Back to jobs

Data Scientist

Lusaka, Zambia

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.

 

We are hiring a Data Scientist to help accelerate our mission.

 

At this time, we are only accepting applications from Zambian nationals.

 

About the position

 

In this role, you will help develop software to accelerate discovery of battery metals by building a worldwide geospatial dataset that underlies our machine learning driven exploration program.

 

You will join an outstanding team of data scientists, geoscientists, and software engineers. You will be a core part of the exploration team, and your primary role will be to integrate data into TerraShed’s® databases using Python to perform QA/QC and exploratory data analysis. Further, you will add to KoBold’s codebase by contributing novel algorithms that accelerate the ingestion and transformation of myriad data sets. The datasets you curate will help other KoBold Data Scientists and Geologists leverage Machine Prospector® to solve challenging scientific problems, enabling the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

 

Responsibilities

 

The Data Scientist will:

  • Process and integrate data into well-structured, curated, proprietary databases (TerraShed®) using Python

  • Explore and assess the quality of  geophysical, geochemical, geologic, and other geospatial data from around the world

  • Analyze data to identify potential measurement errors, missing data, inconsistencies with other datasets

  • Work on an exploration project team and help Geologists discover pertinent geospatial insights from datasets 

  • Work with other Data Scientists to build predictive models for finding ore deposits

  • Work with Software Engineers to improve data ingestion and data engineering infrastructure

  • Support other Data Scientists and Exploration Geologists with ad hoc geospatial analyses

 

Qualifications

 

A great Data Scientist candidate will have:

  • At least 1 year of experience programming in Python (or other scripting languages such as R or MATLAB), with an understanding of IDEs, data types, functions, classes, and libraries

  • Experience working with geospatial datasets, with an understanding of coordinate systems and geospatial file types (vector, raster, delimited text, etc.)

  • Experience using Git and GitHub to version control, contribute code, and collaborate with others on a remote repository

  • Familiarity with SQL

  • Experience using geospatial visualization tools (example: QGIS)

  • A master’s degree or higher (or a bachelor’s degree with work experience) in the geosciences, physical sciences, engineering, computer science, or mathematics 

  • Drive to self-teach programming fundamentals and learn KoBold’s code repositories

  • Interest in a career in Data Science, Software Engineering, or GIS

  • Enjoyment in getting the details right

 

We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all people.

This position is a full-time contract role.

Location: Lusaka, Zambia. 



Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Education

Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in KoBold Metals Zambia’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.