Founder's Associate

MINML; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

London office by Exmouth Market

Learning & development budget

Monthly team day

Cycle to work scheme

Job summary

MINML, a London-based deep-tech startup, seeks a Founders' Associate to work alongside the CEO and Ops team across commercial, operational, and strategic breadth from day one. You will identify what needs doing, prepare investor materials, plan field campaigns, draft updates, and fix processes to accelerate growth; no fixed spec, solutions-driven, Ambition and impact expected.

The role offers real responsibility, equity participation, and exposure to the full breadth of building a deep-tech

Qualifications

• Experience in investor relations, fundraising, or strategic communications.
• Ability to engage clients, partners, and investors with clarity and impact.
• Strong operational sense and project management to scale a deep-tech startup.
• Comfort with ambiguity and ability to drive initiatives end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Investor updates, materials, and communications; support fundraising and forecasting.
• Support CEO across business development from first contact to engagement; build client relationships and proposals.
• Manage day-to-day operations; improve processes and scale infrastructure.
• Plan and execute field campaigns and partnerships; attend conferences and investor calls.

Skills

Investor relations

Business development

Operations management

Strategic thinking

Communication skills

Job description

London, UK · Full-time · Competitive salary + equity

About MINML

MINML is reimagining exploration. We are building the technology to find the critical minerals the clean energy transition depends on, faster and with more precision than the industry has ever had, and we will never work in oil and gas.

Our proprietary machine learning model analyzes geological, geophysical, and geochemical datasets to generate prospectivity maps and ranked drill targets. We are Cambridge Earth Scientists, and the model is built from the ground up to reflect that: every input feature is grounded in the geological processes that drive ore formation, and every output is explainable.

We raised our pre-seed and moved beyond proving the model. We are now raising our Seed round. MINML has live client and partner relationships across multiple regions, and we are scaling delivery, owning projects, and exploring our own land. We are a small, ambitious team building something the industry has not seen before.

The Role

This is not a traditional hire. We want the Founder's Associate to sit alongside the CEO and the Ops team, working across commercial, operational, and strategic breadth, and whatever else the company needs to move forward.

You will be given real responsibility from day one, with no onboarding runway and no fixed job spec. The expectation is that you identify what needs doing and do it, whether that's preparing materials for a mining major, planning a field campaign, drafting an investor update, or fixing a process that’s slowing the team down. We are looking for someone who comes to us with solutions, not problems.

If you want a defined structure and a clear job spec, this is not the right role. If you want to be genuinely formative in scaling a deep-tech startup past its earliest stage, it might be exactly right.

What You’ll Do

Investor relations.

Preparing investor updates, materials, and communications, and supporting fundraising processes as they arise, including financial models, forecasts, and reporting.

Client and opportunity management.

Supporting the CEO across business development, from first contact to signed engagement. Engaging clients and partners across the mining industry, including relationship management and marketing activity, preparing pitch materials and proposals, and researching target clients, competitors, market dynamics, and regulatory developments to identify and develop new business opportunities.

Internal operations.

Managing day-to-day operations: tracking action items, coordinating across the team, keeping things moving. Improving internal processes and building the infrastructure and systems that let MINML scale the business.

Exploration operations and external partnerships.

Operational management and planning for field campaigns, working alongside partners in the field. Attending conferences, client meetings, and investor calls.

Who We’re Looking For

Drive is non-negotiable.

We are looking for someone who is, above all, motivated by the challenge of building something that matters. You should be the kind of person who gets frustrated when things move slowly, who finds problems before they're pointed out, and who would rather do something imperfectly than wait for permission.

Beyond that, the right person will likely have:

• Experience that demonstrates exceptionalism. Whether from your academics or anything else you've done, we want to see that you go over and above to deliver with very high standards
• The ability to learn quickly. We are looking for somebody who can come in and immediately make an impact at MINML. This will undoubtedly be a steep learning curve, and we are looking for someone who finds that exciting
• The resilience to thrive in ambiguity and change direction quickly. The responsibilities of the role will inevitably shift as the business grows, and you need to be able to adapt fast
• Sharp written and verbal communication skills
• Commercial instincts. You understand what drives decisions and how to influence them
• Genuine curiosity about critical minerals, the energy transition, or deep-tech more broadly

You do not need to have worked in mining or geoscience. You do need to care about why it matters.

Why Join MINML

• Work directly with the founders and have real impact from day one
• Equity participation in a company at an exciting early stage
• Exposure to the full breadth of building a deep-tech startup: commercial, technical, and operational
• A mission that sits at the intersection of AI, Earth science, and the clean energy transition
• Based in London, with travel to clients and conferences, from a nice office by Exmouth Market
• Dedicated learning and development budget, covering personal as well as work-related development
• Monthly team day
• Regular travel to a variety of locations
• Cycle to work scheme