Chief AI Scientist (AI4Mining Startup Executive)

Deep Optica is an AI4Science company building a Mining World Model — a system that integrates geological, geophysical, geochemical, remote sensing, and drilling data into probabilistic subsurface representations. Our data foundation includes 200,000+ engineered drillholes and 1,500 block models. We deliver this through expert-led exploration services and agent-based software, helping miners and investors evaluate assets in early-stage exploration and transactions. Deep Optica exists to prove what an AI-native mining company can be.

The Role

• Full-time, hybrid, based in London and/or Shanghai.
• You will join as a founding executive — the scientific architecture of the Mining World Model and the company's AI research direction will carry your imprint.
• You will own the AI research agenda, working closely with our co-founders and scientist team — PhDs and scholars in mathematics, AI, data science, and geology — to fuse frontier AI with deep domain science.
• Track the frontier of AI research across the full landscape — foundation models, agentic systems, probabilistic and physics-informed methods, spatial and multi-modal learning — and judge which advances genuinely apply to the Mining World Model.
• Define the AI architecture of the World Model: how multi-modal geoscience data becomes probabilistic subsurface representations, and how uncertainty is quantified, propagated, and communicated.
• Lead the AI research team and partner with our CTO to drive R&D and product development from research idea to shipped capability.
• Set scientific standards for the AI function: reproducibility, validation against ground truth, and honest characterization of model limits.
• Represent Deep Optica's technical vision with clients, investors, and partners; help shape product roadmaps and company strategy.
• Build and mentor a world-class AI research function as the company scales.

What We're Looking For

• PhD or equivalent research depth in machine learning, applied mathematics, statistics, physics, or a related quantitative field.
• Demonstrated command of the current AI frontier and its direction of travel — study, evaluate, and reproduce new research as a matter of habit, and can separate durable advances from hype.
• Track record of taking ML research from idea to deployed system, ideally on scientific, geospatial, or physical-world data.
• Strong command of probabilistic methods and uncertainty quantification — this is central to the role, not a nice-to-have.
• Experience with one or more of: 3D/spatial deep learning, graph neural networks, physics-informed ML, foundation models, Bayesian inference at scale.
• Fluency in modern ML engineering.
• Demonstrated ability to lead research teams and set technical direction.
• Genuine curiosity about the physical world — you want your models grounded in geology, and you're eager to learn from domain experts.
• Ability to explain model behaviour, assumptions, and uncertainty to boards, investors, and non-technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable working with a global, cross-cultural team.
• Mining or geoscience exposure is a plus but not a must.

What We Offer

• Founding executive standing: you define the AI standard the company is judged by, with senior executive scope and meaningful equity participation — backed by top venture investors and teams across Asia, Europe, and North America.