Development Director

Development Director (Pacific)

• Opportunity to join the newly established Energy Development business at Rio Tinto
• Critical role leading the development of multi-gigawatt renewable portfolio for Pacific Operations
• Brisbane based location preferred, but other east coast locations considered

Rio Tinto Energy Development (RTED) is a growing team within Development and Technology (D&T) that has recently been established. RTED will focus on the provision of green energy to not only decarbonise our existing industrial operations, but also provide optionality for Rio Tinto to be competitive in green energy and material markets to support future growth. RTED’s primary objectives include accelerating the development of future energy assets, securing high quality renewable development optionality and formulating a Group energy strategy.

About the role

In order to support and accelerate the delivery of the Group strategic direction, a small and focused team (RTED) will work in close partnership with the Rio Tinto Aluminium business and our renewable energy development partners to deliver green energy. The team is looking to deliver dual objectives of (1) advancing Rio Tinto’s decarbonisation agenda and (2) developing large scale clean energy solutions to support green business revenue streams. The team has a strong bias to embracing new technologies and developing new partnerships.

Newly created, the Director, Development (Pacific) will be accountable for the delivery of power and energy solutions in the Asia/Pacific for the purposes of assisting Rio decarbonise their assets. Starting with a multi-GW portfolio in QLD and growing across the NEM and NZ, spanning wind, solar and storage. The Development Director will be responsible for managing our development partners in accordance with the contractual arrangements, coordination with our key stakeholders including government and TNSP, project development, supply chain initiatives, system studies, and leadership. Preferably based in Brisbane (other east coast locations considered), reporting to the General Manager Energy Development Pacific, you will:

• Establish and lead a high performing development team – to deliver against Rio Tinto Energy Development’s (RTED) green energy targets, initially overseeing the development a multi gigawatt renewable portfolio in Queensland
• Work with RTED’s commercial team to identify renewable project opportunities/targets, provide due diligence and execution support
• Work with RTED’s development partners to optimise major equipment procurement or grid connection process across RTED portfolio, as appropriate
• Participation in RTED Steering Committee, providing guidance and resolving issues in a timely manner
• Develop and maintain robust project management/project management disciplines to effectively deliver to the plan with strong focus on risk assessment & risk mitigation, supply chain initiatives, grid process, timely execution and tight quality control.
• Monitor, control and report on project development milestones and construction delivery schedule in line with contractual arrangements, identifying mitigating strategies to reduce the impact of delay for the portfolio.
• Development and maintenance of relationships with external stakeholders including consultants, OEMs, local, state and federal authorities, landowners, neighbours and attendance at CCC.
• Co-ordinate with internal stakeholders across RTED, procurement, finance, legal, RT Projects, CSP, Media/Communications
• Monitoring of market developments, best practice, regulatory changes and communication of implications to senior management
• Ensure full health, safety and environmental compliance with Rio Tinto and statutory requirements.

What you’ll bring

• Extensive project development experience in grid connected renewables and storage projects connected to the NEM (wind, solar, batteries etc)
• Deep experience with renewable energy project management and execution
• Robust understanding of NEM dynamics and rules
• High degree of recent experience with grid connections and interactions with TNSP (in particular, Powerlink) and AEMO.
• A track-record of building, managing, and developing high-performing multi-disciplinary teams.
• Experience engaging with developers, regulatory authorities, landowners, community and other key stakeholders
• Strong commercial acumen with well-established networks within major industry peers (OEMs, EPC contractors, Engineering firms, grid consultants).
• Qualifications in relevant technical discipline, drawn from civil, electrical, or mechanical engineering and/or other relevant disciplines

Every Voice Matters

At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, the LGBTI+ community, mature workers, people with disabilities and people from different cultural backgrounds.We are committed to an inclusive environment where people feel comfortable to be themselves. We want our people to feel that all voices are heard, all cultures respected and that a variety of perspectives are not only welcome – they are essential to our success. We treat each other fairly and with dignity regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or anything else that makes us different.

Applications for this role will close on 23^rd January 2023 however we do reserve the right to close the role earlier.