Manufacturing Engineer (Onsite/Hybrid)

KoBold Metals · San Francisco Bay Area

  • Junior
  • Full-time
  • $110,000 – $180,000
  • Posted 2026-07-23
  • Confirmed live on 25 September 2026

Apply at KoBold Metals

Job description

Manufacturing Engineer

About the Company

In the coming decades, our world needs far more critical minerals including copper, lithium, and cobalt, to build electric infrastructure, vehicles, data centers, and electronics. 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 is the leading scientific 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

The Manufacturing Engineer will be a member of KoBold's Advanced Technology Group (ATG), which develops and deploys new hardware technology to support Kobold’s exploration and mine development efforts. As the technology matures, we move to developing multiple or even dozens of complex systems that need to be repeatable, high quality and deployable to often harsh environments. The manufacturing engineer will be responsible for turning prototype level hardware into reliably built, documented, and deployed systems.

This is a many-hatted role, taking on more than routine manufacturing engineering. This person will simultaneously be a manufacturing engineer, supplier development, quality, and build owner/supervisor. This person will own the physical build environment including the lab, shop floor, and receiving as well as owning the relevant supply chain. They will also establish the documentation and quality practices that let ATG scale from one-off prototypes to repeatable production.

At Kobold we see engineering and manufacturing as inextricably linked and interdependent and we strive to achieve minimal friction between these roles. To that end, this person will work extremely collaboratively with technical leads and design engineers to mature Kobold’s technology.

Responsibilities

Build Management

• Plan and manage hardware builds, from prototype through low-volume production—scheduling, kitting, and coordinating across engineering and vendors.

• Track build status, bills of materials, and part availability to keep builds on schedule.

• Identify and resolve manufacturing bottlenecks and design-for-manufacturability issues in coordination with design engineers.

Lab & Shop Floor Management

• Own the day-to-day operation of the lab and shop floor—layout, equipment, tooling, consumables, and safety.

• Maintain and calibrate shop and test equipment; manage service and maintenance schedules.

• Establish and enforce shop floor practices, workflows, and safety standards.

• Specify and source equipment as needed

Receiving & Quality

• Own the receiving process—inspection, verification against POs, and intake into inventory.

• Establish incoming and in-process quality checks; track and resolve nonconformances with suppliers.

• Manage returns, rework, and supplier quality issues.

Supply Chain & Sourcing

• Source components and services—identify, qualify, and develop vendors for hardware builds and ATG projects.

• Own vendor relationships and follow-up—drive on-time delivery, resolve issues, and hold suppliers accountable.

• Manage ordering and inventory—place orders, track stock, and keep parts available to support builds.

Documentation & Documentation Control

• Create and maintain build and deployment documentation—work instructions, assembly procedures, test protocols, and deployment guides.

• Establish and own documentation control—revision manag

Prepare for the interview

Nothing collected for this employer yet. The Blind 75 is what technical screens draw from; practise it here, with a coach, in Java or Python.

More at KoBold Metals

All open software jobs