Executive Assistant to the CEO, 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.

KoBold is seeking to engage a Coordinator, Communities and Social Performance who will coordinate and support stakeholder engagement, land access processes, and agricultural compensation activities across the company’s exploration licenses. This role is central to building and maintaining trusted community relationships that enable the safe and effective advancement of KoBold’s exploration program.

About the Role

We're looking for a seasoned, high-judgment Executive Assistant to support KoBold's CEO in Zambia. This is not a junior administrative role. It is a strategic, anticipatory partnership with a CEO who moves fast, operates at the highest level, and expects her executive office to run with intentionality, precision, and pace.

You will be embedded in a Slack-first, remote-friendly culture where priorities shift quickly and the difference between smooth and chaotic is the person holding the calendar. You'll be trusted with sensitive information, high-visibility communications, and executive decisions that touch the full breadth of KoBold's Zambia operations.

We take hiring seriously because we're building a team, not filling a seat. If you move forward, you'll complete a timed written assessment designed to test your judgment, resourcefulness, and communication under pressure. From there, you'll interview with our EA team and, if you advance, with the CEO directly. Our EA team is tight-knit and genuinely invested in each other's success, and we're looking for someone who will add to that.

Responsibilities

Executive Support

• Own the CEO's calendar as a strategic asset, not a scheduling tool. Design weeks so top priorities actually happen, build in intentional thinking time, and protect it fiercely
• Sequence days for energy management, not just logistics, and eliminate low-value noise
• Coordinate meetings across time zones spanning Zambia, the UK, South Africa, and the US; manage last-minute changes without losing composure
• Arrange domestic and international travel including flights, hotels, and ground transport, with contingency plans built in and the ability to adjust on the fly
• Triage inbound requests and route communications so only what truly requires the CEO's attention reaches her
• Ensure decisions are teed up and prepared, not discovered at the last minute
• Prepare agendas and briefing materials so the CEO walks into every meeting ready
• Take notes and track follow-ups when requested
• Handle expense reports, approvals, and administrative tasks with speed and accuracy
• Identify emerging issues early and surface risks and options before they become urgent

Qualifications

You are a high-judgment operator who runs an executive's world end to end. You don't need to be told what to do twice, and you don't need hand-holding to get things done. You are proactive and anticipatory: turning ambiguity into structure and staying two steps ahead rather than one step behind.

You are a strong gatekeeper with warmth and professionalism. You manage the flow, trade-offs, and constraints of a busy executive office with clarity and confidence. You communicate with precision: short, clear, no fluff, because you know everyone around you is busy. You treat sensitive information as if it were your own.

You bring positive energy to every collaboration and stay calm and decisive under pressure. You understand that you are often the messenger in the middle, and you don't take a curt Slack reply personally.

Minimum Qualifications

• Based in Zambia (Lusaka strongly preferred)
• 7+ years supporting senior executives, ideally at the CEO level, in a fast-moving environment
• Exceptional calendar management and organizational skills; you have owned multi-step workflows with multiple stakeholders before and understand that the calendar is the strategy
• Strong gatekeeping instincts: you know what should reach the CEO and what shouldn't, and you enforce that with professionalism
• Able and willing to travel domestically and internationally at a moment's notice; this role requires genuine mobility, not just theoretical flexibility
• Available outside of regular business hours and across time zones; KoBold operates globally and the pace of the executive office reflects that
• Flawless attention to detail; you're the person who catches the issue before it becomes a problem
• Comfortable in real-time communication tools (Slack preferred) and quick to learn new systems
• Already experimenting with AI, or excited to learn
• Professional, discreet, and unflappable under pressure
• Available evenings and weekends when the situation calls for it
• A genuine team player who collaborates well with other EAs and pitches in beyond your immediate scope when needed

Preferred

• Experience supporting a CEO or C-suite executive in a high-growth or global company
• Familiar with executives who operate across multiple time zones and geographies
• Experience with government, investor, or partner relationship coordination
• Comfortable working across cultures with global teams
• Experience with a culture of high ownership and responsiveness

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 opportunity 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 contract.

Location: Lusaka. All candidates must be legally authorized to work in the Zambia.