Lead Design Operations - Brisbane, Australia

Design Operations Lead

• Support Rio’s product design capabilities and help lead design principles within a growing team
• Exciting opportunity to build your experience in product development
• Full time role based in Brisbane, Australia

At Rio Tinto, we’re finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs. For nearly 150 years we’ve been looking for new and better ways of doing things. Today you'll find our teams around the world doing just that: seeking opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint, partnering to develop new technologies to decarbonise steel and aluminum production, and creating new products from waste.As part of the commitment to our purpose, Rio Tinto continues to build a world-class software product development team. Sitting within our company wide Information Systems & Technology function, our Products & Software Development (P&SD) team is focused on delivering high value and strategic products for the digital transformation of Rio Tinto. We’re excited by the challenging problems we have to solve and supported by a culture that is value driven, diverse and inclusive, innovative, and fun. We think you might be surprised about what we’re creating here at Rio Tinto.

About the role

The Design Operations (DesignOps) Lead will play a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth operation of our Product Design team within a fast-paced startup-like environment. This role will support how we scale the Product Design capability at Rio Tinto, through optimizing the documentation, processes and resources that will support our Product Designers, making them more effective and collaborative. Reporting to the Manager Design, the DesignOps Lead will have responsibility for a small, growing team in the Design Operations space including UI design and user research specialists.

About the Design Team

We are committed to making a meaningful difference to the 49,000 people across Rio Tinto as they do their day-to-day jobs through our software. To do that well, and to deliver on our promises as a business, we know that user-centred design matters. Across the landscape of software products needed to support a business of our size, we need to grow our Product Design team to several times its current size. Make no mistake, this is a unique opportunity to grow personally along with helping to scale a team that is driving new product development.

Responsibilities

As a Design Operations Lead, you will be:

• Developing, reviewing and standardizing design processes across multiple product teams, identifying opportunities for optimization and efficiency gains.
• Working closely with other lead and senior designers to provide guidance on product requirements, design principles, and best practices.
• Collaborating with product teams to understand and prioritize upcoming design projects based on business objectives and user needs.
• Driving the practice and integration of user research findings into our design processes to ensure that our products meet the needs and preferences of our target audience.
• Coordinating with user researchers to plan and conduct user testing sessions and helping to analyze results to inform design decisions.
• Taking ownership of the Product Design team documentation, style guides, templates, and design systems to ensure consistency, application and scalability.
• Evangelizing for connected, consistent design processes, artifacts, and guidelines across product teams and with key stakeholders.
• Facilitating the effective onboarding of new designers into our team to give them the best experience possible with the optimum tools, training, workflows, and skill development opportunities.
• Conducting and having input into regular team meetings to review ongoing initiatives, sharing insights, and addressing challenges.
• Communicating with cross-functional teams, ensuring that design projects are on track and aligned with key timelines.
• Regularly reviewing and iterating on our design operations practices to adapt to our needs and make continuous improvements as we scale.

What we are looking for

As our ideal Design Operations Lead:

• You have a strong understanding of user-centered design principles, agile product design practices, and a solid grasp of trends in web and mobile app design.
• You can present work in a clear and compelling manner to stakeholders (for example, being able to explain our design principles and best practices).
• You have a high attention to detail and a history of producing high-quality design artifacts including interfaces, prototypes, components, and documentation.
• You have experience building and running design processes that benefit the whole design team and involves them in the design process.
• You have practical experience in the creation, deployment, and maintenance of design systems.
• You have a strong understanding of both qualitative and quantitative user research methods.
• You lead by example, demonstrating a strong commitment to user-centered design principles and maintaining a positive and collaborative team environment.

And you bring important soft skills that will make you effective in our team:

• You can ask questions to align with value and are eager to take responsibility and ownership.
• You are keen to contribute and encourage diverse viewpoints.
• You are proactive with a self-motivated mindset.
• You exhibit alignment with the values of Care, Courage, and Curiosity at Rio Tinto.

And it’s essential that you have:

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Human Computer Interaction, Human Factors, Computer Science, Visual Design, Communication Design or other related discipline, or equivalent experience or training.
• 5+ years of experience as a designer with a background in user experience design, interaction design or similar. Ideally, also bringing some level of experience working as a design program lead or DesignOps Lead in another in-house design team.
• Worked with a cross-functional team using agile methodology from inception to implementation to deliver impactful user experiences.
• Strong skills in modern design and prototyping tools (Figma, Axure, Sketch, Zeplin, Adobe CC).

Working at Rio Tinto

Be recognised for your contribution, your thinking and your hard work, and go home knowing you’ve helped the world progress. Our benefits for permanent Rio Tinto employees include:

• Your base salary reflects your skills, experience, and impact in the role you are performing in. Our salary ranges are reviewed annually to ensure they remain fair internally and externally.
• Health & Wellbeing. We care about your health. We offer flexible, comprehensive medical benefits to look after your total health and wellbeing to suit your needs and life stages. This includes subsidised private health insurance for employees and immediate family.
• Flexible Work Arrangements. We have a hybrid work model (in-office & from home), with our office always open to balancing flexibility and connection.
• Supportive Leave Policies. We enable leave for all of life’s reasons (vacation, sick, paid parental). Our inclusive parental leave policy supports all parents and carers throughout their parenting and caring journey.
• Growth & Development. We will support you to pursue growth and development opportunities aligned with your career aspirations.
• Employee Discount & Offers. We have established partnerships with several providers who offer access to exclusive employee discounts (banking, accommodation, car, retail and more).
• Superannuation & Shares. Extensive salary sacrifice and salary packing options. Plus, we offer an award winning employee share plan – myShare.

What we offer

• Be recognised for your contribution, your thinking and your hard work, and go home knowing you’ve helped the world progress.
• An excellent base salary reflective of your skills and experience with annual incentive program.
• Comprehensive medical benefits including subsidised private health insurance for employees and immediate family.
• Attractive share ownership plan.
• Extensive salary sacrifice & salary packaging options.
• Career development & education assistance to further your technical or leadership ambitions.
• Exclusive employee discounts (banking, accommodation, cars, retail and more).
• Domestic relocation if required.

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.

Come and join us in this exciting journey as a member of the leadership team, where you be integral in establishing and executing on our strategy, building our team, implementing best practices and technology to meet our plans for scaling and value delivery.

Please note, in order to be successfully considered for this role you must complete all pre-screening questions.