Vice President of Business Development

Location: North America, Europe, Africa

VP, Business Development

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:

In this role, you will lead KoBold’s business development efforts to secure compelling exploration rights, development stage assets, and mining assets held by other parties. You will lead a team that will execute many of the deals, you will lead many leads yourself, and for select transactions, you will support the CEO, President, Africa CEO, or COO in deal-making. This position will report to the KoBold Chief Operating Officer.

To be effective in this role, you will need to be able to:

• Represent KoBold with Counterparties: You will need to effectively and persuasively represent and promote KoBold with potential counterparties. This will include developing a deep understanding and appreciation for the principles by which KoBold operates, describing KoBold technology to suit varied audiences and circumstances, and creating relationships that positively reflect on the company.

• Coordinate and Absorb Technical Underwriting: You will coordinate technical underwriting and need to understand the technical underpinning of each opportunity, whether it is the geologic evaluation of a greenfield prospect, or the key development risks for an investment into a mine development opportunity. You will approach technical underwriting from a first principles basis (i.e., using bottoms-up valuations and not relying on heuristics or rules-of-thumb).

• Develop and Communicate Commercial Positions: You will build (or support team members in building) commercial offerings and/or negotiating positions based on the technical underwriting cases. This will include preparation of term sheets, counter-proposals, and the constructive and persuasive framing of KoBold’s commercial positions in both written and oral communications.

• Review Contracts: Working with KoBold’s legal team, you will review draft definitive agreements and manage negotiation of commercial matters required to complete transactions. In time, you will be the final reviewer of contracts from a commercial perspective.

• Conduct Due Diligence: In parallel to working through definitive documentation, you’ll manage the risk-based due diligence required to sign and close definitive agreements, including overseeing preparation of internal investment memoranda.

• Cultivate and Manage Commercial Relationships: Throughout, you’ll develop and maintain relationships with key counterparties, including through the operational phases of projects. You’ll work to identify the key motivations behind counterparties, use this understanding to structure effective deals, and anticipate issues as circumstances evolve. You’ll work with the team to oversee the Kobold relationship management database.

Qualifications and Experience:

A great VP of Business Development candidate will have:

• BA/BS in the physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, economics (BA/BS or more advanced degrees in geology, mine engineering, or related disciplines is preferred)
• 10+ years in business development experience (experience within the natural resource and/or infrastructure project development preferred)
• Experience with economic modeling
• Regardless of formal training, a strong interest in and/or strong intuition for the physical sciences, inclination to work from first principles, and desire to understand technical underpinning of commercial transactions.

What to Expect

Joining KoBold means getting the opportunity for hands-on exposure to our exploration projects around the world. All employees are expected to travel to project sites, with a minimum of one week per year. Field-facing and technical roles spend significantly more time in the field.

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, disability, or veteran status.

This position is full-time, exempt.

The full time exempt salary for this position is: $250,000-$350,000. Meaningful equity incentives.