# Drilling Engineer, Exploration & Resource Automation

**Company:** [Mariana Minerals](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/mariana-minerals)
**Location:** Moab, UT, Monticello, UT
**Role:** Hardware Engineering
**Experience:** 3+ years
**Skills:** Leapfrog, Vulcan, Datamine, Deswik, Surpac, Micromine, Acquire, Mx Deposit, Gis, Drilling Automation
**Posted:** 2026-05-29

> The Drilling Engineer, Exploration & Resource Automation will help build and implement automated drilling, sampling, QA/QC, and resource workflows. This role involves translating field workflows into software tools and optimizing drilling programs for critical mineral sourcing.

## Job Description

## MarianaOS Product and Workflow Development
* Work directly with the software team to design, test, and improve MarianaOS tools for drilling, exploration, sampling, QA/QC, assay review, and resource modeling.
* Translate field drilling workflows into product requirements, user stories, data models, automation logic, and practical software specifications.
* Help define how technical users should plan drill programs, capture field data, track sample movement, validate assays, and reconcile results inside MarianaOS.
* Build and refine workflows that reduce manual spreadsheet work, improve data quality, and make geological and drilling decisions faster and more auditable.
* Serve as the domain expert connecting geologists, drillers, resource modelers, field teams, and software engineers.

## Drilling Automation and Program Optimization
* Help develop automated systems for drill planning, target prioritization, hole design, drill schedule tracking, contractor coordination, and field progress reporting.
* Support workflows for greenfield exploration, brownfield drilling, infill drilling, resource conversion, confirmation drilling, and follow-up drilling.
* Design repeatable logic for comparing planned versus actual drilling outcomes, including drilled meters, productivity, sample recovery, deviations, delays, costs, and geological results.
* Identify opportunities to automate recurring decisions and checks across drilling campaigns, including sample interval validation, QA/QC flags, assay status tracking, and field issue escalation.
* Partner with technical and software teams to turn field learnings into product improvements that can scale across future Mariana Minerals projects.

## Sampling, QA/QC, and Field-to-Lab Workflows
* Help define and automate end-to-end sample workflows, including sample interval design, labeling, chain of custody, dispatch, lab status tracking, assay receipt, and QA/QC review.
* Develop requirements for automated QA/QC checks involving standards, blanks, duplicates, check assays, contamination risks, sample swaps, missing intervals, and out-of-sequence results.
* Review drilling and sampling processes in the field and convert those observations into better systems, forms, controls, dashboards, and alerts.

## Geology, Assay Interpretation, and Resource Model True-Up
* Support automated comparison of drill results against geologic interpretations, resource assumptions, block model predictions, and mineralized domains.
* Help develop drillhole-to-block-model reconciliation workflows covering lithology, stratigraphy, mineralized intervals, grade, thickness, alteration, and spatial continuity.
* Define variance thresholds, validation logic, exception reports, and follow-up drilling recommendations.
* Use assay results, field observations, and model outputs to identify areas where the model is confirmed, contradicted, or needs geological true-up.
* Help create repeatable workflows that connect exploration drilling, resource estimation, mine planning, and project development decisions.

## Cross-Functional Implementation and Adoption
* Act as a bridge between field users and software developers, ensuring tools are technically sound, usable, and grounded in real exploration and drilling workflows.
* Test new MarianaOS features with real project data, identify edge cases, document gaps, and provide actionable feedback to the software team.
* Develop templates, process maps, standard operating procedures, dashboards, and training materials for drilling and sampling workflows.
* Communicate clearly with geology, resource modeling, operations, product team, engineering, and leadership teams.

## Copper One Field and Technical Support
* Support drilling, exploration, sampling, and resource definition workflows for the Copper One project, a sedimentary copper deposit in the Lisbon Valley district of southeast Utah.
* Spend time at site to understand actual field execution, contractor workflows, sample handling, geological controls, and operational constraints.

## What You’ll Bring
* Bachelor's degree in Geological Engineering, Mining Engineering, Geology, Earth Sciences, or a related technical discipline.
* 3+ years of experience in drilling, exploration, mine geology, resource definition, resource modeling, and technical field programs.
* Strong understanding of drilling workflows, sample collection, assay data, QA/QC procedures, geological interpretation, and resource estimation concepts.
* Ability to work with drillhole data, sample intervals, assay results, geologic sections, block models, and field operating data.
* Experience with greenfield exploration, brownfield drilling, infill drilling, resource conversion, grade control, or development-stage drilling campaigns.
* Experience with geological block models, resource models, drillhole databases, 3D geological modeling workflows, and resource classification concepts.
* Experience with tools such as Leapfrog, Vulcan, Datamine, Deswik, Surpac, Micromine, acQuire, MX Deposit, GIS platforms, or similar systems.
* Experience defining QA/QC rules, assay validation processes, reconciliation reports, drilling dashboards, or data governance workflows.
* Strong interest in automation, process optimization, and building better systems for technical mining and exploration workflows.
* Ability to communicate effectively with both technical geology/drilling teams and software/product teams.
* Comfort translating messy field workflows into clear requirements, process maps, rules, dashboards, checks, or software specifications.
* Willingness to be based within the vicinity of the Lisbon Valley / Monticello-Moab, Utah project area and spend meaningful time near the project.

## Why Join Us?
At Mariana Minerals, you’ll be part of a mission-driven team reshaping the way critical minerals are sourced and supplied globally. You’ll have the autonomy to make big decisions, the tools to innovate, and a culture that values ownership, smart automation, and collaboration.

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