Senior Research Engineer

Senior Research Engineer, Advanced Technology Group

About the Company

In the coming decades, demand for critical minerals such as copper, lithium, and cobalt will continue to grow. These minerals are needed to build electric infrastructure, vehicles, data centers, and electronics. However, the mining industry is making 10x fewer discoveries per dollar spent on exploration compared to 30 years ago because the easy-to-find, near surface deposits have largely been discovered.

KoBold was founded to be the first AI native mineral exploration, mine development, and technology development company. Our goal is to turn mineral exploration into a repeatable science to discover the minerals the world needs—by integrating artificial intelligence, human intelligence, and new technology. Our multidisciplinary teams of data scientists, engineers, and geologists work together to build data systems, design new sensors, and establish industry-leading workflows to develop and test subsurface predictions on our exploration projects.

Our first discovery, Mingomba, is a high-grade copper deposit in Zambia, found after spending materially less than industry average. We are developing Mingomba with the same technical rigor that we apply to exploration. The Mingomba team brings together mine and processing engineers, geologists, data scientists, software engineers, and community, health & safety, construction, and operations specialists. By combining industry knowledge and cutting edge technology, we are developing Mingomba into a world class project that has safer and more predictable outcomes for ourselves, partners, and communities. It is expected to create thousands of good jobs for generations.

KoBold runs exploration programs in eight countries, all with the potential for another 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 strategic natural resources companies BHP and Mitsubishi.

About the Role

This role will drive the design, development, and deployment of new subsurface imaging hardware, on muon projects with high energy physics detectors and seismic measurements with seismometers. This role is ideal for an engineer or scientist who thrives at the intersection of science, engineering, and data and is excited about bringing new technology to life. 

In this role, you will own mechanical and electrical systems of new imaging instruments through the full technical lifecycle: from concept and prototyping through validation, 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 Subsurface Imaging 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

• Own the technical development of mechanical and electrical systems of novel sensing and imaging instruments from concept and prototype to deployment in remote field sites.  Coordinate with and orchestrate internal and external resources across hardware and software engineering to deliver.  
• Contribute to 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 and electrical 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 candidate will have:

• A successful track record of developing and deploying complex state-of-the-art scientific instruments: about five years after a PhD, or correspondingly more after a BS or MS. 
• 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:

• Executing 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 or electrical design for scientific instruments, and processing of measured signals.
• Vendor selection and management.
• Third-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.
• Valid passport and willingness to travel to observe our work at Mingomba or at an exploration site around the world. 

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

• Product management for scientific hardware.
• Particle detectors, optics, and electronics
• Seismic, acoustic, or other geophysical 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.
• A strong communicator who enjoys working with colleagues across the company.
• 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.

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 $130,000 - $190,000

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.