Scientist, AI & Sensor Development (Mineral Exploration)

About KoBold Metals

The mining industry faces significant challenges in discovering new ore deposits, requiring vastly increased capital compared to three decades ago due to the depletion of easily accessible resources. KoBold Metals is addressing this by building and deploying AI models alongside novel sensors to guide exploration programs. In just six years, KoBold has become the largest independent mineral exploration company and exploration technology developer. Our interdisciplinary team of data scientists, software engineers, and renowned exploration geologists jointly leads exploration efforts. We have already demonstrated success, making a significant copper discovery with substantially less capital than the industry average, and possess a portfolio of over 60 other promising projects.

Our investors include leading institutional asset managers like T. Rowe Price and Canada Pension Plan Investments, technology venture capitalists such as Andreessen Horowitz and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and major natural resources companies including Equinor, BHP, and Mitsubishi.

About The Role

In this position, you will develop state-of-the-art instruments to gather data crucial for our exploration programs. Your responsibilities will include simulating, characterizing, and calibrating sensor performance, as well as designing new data acquisition systems. You will collaborate with vendors and partners to build hardware and work with our operations staff for field deployment. Leveraging sensor data and other sources at KoBold, you will construct models using a wide array of scientific computing, statistical, and physics-based methods to identify evidence of ore-forming processes and predict the locations of ore-grade mineralization in 2D and 3D. You will contribute to building a global dataset that underpins our exploration program, with a strong focus on identifying and quantifying uncertainties in data and predictions. Ultimately, you will develop models and software to accelerate the discovery of critical battery metals.

You will join an exceptional team of data scientists and engineers, working closely with KoBold’s world-renowned geoscientists to integrate our understanding of the chemical and physical processes that create ore deposits. This collaboration will involve identifying new opportunities and technologies for geophysical data collection, creating 2D and 3D geologic predictions, pinpointing exploration targets, designing field programs, and utilizing collected data to reduce uncertainty and guide subsequent fieldwork.

Your ultimate goal is to help KoBold make valuable discoveries by building and deploying next-generation hardware and using data tools to solve complex scientific problems. As one of the early members of this team, you will play a key role in building these tools from the ground up.

Responsibilities

Technical Execution

• Design, develop, and deploy new mineral exploration data collection instruments and methods.
• Assist in developing KoBold’s proprietary software exploration tools.
• Find, curate, and integrate diverse geospectral, geophysical, geochemical, geologic, and geographic data into KoBold’s proprietary data system.
• Build models to generate statistically valid predictions of compositional anomalies within the Earth’s crust.
• Create effective visualizations for evaluating model performance and enabling rapid interaction with data and key features.
• Develop and apply a range of data processing, statistical, and physics-based techniques (e.g., computer vision, geophysical inversions) to geoscientific data, using results to guide targeting and inform acquisition/exploration decisions.
• Present findings and collaborate with external partners and stakeholders.
• Advance analytical capabilities by implementing statistically rigorous, spatially aware clustering, anomaly detection, and other analysis methods.
• Collaborate with data scientists, geoscientists, and engineers to invent and deploy algorithms that integrate large, complex datasets for mineral exploration and discovery.

Qualifications

Core Competencies

• Demonstrated ability to rapidly absorb and synthesize complex information, with a history of high intellectual rigor in professional settings.
• Exceptional curiosity and a proactive approach to learning new concepts and technologies.
• Proven track record of developing complex equipment with cross-disciplinary teams and vendors.

Technical Skills

• Extensive experience with physical measurement and data analysis systems using phenomena like optics, electromagnetism, radiation, and gravity.
• Application of scientific knowledge to identify and prototype emerging technologies.
• Systems integration and data acquisition.
• Proficiency with Python’s data science packages and general software engineering practices.
• Experience with collaborative software development (Git) and familiarity with best practices like unit/integration testing and CI/CD pipelines.
• Proficiency in SQL and familiarity with non-relational databases.
• Experience with cloud computing resources.
• Experience building, applying, evaluating, and interpreting a wide variety of predictive models.
• Expertise in data analysis, physics analysis, and applied statistics across diverse data types, including data from physical systems.
• Ability to delve deeply into novel problems applying ML to mineral exploration, including understanding the geology domain and working with limited, disparate, and noisy data sources.
• Experience deploying sensors in the field.

Work Practices and Motivation

• Ability to take ownership and responsibility for large projects.
• Intellectual curiosity and eagerness to learn all aspects of mineral exploration, particularly geology, with a willingness to work directly with geologists in the field.
• Enjoys continuous learning to drive insights and innovations.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical problems to and collaborate on solutions with domain experts who are not software developers.
• Enthusiasm for joining a fast-growing early-stage company, comfort with a dynamic work environment, and eagerness to take on diverse responsibilities.
• Focus on building impactful technology that achieves business objectives.
• Ability to independently prioritize multiple tasks effectively.

Helpful, but Not Required Experience

• Remote sensing
• Creating machine learning models on geospatial data
• Image processing or computer vision
• Project and team management

Compensation and Benefits

• US Salary Range: $125,000 - $235,000, depending on skills, qualifications, experience, and location.
• In addition to salary, equity compensation is offered.
• Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401k retirement plan, short & long-term disability, and life insurance.
• Paid sick time and parental leave are also provided.

Location

• Remote: Candidates can be located anywhere in the United States or Canada.
• All candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States or Canada.
• 10-20% travel required.

Equal Opportunity Employer

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