Field Operations Lead, Finland

About the role

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, Durable Capital, StepStone, and Standard Investments; and natural resources companies Equinor, BHP, and Mitsubishi. In the role of Field Operations Lead, you will plan and execute our field activities in Finland to meet our business objectives without causing harm to our people, our contractors and partners, or the communities and environments where we operate. You will report to our Field Operations Director North America & Europe and other members of the operations and exploration team. Your primary responsibility will be to serve as the leader of field operations for 1-3 projects per year across Finland and potentially other Nordic or European jurisdictions.

Responsibilities

• Plan
• Lead planning of complex exploration projects and moderate-scale development programs in Finland, including drilling campaigns, electromagnetic surveys, and reconnaissance programs
• Lead 1-3 concurrent projects of varying size, complexity, and jurisdiction, with accountability for planning and execution
• Lead procurement strategies: contractor selection, bid evaluation, benchmarking, and contract administration for Finland-based programs
• Develop detailed project-level risk and hazard identification, risk assessments, mitigation plans, and critical control implementation, with particular attention to Finnish winter construction conditions
• Lead project kick-offs with integrated teams and contractors, covering scope, execution strategy, and risk management
• Contribute collaboratively to data collection planning during Phase 4a of the Exploration Project Lifecycle
• Generate creative field operations scenarios outside conventional boundaries that lead to efficient programs
• Execute
• Lead end-to-end execution of assigned projects from mobilization through demobilization and closure
• Provide strong leadership during changing field conditions, including Arctic and sub-Arctic weather events
• Track and forecast production rates, spend profiles, and resource requirements
• Manage and direct all field activities: lead contractor performance evaluation, feedback, and improvement
• Maintain daily contact with and monitor the status of KoBold personnel and contractors while in the field; maintain close communication with the Project Geologist, Project Data Scientist, and the Senior Project Planner
• Close
• Lead site remediation and rehabilitation activities per Finnish regulatory standards
• Lead contractor performance reviews and lessons learned to drive continuous improvement
• Compliance and Stakeholder Engagement
• Lead execution within regulatory compliance, monitoring, and reporting in accordance with Finnish mining and environmental legislation (including the Mining Act 621/2011 and Environmental Protection Act), EU regulations, and the practices of our joint venture partners
• Ensure execution is done within Finnish permitting processes, land access agreements, community relations, third-party agreements, and any joint venture requirements
• With leadership direction and support, represent KoBold Metals with local Finnish stakeholders, including communities, landowners, municipal authorities, and environmental bodies
• Process Improvement and Mentoring
• Create ways of working that allow us to continue to work more effectively and to be nimble so that we can support machine-learning-driven dynamic field programs, w

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