Commercial Analytics Lead

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’re hiring a Commercial Analytics Lead to accelerate our mission.

About the position

In this role, you will report to the VP of Finance and work closely within a remote Commercial Analytics team of 5-7 (across North America and Europe) to structure ambiguous problems, build financial and operational models, and provide recommendations to the C-suite for key decisions. The work will span a variety of topics and include traditional market analyses such as creating supply/demand forecasts and writing commodity outlook reports, and non-traditional analyses as-needed to advance KoBold’s mission – e.g., operational and financial modeling for KoBold’s exploration programs, build vs. buy decisions for KoBold’s technology, mine economics modeling, and scientific communication materials for external audiences including investors, to name a few.

Since KoBold is a startup company operating globally, your role will be dynamic and your role and responsibilities will grow and change as the company grows.

Responsibilities

The Commercial Analytics Lead will:

• Aggregate existing research and/or conduct original research to build forecasts and models related to commodity markets, KoBold operations, mine development, and more
• Work with the Commercial Analytics and Financial Planning & Analysis team to answer strategic questions from C-suite
• Prepare materials for the Board of Directors and investors or partners
• Use a first-principles approach in collaboration with various KoBold functions to help make decisions or improve operational efficiency (e.g., cost models for technology, HR, exploration programs, drilling performance KPIs, trade-off/sensitivity analyses)
• Project manage and conduct analytics to critical workstreams in mine development and exploration
• Develop financial models to assess project economics and corporate performance

Qualifications

A great CAL candidate will have:

• PhD in the physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, or economics and 2+ years of work experience at a startup, investment firm, top professional services firm, or mining-adjacent engineering roles OR:
• Education in a STEM discipline or economics, with 4+ years work experience at a startup, investment firm, top professional services firm, or in an engineering role; or equivalent in an advanced degree
• Experience building a model end-to-end using first-principles and running sensitivity analyses. Experience should include either financial, operational, or market-related models
• Experience with and/or strong intuition for global market dynamics
• Regardless of formal training, a strong orientation toward thinking from first principles with respect to science, technology, economics, and business

Work practices and motivation:

• Ability to scope, structure, and answer ambiguous or poorly defined problems
• Demonstrated ability to quickly absorb and synthesize complex information, with a track record of high intellectual rigor in a professional setting
• Exceptional curiosity and eagerness to learn, with a proactive approach to exploring new concepts and technologies
• 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

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 $145,000 - $165,000.

Location: KoBold is a remote first workplace, we are open to candidates currently residing anywhere in the United States, Canada, or United Kingdom. All candidates must be authorized to legally work in either the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, or Zambia.