CXO_Chief Exploration Officer

Job Description

The role

As Chief Exploration Officer, you join the Mantle8 leadership team and own the entire exploration value chain — from global map leads to drilled wells, prospect selection, drilling preparation and field execution.

This role requires a rare profile: the technical credibility of a transversal geoscientist (structural geology, geochemistry, geophysics, reservoir) combined with the operational discipline of a project manager and the entrepreneurial DNA of someone who does the work themselves.

Your missions

Define & manage the exploration strategy

• Establish Mantle8's strategy and technical roadmap in line with our ambition for global leadership.
• Define and develop the criteria, methodologies and ranking framework to evaluate Areas of Interest (AoIs) on a global scale.
• Be the key strategic partner to the CEO and executive team on all technical and portfolio decisions.

Manage the portfolio: from play assessment to prospect drill-ready

• Manage the complete exploration funnel (Europe, Middle East, Africa, North America): regional evaluation, lead generation, ranking and maturation towards drilling.
• Contribute personally to the geological, geophysical and geochemical evaluations of the most strategic prospects — hands‑on technical role.
• Continuously prioritize the overall portfolio: which AoIs are progressing, being paused, or abandoned, on which milestones.

Prepare and execute drilling campaigns

• Bring “drill-ready” prospects to the spud: well design, prognosis, technical alignment with industrial partners.
• Co‑pilot the drilling campaign with partners and Project Directors, owner of technical decisions throughout the life cycle of the well.
• Capitalize the results of wells in the portfolio: updating geological models, recalibration of the play assessment.

Build & lead the technical function

• Recruit, structure and lead the exploration team — New Ventures (early stage) and Maturation (late stage).
• Operate with a small team in the initial phase: produce substantial technical work, set the level of excellence, recruit as the portfolio grows.
• Master, challenge and evolve Mantle8 workflows, tools and technical standards (modeling stack, AI-assisted interpretation, data management).

Be the technical voice — partners, investors & authorities

• Pitch and defend the Mantle8 exploration thesis to demanding audiences: industrial partners (O&G majors, mining), investors, sovereign financiers, host country authorities, scientific community.
• Manage technical due diligence with potential SPV partners; structure data rooms for each prospect.
• Represent Mantle8 in key technical forums and contribute to the credibility of the natural hydrogen industry.

Fuel decision‑making

• Develop and maintain the technical models, decision frameworks and probabilistic assessments underlying each Go / No-Go in the portfolio.
• Provide a strategic view on technical risk, capital allocation and sequencing of exploration expenditures.

Requirements

Profile wanted

Essential

• Significant experience in subsurface exploration (O&G or adjacent industry: geothermal, CCUS, lithium, helium, natural hydrogen) with a track record of managing real exploration portfolios.
• End‑to‑end experience across the entire chain: play assessment, lead generation, prospect & reservoir evaluation, drilling preparation and execution. You have personally taken prospects from a regional map to a drilled well.
• Deep technical expertise in geosciences, with real transversal mastery in structural geology, geophysics and geochemistry.
• Experience managing a global multi‑basin, multi‑project portfolio, with competing workstreams across multiple geographies.
• Operational experience in our core geographies (Europe, Middle East, Africa, North America).
• Entrepreneurial and hands‑on profile: you do the work, are comfortable with ambiguity, allergic to bureaucracy, and your default mode is to move forward rather than delegate.
• Ability to operate both strategically (board, partners, investors) and at bench level (data, models, well files), and to switch between the two in the same day.

A real plus

• Previous experience in a junior / independent exploration company or as Exploration Manager / VP Exploration in a small operator.
• Direct exposure to natural hydrogen, helium or other innovative subsurface plays.
• Experience with modern exploration technologies: high-resolution / 4D imaging workflows, big data analytics, AI-assisted interpretation.
• Experience in a high‑growth startup or scale‑up.
• Familiarity with the energy transition or clean‑tech ecosystem.
• Availability for relocation in the Grenoble region, French Alps.
• Strong support for Mantle8's mission: to release a new source of sovereign, low‑carbon and affordable energy.