Excited states in the extremely neutron-deficient nucleus, 180 Pb, have been identified for the first time using the JUROGAM II array in conjunction with the RITU recoil separator at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä. This study Descriptions of the atomic nucleus imply complementarity between single-particle structure and collective phenomena. The interplay between these two aspects can lead to the nucleus being driven, through structural effects, to adopt different mean-field shapes for a small cost in energy -a phenomenon frequently described as nuclear shape coexistence. The light lead nuclei have long been highlighted as a dramatic example of such shape coexistence with compelling evidence in favor of this picture coming from α-decay studies. For example, fine structure is observed in the α decay of 190 Po which feeds two excited 0 + states as well as the ground state of 186 Pb [1]. Hindrance factors for the three α branches support a picture where three shape minima: prolate, oblate and spherical co-exist within a narrow range of excitation energy. A complementary strand has been to locate excited states in the very neutron-deficient lead nuclei via in-beam spectroscopy. This approach is very challenging given the very small production cross-sections involved and the overwhelming background stemming from fission products. The relevant experimental technique here is recoil-decay tagging (RDT) [2][3][4] where recoiling residues, typically produced in a heavy-ion fusion evaporation reaction, are separated from beam-like particles * Electronic address: panu.rahkila@phys.jyu.fi † Present address: ISOLDE, CERN,