We are open to hiring at multiple levels for this role, depending on experience, impact, and demonstrated ownership. While this role is level-agnostic, it is best suited for engineers with experience owning production systems and working in highly ambiguous problem spaces.

Software Engineer

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, and Standard Investments; and natural resources companies Equinor, BHP, and Mitsubishi.

We are hiring Software Engineers to accelerate our mission.

About The Role:

At KoBold, software engineers have the unique opportunity to embed directly with their users and learn the ins and outs of mineral exploration and geology while developing state of the art technology solutions. Unlike traditional software engineering roles, we don’t simply ship code and passively wait for feedback about its utility: our userbase includes our colleagues… and ourselves! While there are real technical challenges in making mineral exploration data broadly searchable and accessible to both humans and machines, we believe that solving these technical challenges cannot be done without “getting our hands dirty” – sometimes literally! – by embedding directly with the exploration teams and even occasionally (~once a year) joining our colleagues in the field, be it in Zambia, Canada, or Arizona, to experience the impact of our software in real time.

As a Software Engineer on the Data Systems Engineering team at KoBold, your main role will be to enable systematic exploration and materially improve exploration success rates by making mineral exploration data broadly accessible to humans and machines.  Past projects have included SIP (the Structured Ingest Pipeline), DataKit generation (producing curated sets of data on demand), and RAG (Retrieval Augmentation Generation, utilizing natural language processing on unstructured data). Our tech stack is primarily python and includes Django, React, AWS, and additional technologies like Retool and Prefect. 

Your work will empower KoBold to unlock invaluable insights and streamline intricate scientific processes. Collaborating with our exceptional team of data scientists, geologists, and other software engineers, you will have the opportunity to tackle complex problems head-on and collectively pave the way for the discoveries of vital energy transition metals like lithium, copper, nickel, and cobalt. Together we can shape the future of mineral exploration and contribute to building a sustainable world.

This role be responsible for:

• Deep engagement with exploration geologists and data scientists, continual learning about mineral exploration, and tailoring technology development to the needs of exploration project scientists
• Building data pipelines and tooling for deriving advanced human and machine insights from exploration data, often leading a small group of software engineers to successful delivery
• Developing expertise in KoBold’s Data Systems and deeply understanding how they impact exploration
• End-to-end ownership of projects from design to implementation and testing to continued engagement with colleagues on exploration teams using your solutions
• Responding well to design and code feedback, also providing feedback to teammates 
• Operationally managing the team’s services and assisting scientific colleagues with our tooling

Qualifications:

• 2+ years of software engineering experience, ideally building production cloud data systems
• Proficiency with Python
• Ability to write production-quality code that is correct, readable, well-tested, scalable and extensible
• Skilled in large-scale system design
• A track record of taking ownership from definition of the problem and delivering projects with demonstrated impact in an iterative manner
• 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 software developers. 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.

Nice to Haves: 

• Experience with modern frontend frameworks such as React
• Experience with geospatial data and building map-based experiences
• Familiarity with containerization and container orchestration platforms, such as Docker, AWS ECS, Kubernetes, etc.
• Formal education or job exposure to natural sciences

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: Zambia (Lusaka or Copperbelt Province)

This position is Contract: Indefinite

About the company: 

KoBold Metals is a mineral exploration company looking to discover ore deposits with the metals needed for clean energy and electrification: copper, cobalt, nickel, and lithium. We are building an outstanding exploration team and project portfolio in Zambia, both on 100%-owned projects and partnerships with other exploration and mining companies.  Our global team includes the best of the industry in exploration geoscience, data science, software engineering, and business personnel. 

Mingomba Mining Ltd is managed and operated by KoBold Metals in partnership with EMR Capital and ZCCM-IH.  The company is building a rapidly growing team of Zambian geologists, engineers, operators, and executives to identify, acquire, explore, and develop exploration opportunities and mineral resources drawing upon KoBold’s technology and the expertise of colleagues worldwide.

We are seeking to hire Drilling Supervisors and Engineers to help accelerate our mission.  We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all people.

About the position

In the role of Drilling Supervisor, you will be responsible for overseeing exploration drilling operations at project sites. You will work closely with our Field Drilling Manager to manage drilling operations, and ultimately manage drilling in their absence.  You will conduct exploration drilling without causing harm to our people, our contractors and partners, or the communities and environments where we operate. The role will also require responsibility in financial, commercial and technical operations involved in drilling

Work Location: Zambian Copperbelt 

 Ideal Candidate Must have:

1.  Demonstrable exceptional abilities in Health, Safety, Environment & Quality management on a drill operation
2.  Good understanding of different mineral exploration drilling methods and equipment and maintenance principles and oversee the drilling process to ensure its safety and efficiency. 
3. Good drill contract management experience - ability to assess commercial and technical proposals and performance of drill contractors and manage drill contract relationships
4. Solid Technical background in drilling.

Job Duties General:

1. Standardize Kobold Metals Zambia drilling practice, equipment and record keeping.
2. Lead and manage across departments through collaboration
3. Partner with geological personnel to develop and execute drill programs safely and effectively 
4. Liaise with Kobold Metals Zambia Contracts, Environmental and Safety stakeholders to coordinate contracts and tenders.
5. Promote and participate in the application of new technologies (tools, equipment, and fluids).
6.  Identify and maintain operational cost reductions and/or productivity improvements to safely and effectively achieve drilling targets.

Job Description 

Drill Contract Management

•  Collaborate with Exploration, Development and Contracts teams to uphold the drill tender process for planned programs. 
• Manage contract renewal or termination processes including negotiation drill contract terms and conditions
• The scope of work shall include technical and equipment specification requirements, (identifying appropriate contractors).
• Ensure contractor compliance with KoBold Metals’ Group Safety Policies and other related policies
•  Partner with Kobold Metals Zambia representatives and contract administrators to review the Contractor Safety Assessment Checklist prior to awarding Drilling Services contracts.
• Establish protocol, instilling the importance of regular liaison between drilling supervision, management, contracts, and contractor representatives for the timely completion of contracts before commencing any drilling activity.
•  Drive the process for conducting preliminary start-up safety inspections (post contract award) of all drilling and support equipment, providing accurate and regular reports to ensure rigs and equipment arrive as scheduled and are Standard-compliant.
•  Lead and advise the Commercial teams in engaging industry for exploration drilling services ensuring screening for industry recognized and accredited drilling companies with the highest safety standards. 
• Validate and approve drilling invoices before submission to finance

Production & Project Management Monitoring

• Daily presence and oversight on all active drill sites
• Develop and support daily logistics plan for core and sample movement
• Hold Monthly Management meetings with contractors. 
• Utilize the KoBold Drilling Technology system dashboard and ensure Contractor compliance to reporting accurate drilling data. 
• Provide expert drilling advice to Drill Contractors in a collaborative manner
• Conduct regular technical discussions with regional drill managers and project managers to effectively identify and quickly resolve problems.
•  Generate Daily, Weekly and Monthly reports for management team and provide management updates on the performance of the drill program

• Reports shall include individual rig information (Rig Performance Availability & Reliability statistics); 

• Identify and report on potential technical modifications at drilling operations that would improve production and/or reduce cost. 

Technical Skills & Competence 

• Good Understanding of drilling systems on drill equipment and technical specifications and applicability in exploration 
• Demonstrated track record of pre-empting and solving drilling problems
• Costing and scheduling drilling operations.
• Ability conduct technical post-drilling programs for technical studies - eg. geotechnical and hydrological testing post hole completion
• Analyze and design drilling plans according to data and rate of production.
• Designing directional paths
• Identify opportunities to improve cost efficiency (e.g., minimizing downtime)
• Good understanding of auxiliary equipment, spares and consumables required for coordination with material suppliers and contractors.
• Adhere  to relevant government rules and guidelines for drilling procedures.
• Take care to preserve natural environment
• Keep informed about the latest engineering techniques and software
• Risk management of drill program
• Major Emergency Management (MEM)

Leadership

• Support Drilling Manager and supervising KoBold staff on rigs.
• Drive a culture of training and development
• Plan off site training annually for drilling personnel - entry level, advanced, and expert.
• Be eager to self-develop
• Manage teams across cultures (local and international)
• Supervising drilling and solving technical problems.
• Enforcing safety and disaster recovery procedures.
• Manage drill contractors as business partners by:
• Clearly communicating KoBold approach and procedures
• Monitor progress and provide adjustments for optimal drilling
• Solve engineering problems that arise during drilling
• Ensure safe operations

 Qualifications:

• An accredited engineering degree, diploma or certificate is necessary - Mechanical/Mining related degree or courses.
• More than 8+ years fieldwork experience in mining & exploration drilling projects in particular
• Added advantage of master level in civil engineering, mechanical engineering or mineral/mining engineering, geology and earth sciences is also beneficial 
• Experience as Drilling Supervisor or Drilling Section Leader 
• Rigging certification - added advantage
• Valid Driver’s license
• Registration with Engineering Institute of Zambia (Engineer, Technician, Craftsperson) or relevant international body

Desirable Attributes: 

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, as well as the ability to build and maintain relationships with a range of people
• Have a heart to develop talent
• a good technical understanding of the scientific principles of disciplines such as geology, physics, math and chemistry
• a high level of numeracy and IT skills
• the analytical ability to think through potentially complex problems and develop solutions
• Initiative and drive, willingness to learn
• teamwork skills and the ability to cooperate with others
• sensitivity to different cultures and ways of working
• the ability to work under pressure

 This position is a full-time contract role.  At this time we are only accepting applications from Zambian nationals.

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.

We are hiring a Field Hardware Engineer  to help accelerate our mission.

About the position

In this role, you will deploy, operate and maintain prototype hardware technology to improve our exploration programs in Zambia. These hardware technologies produce data that feed the algorithms, models, and analysis that the company uses for mineral exploration, first in Zambia and subsequently around the globe. You will work hands-on to further develop Mingomba’s instrumentation and drilling technology.  The data collected by your hardware will create insights that accelerate discovery of critical battery metals.

You will join an outstanding team of data scientists and engineers and will work closely with world-renowned geoscientists to incorporate our best understanding of the chemical and physical processes that create ore deposits.

Ultimately, your role is to help make valuable discoveries by building and deploying next generation hardware to solve scientific problems. 

Responsibilities

The Field Hardware Engineer will:

• Deploy and maintain measurement and instrumentation systems at KoBold’s Mingomba site and other sites around Zambia. 
• Work hands on to design, build, improve, and repair equipment and instrumentation such as imaging systems, lab measurement systems, and drill site systems in the field and in the core shed.  
• Coordinate with KoBold and contractor staff to ensure proper and ongoing operation of measurement and instrumentation systems including conducting operator training. 
• Be the in country lead for deployment of new technologies, coordinating logistics & labor, component receiving and inspection, assembly and validation. 
• Work closely with vendors to successfully deliver complex hardware systems on time and on budget.
• Source vendors and components in Zambia as well as sourcing and importing parts not available in Zambia. 
• Iterate mechanical designs in Solidworks
• Present to and collaborate with our external partners and stakeholders.

Qualifications

A great Field Hardware Engineer candidate will have:

• A successful track record of deploying, maintaining, and improving complex state-of-the-art equipment in production environments.
• Excellent communication skills for a highly interdisciplinary and international workplace 
• Ability to coordinate across multiple groups and work across timezones.  
• Experience selecting, managing and driving vendors to deliver components meeting quality requirements on time and on budget. 
• High attention to detail and organized.  Ability to foresee issues and get ahead of them. 

Technical skills, including extensive experience with:

• Mechanical engineering, CAD, prototyping, vendor and contractor management.
• Machining, sheet metal fabrication, welding, and 3D prototype printing
• Electrical systems, cable management, wiring, soldering, connectorization

Training and work experience:

• BSc in Mechanical Engineering / Control & Automation / Electronics & Instrumentation or equivalent
• At least 5 years of experience in mechanical design, fabrication, and prototyping
• At least 2 years experience deploying and maintaining equipment in the field

Work practices and motivation:

• Extremely motivated 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
• Ability to independently prioritize multiple tasks effectively

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

• Camera systems
• Basic electronic engineering including power supplies, networking, data collection systems 
• Python programming
• Level 3 Technicians are encouraged to apply

Mingomba Mining Ltd 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.

Location: Chililabombwe, Zambia 

About the company: 

KoBold Metals Zambia is a Zambian-led company exploring for the ore deposits that will become the next generation of new mines in Zambia.

KoBold Metals Zambia is the Zambian affiliate of KoBold Metals, a U.S.-based company exploring around the world for battery metals using proprietary AI to guide exploration decisions. Our business is discovering, defining, expanding, and developing mineral resources, and our objective is to achieve a step-change improvement in exploration success resulting in more tier 1 resources discovered faster, with fewer failures, and with far less exploration capital.

KoBold is privately held and its investors include: institutional asset managers T. Rowe Price and Canada Pension Plan Investments; technology venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BOND Capital, Standard Investments, and Sam Altman’s Apollo Projects; and leading natural resources companies Equinor, Mitsubishi, and BHP.

KoBold Metals Zambia is building a rapidly growing team of Zambian geologists, operators, and executives to identify, acquire, explore, and develop exploration opportunities and mineral resources drawing upon KoBold’s technology and the expertise of colleagues worldwide.

We are hiring a Geotechnical Engineer to help accelerate our mission.

About the position

The Geotechnical Engineer will be responsible for providing geotechnical expertise to support the safe and efficient design, operation, and monitoring of underground mining activities. This role involves assessing ground conditions, designing support systems, conducting stability analyses, and ensuring compliance with geotechnical standards and mining regulations. The Geotechnical Engineer will report to Lead Geotechnical Engineer and will work closely with mine planning, geology, hydrology, Safety and operations teams to mitigate geotechnical risks and optimize production.

Responsibilities    

Ground Control & Stability

• Conduct rock mass characterization (RMR, Q-System, GSI, RQD) and develop geotechnical models.
• Perform stope, drift, shaft, and pillar stability analyses using empirical methods and numerical modelling (Map3D, FLAC3D).
• Design, specify, and optimize ground support systems (bolts, cable bolts, shotcrete, mesh, etc.).
• Monitor and assess performance of excavations and ground support.

Geotechnical Data Collection & Monitoring

• Log core and map underground exposures to identify structures, discontinuities, and rock mass conditions.
• Install and interpret geotechnical instrumentation (extensometers, stress cells, convergence monitoring, etc.).
• Develop and maintain geotechnical databases and records.
• Monitor Geotechnical compliance on shaft sinking

Mine Planning & Risk Management

• Provide geotechnical input into short-, medium-, and long-term mine designs.
• Conduct risk assessments for potential ground control hazards.
• Advice on excavation sequencing, stope design, and backfill strategies to optimize safety and ore recovery.
• Enforce and manage Ground control Management Plan (GCMP)

Reporting & Compliance

• Prepare technical reports, geotechnical assessments, and recommendations for management and regulators.
• Ensure compliance with statutory mine safety and ground control standards (GCMP).
• Support audits and reviews of geotechnical practices.

Collaboration & Training

• Work with multidisciplinary teams (geology, ventilation, mine planning, operations).
• Train and mentor junior engineers, technicians, and operators on geotechnical awareness and support practices.

Qualifications

A great Geotechnical Engineering candidate will have:

• Bachelor’s degree in Geotechnical Engineering, Mining Engineering, Geological Engineering, or equivalent.
• Professional registration (EIZ) as an Engineer is an advantage.
• 5 years’ experience in underground mining
• Proficiency in geotechnical software (e.g., RocScience suite, Map3D, Leapfrog, Deswik).
• Strong knowledge of rock mechanics, ground support design, and underground excavation stability.
• Good understanding of safety systems and statutory mine regulations.

We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all people.

This position is a full-time contract role.

At this time, we are only accepting applications from Zambian nationals.

Location: Northern Copperbelt (i.e., Chingola or Chililabombwe).