledge to identify and prototype emerging technologies.
• Automation, systems integration and data acquisition.
• Mechanical engineering, CAD, analysis, prototyping.
• Vendor selection and management.
• 3rd party contractor selection and management.

Work practices and motivation:

• Ability and desire to take ownership and responsibility of large projects.
• Enjoys constantly learning such that you are driving insights and innovations.
• Ability to explain technical problems to and collaborate on solutions with domain experts who aren’t hardware experts.
• Excitement about joining a fast-growing early-stage company, comfort with a dynamic work environment, and eagerness to take on a range of responsibilities.
• Ability to independently prioritize multiple tasks effectively.
• Solutions oriented, positive, and collaborative.

It is also helpful but not required to have experience with:

• Product management for scientific hardware.
• Optics, electronics, and instrumentation.
• Intellectual curiosity and eagerness to learn about all aspects of mineral exploration, particularly in the geology domain. Enjoys constantly learning such that you are driving insights through using our tools in exploration and willing to work directly with geologists in the field.
• Ability to explain technical problems to and collaborate on solutions with domain experts who are not hardware engineers. A strong communicator who enjoys working with colleagues across the company.
• Excitement about joining a fast-growing early-stage company, comfort with a dynamic work environment, and eagerness to take on an evolving range of responsibilities.
• Keen not just to build cool technology, but to figure out what technical product to build to best achieve the business objectives of the company.
• A valid passport and willingness to travel to observe our work at Mingomba or at an exploration site around the world. Travel for this role typically does not exceed 2 trips per year. 

KoBold Metals is an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunities for people of any race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or veteran status.

This position is Full-time Exempt

The US base salary range for this full-time exempt position is $150,000 - $190,000. In addition, KoBold offers company equity.

Location: San Francisco Bay Area.  Must be able to work out of the Berkeley, CA office on any given day of the week.  

Travel: Must be able to travel domestically and internationally, 20-30% time.  Travel may include visits to remote field sites.  Work trips may extend to 3+ weeks.  

About the Company 

The mining industry has steadily become worse at finding new ore deposits, requiring >10X more capital to make discoveries compared to 30 years ago. The easy-to-find, near-surface deposits have largely been found, and the industry has chronically under-invested in new exploration technology, relying on the manual techniques of yesteryear – even as demand accelerates for copper, lithium, and other metals to build electric vehicles, renewable energy, and data centers.

KoBold builds AI models for mineral exploration and deploys those models—alongside our novel sensors—to guide decisions on KoBold-owned-and-operated exploration programs. In the six years since founding, KoBold has become by far both the largest independent mineral exploration company and the largest exploration technology developer. Our data scientists and software engineers, who come from leading technology companies, jointly lead exploration programs with our renowned exploration geologists.

KoBold has proven its first discovery with materially less capital than the industry average and found one of the best copper deposits ever discovered: the copper is far more concentrated than the global average of copper mines, and this asset alone is expected to generate meaningful revenue for decades. KoBold has a portfolio of more than 60 other projects, each of which has the potential for another high-quality discovery.

KoBold is privately held; investors include institutional asset managers T. Rowe Price and Canada Pension Plan Investments; technology venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BOND Capital, Durable Capital, StepStone, and Standard Investments; and natural resources companies Equinor, BHP, and Mitsubishi.

About the Role

This role will drive the design, development, and deployment of a next-generation hardware technology that will transform how KoBold collects and interprets exploration data. This role is ideal for a mechanical engineer who thrives at the intersection of science, engineering, and data and is excited about bringing new technology to life. 

In this role, you will lead the full technical lifecycle of a critical new hardware system: from concept and prototyping through validation, automation, manufacturing, and deployment in the field. You will work closely with our data scientists, engineers, and geoscientists to design instrumentation that produces rich, high-quality datasets, feeding the machine learning models that drive KoBold’s mineral exploration around the world.  You will be a key member of a hardware development team and contributor to various novel hardware projects.  

You will also help to build the hardware development discipline and organization at Kobold, contributing to a culture and process that will make our engineering efforts innovative, scalable and repeatable. You will report to the Head of Hardware and join a world-class team of data scientists, engineers and geoscientists developing novel technologies to accelerate the discovery of critical minerals for batteries and electrification.  

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical development of a novel, automated sensing and imaging system from concept and prototype to deployment of multiple systems in remote field sites.  Coordinate with and orchestrate internal and external resources across hardware and software engineering to deliver.  
• Lead system architecture definition, navigating technical tradeoffs through rigorous research and analysis and balancing cost, complexity, and timeline.  
• Collaborate with KoBold's data systems and exploration teams to integrate the new data stream into KoBold's proprietary data system and ensure usability for exploration projects.
• Build a deep understanding of mineral exploration science and operations to ensure the system and data generated meet user needs and field requirements. 
• Build partnerships, source, and contract with service providers and vendors to develop hardware solutions that solve KoBold exploration needs.
• Create effective product plans and mechanical, mechatronic and automation designs - from concept through prototyping and production. 
• Contribute engineering expertise, analysis, and design to various hardware projects across Kobold.
• Help develop Kobold’s hardware development tools and processes.

Qualifications

A great Hardware Development Engineer candidate will have:

• A successful track record of developing and deploying complex state-of-the-art automated scientific equipment. 
• Experience deploying and supporting complex equipment to remote sites including commissioning, validation, training and monitoring.  
• The ability to simultaneously and gracefully wear many hats including technical lead, project manager, product manager, and hands on in-the-weeds engineer. 
• Excellent communication skills for a highly interdisciplinary workplace.

Technical skills, including extensive experience with:

• Leading teams to execute end-to-end technical product development from concept through testing and deployment. 
• Physical measurement and data analysis systems. 
• Applying scientific knowledge to identify and prototype emerging technologies.
• Automation, systems integration and data acquisition.
• Mechanical engineering, CAD, analysis, prototyping.
• Vendor selection and management.
• 3rd party contractor selection and management.

Work practices and motivation:

• Ability and desire to take ownership and responsibility of large projects.
• Enjoys constantly learning such that you are driving insights and innovations.
• Ability to explain technical problems to and collaborate on solutions with domain experts who aren’t hardware experts.
• Excitement about joining a fast-growing early-stage company, comfort with a dynamic work environment, and eagerness to take on a range of responsibilities.
• Ability to independently prioritize multiple tasks effectively.
• Solutions oriented, positive, and collaborative.

It is also helpful but not required to have experience with:

• Product management for scientific hardware.
• Optics, electronics, and instrumentation.
• Intellectual curiosity and eagerness to learn about all aspects of mineral exploration, particularly in the geology domain. Enjoys constantly learning such that you are driving insights through using our tools in exploration and willing to work directly with geologists in the field.
• Ability to explain technical problems to and collaborate on solutions with domain experts who are not hardware engineers. A strong communicator who enjoys working with colleagues across the company.
• Excitement about joining a fast-growing early-stage company, comfort with a dynamic work environment, and eagerness to take on an evolving range of responsibilities.
• Keen not just to build cool technology, but to figure out what technical product to build to best achieve the business objectives of the company.
• A valid passport and willingness to travel to observe our work at Mingomba or at an exploration site around the world. Travel for this role typically does not exceed 2 trips per year. 

KoBold Metals is an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunities for people of any race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or veteran status.

This position is Full-time Exempt

The US base salary range for this full-time exempt position is $150,000 - $190,000. In addition, KoBold offers company equity.

Location: San Francisco Bay Area.  Must be able to work out of the Berkeley, CA office on any given day of the week.  

Travel: Must be able to travel domestically and internationally, 20-30% time.  Travel may include visits to remote field sites.  Work trips may extend to 3+ weeks.