M

Mariana Minerals

Software-driven mineral exploration and supply

Intellectual Property Counsel

Full-TimePosted on 10/15/2026
$130k - $185k/yr
Senior
Bachelor's, JD
Houston, TX, USA+1 moreMore locations: San Francisco, CA, USA
In PersonLimited travel may be required.
LegalIntellectual Property (IP)

About the job

Requirements
  • A J.D. from an accredited law school and active bar membership in good standing.
  • At least six years of intellectual property experience in a law firm and/or in-house, spanning patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and copyright.
  • Experience managing patent prosecution and portfolios, working directly with inventors, and directing outside counsel.
  • Experience drafting and negotiating IP-related commercial agreements, including licenses, joint development agreements, technology and software agreements, and IP provisions in broader commercial contracts.
  • Technical fluency and the ability to engage deeply with engineers and scientists on complex processes, hardware, and software, translating technical detail into sound IP strategy.
  • Strong drafting, analytical, and communication skills, with the ability to calibrate risk and translate complex legal issues into clear, practical guidance for non-legal stakeholders.
  • Ability to work independently, manage multiple competing priorities, and operate effectively in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environment with limited direction.
  • A high degree of ownership and accountability, seeing matters through from start to finish and taking a collaborative approach to projects across the organization.
Responsibilities
  • Develop and lead an IP strategy aligned with the company’s technology roadmap and business objectives in collaboration with the broader legal team.
  • Build and manage the patent portfolio, from invention capture through prosecution.
  • Establish a trade secret protection program, including guidance on when to patent versus protect as a trade secret.
  • Oversee the trademark, brand, and domain name portfolios.
  • Draft, review, and negotiate commercial agreement provisions involving intellectual property, including licenses, strategic partnerships, joint development and research collaborations, software agreements, and purchase agreements.
  • Lead IP due diligence for financings, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships.
  • Work with cross-functional project teams to identify risks early and align legal strategy with operational realities.
  • Provide general legal support across the business as the company grows.
Desired Qualifications
  • Registration to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  • A technical degree in chemical engineering, chemistry, materials science, metallurgy, mechanical or electrical engineering, computer science, or a related field.
  • Experience in a fast-paced startup or similar organization, ideally including building an IP function or program from the ground up.
  • Experience with IP in mining, energy, chemicals, advanced materials, industrial processing, robotics, or other physical or deep-tech industries.
  • Experience with international filing strategy, including PCT practice, trade secret programs, and open-source governance.
  • Experience with IP due diligence, licensing transactions, and IP disputes or litigation support.
  • Experience building or improving processes from scratch, including by leveraging software and/or AI.

About the company

M

Mariana Minerals

View
Website

Mariana Minerals is a software-first minerals company focused on identifying, acquiring, exploring, and supplying critical minerals needed for energy, AI, and defense. It uses a proprietary software platform to pinpoint mineral assets with strong potential, then buys mineral rights, develops the resources, and sells them to customers in energy, AI infrastructure, and defense. The company is vertically integrated, handling everything from asset acquisition to development and supply, which sets it apart from traditional mines that don’t leverage digital tools or own the full value chain. Its main goal is to rebuild and secure the United States’ domestic supply chain for these strategic resources, addressing national security and vulnerability in global mineral markets.

Company Size

201-500

Company Stage

Series B

Total Funding

$395M

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Founded

2024

Get referred to Mariana Minerals

See people who can refer or advise you

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Mariana raised $310 million on August 3, 2026, led by Khosla Ventures.
  • Copper One restarted in April 2026 and targets 50,000 tonnes yearly by 2030.
  • Sandvik delivered an autonomous drill rig in Q1 2026; Pronto added driverless haulage.

What critics are saying

  • Copper One is a brownfield retrofit; hidden geology and old infrastructure slow autonomy.
  • Lithium One's East Texas refinery targets first-half 2027 production, leaving tight execution risk.
  • If MarianaOS misses throughput gains, the software thesis collapses and funding dries up.

What makes Mariana Minerals unique

  • MarianaOS unifies MineOS, PlantOS, and CapitalProjectOS across mining, refining, and project delivery.
  • Copper One runs brownfield copper production with autonomous haul trucks, drilling, and robotics.
  • Its defense-backed investor base includes In-Q-Tel, BHP Ventures, and Mitsubishi Corporation.

Help us improve and share your feedback! Did you find this helpful?

Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Paid Vacation
  • Remote Work Options
  • Flexible Work Hours
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan
  • Wellness Program
  • Mental Health Support
  • Conference Attendance Budget
  • Professional Development Budget
  • Stock Options
  • Company Equity
  • Phone/Internet Stipend

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

30%

1 year growth

30%

2 year growth

64%
Canadian Mining Journal
Oct 1st, 2026
Dyno Nobel announces autonomous blasting solution.

Dyno Nobel announces autonomous blasting solution. Following five years of research and development, Dyno Nobel, a company specializing in commercial explosives, has unveiled its new autonomous blasting system. [...] By David Cassels October 1, 2026 At 10:14 am Topics. Commodities. Companies. Following five years of research and development, Dyno Nobel, a company specializing in commercial explosives, has unveiled its new autonomous blasting system. Workers currently perform multiple tasks manually inside of mining blast zones. These tasks range from clearing debris, to guiding drill rigs and measuring hole depths. Dirk Van Soelen, Dyno Nobel's chief technology officer, says the new technology is designed to autonomously coordinate all these processes from a single control centre. "We know that safer and more consistent blasts lead to better extraction," said Van Soelen in a Wednesday news release. "For a world hungry for critical minerals, the productivity and safety benefits that come from being able to deliver the full blasting process autonomously could not come at a better time." A prototype of the system will be trialed at Mariana Minerals' Copper One site, an operating copper mine and refinery. Located in southeastern Utah, Copper One calls itself an 'autonomy-first' site. Mariana deploys software solutions with the intention of helping expand autonomous mining technology industry-wide. "Our goal at Copper One is end-to-end mining and processing autonomy, and blasting sits right at the start of that chain," said Juan Lozano, Mariana Minerals' co-founder. Alongside the trial, Mariana will integrate its operation system with Dyno Nobel's technology. More trials will take place, starting in the U.S., with other countries to follow. Dyno Nobel says it will release the new technology through a staged roll-out that will finish mid-2027. Oct 06 2026 - Oct 08 2026 Oct 15 2026 - Oct 17 2026 Oct 26 2026 - Oct 28 2026

PR Newswire
Aug 3rd, 2026
Mariana Minerals raises $310 million Series B led by Khosla Ventures to accelerate critical minerals production.

Mariana Minerals raises $310 million Series B led by Khosla Ventures to accelerate critical minerals production. Aug 03, 2026, 09:00 ET The round funds the expansion of its portfolio of critical minerals projects and further deployment of its software platform, MarianaOS. SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Mariana Minerals ("Mariana"), a software-first, vertically integrated critical minerals company, today announced it has raised $310 million in Series B financing. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, with continued support from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and new participation from Greenoaks, Halo Fund, Pax Ventures, StepStone Group, BHP Ventures, Washington Harbour Partners, Greycroft, General Innovation Capital Partners, Mitsubishi Corporation, In-Q-Tel (IQT), and Earthshot Ventures, with a number of additional strategic capital partners joining the round. This round brings the company's total parent and project capital raised to date to approximately $400 million. Mariana engineers, builds, and operates mines and refineries using its proprietary MarianaOS platform, which integrates capital project execution (CapitalProjectOS), refinery operations (PlantOS), and mine management (MineOS) into a single AI and machine learning stack. MarianaOS compresses traditional 5-to-10 year project execution timelines by roughly half and reduces commissioning timelines well below industry benchmarks. Mariana's Series B financing unlocks continued buildout of the company's active project portfolio, including its flagship sites Copper One in Southeastern Utah and Lithium One in East Texas. Copper One, acquired by Mariana in late 2025, restarted mining operations under autonomous orchestration within 4 months and is ramping toward a production target of 50,000 metric tons of refined copper per year. Lithium One, which broke ground in Q4 2025, is the world's first GWh-scale facility for producing lithium from oil & gas produced water, with commercial production targeted for the first half of 2027. "Critical minerals are the materials that decide whether America builds its own future or keeps depending on China to build it instead. We backed Mariana because Turner is the kind of operator who can actually build and run AI-driven mines and refineries, faster and cleaner than anyone thought possible," said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. "The minerals are there. What's been missing is the will and the AI to run mining and refining autonomously. That's exactly what Turner's team is building and why we backed them from day one." This financing accelerates the company's goal of developing 10 commercial-scale projects in 10 years to strengthen domestic supply of critical minerals. Mariana's project portfolio is designed to be catalytic: each project generates operational data that improves MarianaOS, reducing the cost and time to build and operate the next facility. "The critical minerals race is an execution problem, and we've spent the last two years proving that better software changes the math," said Turner Caldwell, CEO and Co-Founder of Mariana Minerals. "This additional capital lets us move from proving the model to scaling it; the time to build an autonomy-first minerals company, one that actually moves the needle on supply, is now." About Mariana Minerals Mariana Minerals is a software-first, vertically integrated critical minerals company that builds and operates mines and refineries across the metals that the modern economy depends on. For more information, visit marianaminerals.com. SOURCE Mariana Minerals

WDC TV News
Aug 3rd, 2026
Khosla leads $310 million raise for unicorn mining startup Mariana Minerals

The last century was fueled by oil and gas. Turner Caldwell is betting the next century runs on metals.  “We’re entering a metals-driven economy,” said Caldwell, CEO and cofounder at Mariana Minerals, a software-focused mining startup. “Lithium and copper are going to be core, but our mandate needs to be broader than that. We’re starting …

Frontrun
Aug 3rd, 2026
Mariana Minerals raised $310M, Valar Atomics raised $1B, OLIX raised $312M, The Intelligence Company raised $7.9M. we flagged all four first.

Mariana Minerals raised $310M, Valar Atomics raised $1B, OLIX raised $312M, The Intelligence Company raised $7.9M. Frontrun flagged all four first. tl;dr: Mariana Minerals raised a $310M Series B led by Khosla Ventures. Valar Atomics raised a $1B Series B led by Sequoia, plus a $200M credit facility. OLIX raised a $312M Series B at a $3.3B valuation. The Intelligence Company raised a $7.9M seed led by Index Ventures at $60M ARR. all announced august 3 2026. frontrun flagged them 104, 168, 91, and 168 days before the news, and the follow graph called all four rounds before the press did. who led Mariana Minerals' $310M Series B? Mariana Minerals raised a $310M Series B led by Khosla Ventures, with continued support from a16z and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and new participation from Greenoaks, Halo Fund, Pax Ventures, StepStone Group, BHP Ventures, Washington Harbour Partners, Greycroft, General Innovation Capital Partners, Mitsubishi Corporation, In-Q-Tel, and Earthshot Ventures. Mariana is building a vertically-integrated minerals company: end-to-end autonomy, speed to market, and lower costs for critical minerals, the inputs every major industry is now short of. who led Valar Atomics' $1B Series B? Valar Atomics raised a $1B Series B led by Sequoia, with Valor Equity Partners, Atreides, Point72, and Conviction, alongside a $200M credit facility led by Erebor and J.P. Morgan. Shaun Maguire of Sequoia joins the board. Valar is building the largest nuclear sites in the world for industrial electricity, heat, and carbon-neutral synthetic fuels. who's in OLIX's $312M Series B? OLIX raised a $312M Series B at a $3.3B valuation, more than tripling its value in six months. the round saw participation from Arm, Fundomo, Hudson River Trading, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, and the UK government's Sovereign AI venture fund, with existing investors Plural, Hummingbird Ventures, Phoenix Court, Crane, Creandum, and Transition expanding their commitments. the UK-based company builds the infrastructure for frontier AI: specialised silicon connected by an optical network, unrolling models across racks like an assembly line instead of forcing a single chip to do everything. founder: James Dacombe. who led The Intelligence Company's $7.9M seed? the team of 10 behind DesignArena scaled from $5M to $60M ARR in 6 months, with 5.5M users across 190+ countries: models compete to fulfill real requests, and live user behavior is the benchmark. Mariana Minerals: flagged april 21, announced august 3. 104 days. Valar Atomics: flagged february 16, announced august 3. 168 days. OLIX: flagged may 4, announced august 3. 91 days. The Intelligence Company: flagged february 16, announced august 3. 168 days. the february flag landed on DesignArena, the product account, months before the parent company account existed. same company, same follow graph, receipt intact. this is the part worth reading twice. Valar: between the flag and the round, 12 tracked investors followed the company. Sarah Guo followed july 9; Conviction is in the round announced today. Shaun Maguire followed july 31, three days before he was announced on Valar's board. Mariana: two a16z partners followed in the final four days: one on july 30, and one the morning of the announcement. a16z is in the round. OLIX: flagged may 4 via Frictionless Capital's founder. then a Multicoin Capital partner followed june 26, and Cantos Ventures' founder followed july 29, five days before the announcement. The Intelligence Company: between the february flag and the round, the graph filled in with a Paradigm researcher, a YC general partner (Gustaf Alströmer, july 5; YC is in the round), Andrew Ng, an a16z GP, and finally Sofia Dolfe of Index Ventures, the day before Index led the round. none of that is inside information. it's public follow data, watched account by account, stamped the morning it happens. investors follow companies before they talk about them; the round is visible in the graph while the press release is still a draft. a $1.63B day for the receipt ledger. its receipt ledger has a 7-day minimum lead: a flag has to beat the round by at least a week to count as a discovery rather than a leak of imminent news. at 91 to 168 days, all four of today's rounds clear the bar with months to spare, and all four enter the ledger with sources. these four already raised. the useful list is the one where the round hasn't happened yet. frontrun watches the follow graphs of 1,000+ tracked venture investors on X and flags the companies they converge on, with a date, the morning it happens. every round Frontrun flagged before it was announced, with sources: /fundraises. last month: july 2026. see the signal this article is built on frontrun tracks the follow graphs of 2,000+ venture investors and flags companies months before rounds are announced. companies and founders surfaced on frontrun. curated, every week.

Yahoo Finance
Apr 28th, 2026
Mariana Minerals resumes Utah operations with autonomous mining, refining and 50,000 tpa target

Mariana Minerals has resumed mining operations at the Copper One project in south-eastern Utah, marking the first global site to use autonomous tools across mining, refining and project execution managed by a single operating system. Mariana acquired the 10,000-acre site in late 2025 after purchasing Lisbon Valley Mining Company. Mining had been suspended in late 2024 due to rising costs and worker recruitment challenges, though refinery operations continued. The restart employs MarianaOS, integrating autonomous systems including Pronto's camera-based autonomous haul trucks, Sandvik's remote-controlled drilling, and Boston Dynamics' Spot robots for site patrols. PlantOS optimises refining using real-time data and machine learning. Mariana aims to increase production to 50,000 tonnes per annum of high-purity copper cathode by 2030.