---
title: 'Sr./Staff Technical Program Manager - Copper at Mariana Minerals'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/sr-staff-technical-program-manager-copper-mariana-minerals-moab-hybc9rnj2271'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-04'
---

# Sr./Staff Technical Program Manager - Copper at Mariana Minerals

- **Company:** Mariana Minerals
- **Location:** Moab, UT
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-09-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-04
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/marianaminerals/90f988d5-be70-4baf-aadd-988607db5e59

## Job description

## ABOUT MARIANA MINERALS

Mariana Minerals is a software-first, vertically integrated minerals company on a mission to supply the critical minerals powering modern energy, AI, and defense technologies. We’re reimagining the minerals supply chain by combining deep industry expertise with advanced software, automation, and data-driven decision-making.

## The Role

We are hiring Technical Program Managers to own the planning, coordination, and execution of capital projects in Mariana’s portfolio, from idea, to development, through construction and handover to operations.

In this role, you are the single owner of a program. Including scope definition, schedule, budget, and risk register. You coordinate between process development, process engineering, detailed engineering, procurement, construction, business development, and finance. You will build and maintain the execution plan, develop the plan to keep the program the moving and communicate progress, surface risks and decisions before they turn into schedule impacts, and drive them to closure. You will run all of this inside Mariana’s Capital Project OS, the software tools that automate and standardize how we plan, track, and execute programs. You will ensure standardization in execution approaches in the program and provide feedback on Capital Project OS to the software and product management teams to continuously improve the tool.

## What You’ll Do

- Own end-to-end delivery of an assigned capital program—scope, schedule, budget, and risk—from development through construction and handover to operations
- Build and maintain the integrated program schedule, tracking critical path, interdependencies, long-lead items, and resource needs
- Own the program budget and cost forecast, partnering with project controls and finance on estimates, commitments, variances, and change control
- Manage interfaces across process development, process engineering, detailed engineering, procurement, construction, business development, and finance so decisions move quickly and nothing falls between disciplines
- Run the program cadence and checkpoints. Execution planning, design reviews, status meetings, and readiness gates
- Surface risks and open decisions early, quantify their schedule and cost impact, drive them to closure, and escalate with a recommendations
- Produce program reporting and dashboards that give leadership a view of status, critical path, risks, and trade-offs
- Manage engineering partners, vendors, and contractors against scope, deliverable schedules, and quality expectations
- Run your program inside Mariana’s Capital Project OS, drive consistent adoption across your workstreams, and feed requirements, gaps, and improvement ideas back to the software team
- Support construction, commissioning, and startup in the field, and contribute to Mariana’s program-management standards, templates, and metrics as the portfolio grows

Desired Qualifications

- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical field
- 4+ years of program or project management experience on capital projects in mining, minerals processing, chemical, energy, or heavy-industrial environments
- Demonstrated ownership of an integrated schedule and budget on a project spanning multiple engineering disciplines and external partners
- Strong technical fluency—able to read P&IDs, general arrangements, and equipment lists
- Excellent written and verbal communication and stakeholder management skills,
- Willingness to travel to project sites as programs require

OUR CULTURE IS BUILT ON FOUR PRINCIPLES:

Everyone Gets Home Safe. We never put speed or cost ahead of people.

Extreme Ownership. We take full responsibility for outcomes, relentlessly driving toward solutions.

Engineer Out Requirements, then Automate. We simplify, optimize, and then automate for scale.

Share Your Legos. We collaborate openly, share knowledge, and empower each other to build bigger, better solutions.

Join us as we build the future of responsible mineral sourcing and supply!

## About Mariana Minerals

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Mariana Minerals is a software-first, vertically integrated minerals company focused on supplying the minerals critical to modern energy, AI, and defense technologies.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A, $85M funding in July 2025)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: Not publicly available
- **Founders**: Turner Caldwell (Co-Founder & CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Metal Ore Mining / Critical Minerals
- **Target customers**: B2B – energy, AI, and defense supply chains (including downstream manufacturers and government entities)
- **Mission or purpose**: "Create a future of critical mineral abundance" by reimagining the global minerals supply chain with software, automation, and data-driven decision making.

## Products & Services
- **Copper One (formerly Lisbon Valley Copper Mine)**: World’s first autonomous mine, located in Utah. Produces copper using integrated automation and software control. Restarted production in April 2026.
- **Lithium One**: Lithium project (on the roadmap or early development).
- **Other mineral projects**: Graphite, Uranium, Rare Earth Metals, Cobalt, Nickel, Aluminium – at various stages (stealth or roadmap).
- **CapitalProjectOS**: Internal software platform for capital project management (mentioned in leadership bio).
- **Technology Stack**: React, dbt, TypeScript, Python, TensorFlow, PyTorch, microservices, SCADA, Autodesk, and many others – indicating a strong software engineering backbone.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: Total funding – $85M Series A (July 2025, 1 investor)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Lead investor not publicly disclosed (Andreessen Horowitz was pitched but not confirmed as an investor). Partners include Bot Auto, WeRide, Pronto, Atoms (based on LinkedIn mentions). Also works with UMA (Utah Mining Association).
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew 3,575% YoY to 107 employees (as of mid-2026). 73 active job postings. Opened the world’s first autonomous mine (Copper One) in April/May 2026, generating significant industry news and social media engagement.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Software-first approach**: The company builds automation and data systems from the ground up, rather than layering tech onto legacy mining operations. This enables fully autonomous mining.
- **Vertical integration**: They develop, own, and operate mineral projects, controlling the entire value chain from extraction to processing.
- **Deep tech stack**: Use of AI/ML (TensorFlow, PyTorch), simulation, and real-time control systems to optimize mining operations.
- **First-mover in autonomous mining**: Copper One is claimed to be the world’s first autonomous mine, giving them a significant lead in operational efficiency and safety.

## Strategic Focus
- Scale autonomous mining operations beyond copper (lithium, graphite, uranium, etc.)
- Secure domestic supply of critical minerals for U.S. energy, AI, and defense needs.
- Continue aggressive hiring across engineering, operations, and field roles.
- Expand from Utah to additional sites (Houston engineering office, potential new projects).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture principles**: "Extreme Ownership", "Engineer Out Requirements, Then Automate", "Share Your Legos" – emphasizing accountability, simplification, and collaboration.
- **Work environment**: High-growth startup with a mission-driven focus on critical infrastructure. Offices in San Francisco (HQ), Houston (Engineering), and La Sal, Utah (mine site). Hybrid/remote policy not explicitly stated, but multiple office locations suggest flexibility for field vs. office roles.
- **Notable perks**: Opportunity to work on cutting-edge autonomous systems and AI in a traditional industry. Strong engineering culture with modern tech stack (React, Python, ML). Rapid career growth due to company expansion.
- **Talent sources**: Attracts talent from Tesla, Redwood Materials, Lilac, ExxonMobil, Amazon Web Services, and other tech/energy companies – indicating a high-caliber peer group.

## Sources
1. [marianaminerals.com](https://marianaminerals.com/)
2. [marianaminerals.com/careers](https://marianaminerals.com/careers)
3. [marianaminerals.com/about](https://marianaminerals.com/about)
4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/marianaminerals](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/marianaminerals)
5. [linkedin.com/company/mariana-minerals](https://www.linkedin.com/company/mariana-minerals)

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