Principal Advisor - Underground Mining Productivity

Principal Advisor - Underground Mining Productivity

• Meaningful and rewarding work, critical to business productivity initiatives
• Join Rio Tinto’s Global Centre of Excellence - Group Technical
• Grow your career with exposure to a dynamic stakeholder group and global project portfolio
• Permanent role based in Brisbane or Perth

About the role

Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs.

We are seeking a Principal Advisor - Underground Mining Productivity to join the Underground (UG) Mining Centre of Excellence (CoE) within Rio Tinto’s Development and Technology Product Group. This position will play a crucial role in bringing focus to productivity initiatives for Rio Tinto. Grounded in value chain, constraints and bottleneck thinking, this role is pivotal for driving strategic and operational outcomes. With a focus on collaboration, facilitation and hands-on site support, you will bridge the gap between value chain objectives and on-site execution.

This is an exciting opportunity to grow your career by developing a strong network of globally connected stakeholder groups. Key stakeholder relationships are varied and include partnerships across Group Technical CoE, on-site operational teams, Executive Management and industry peers. Safety is at the core of how we operate and you will enjoy working alongside teams who genuinely demonstrate safety values.

The Group Technical Underground Mining Productivity team work collaboratively on a global portfolio of large-scale projects and look forward to welcoming you into this position. Reporting to the Chief Advisor - Underground Mining Productivity you will join a high performing team of subject matter experts, who hold a shared commitment to care for the wellbeing of one another through a supportive and connected team environment. You will:

• Foster effective communication and collaboration across diverse teams, showcasing exceptional facilitation skills to align goals and initiatives
• Embrace and promote a deep understanding of value chain dynamics, focusing on identifying constraints and bottlenecks that can impact productivity
• Lead in-depth site diagnostics, leveraging analytical capabilities to dissect business processes, pinpointing constraints, and bottlenecks to develop targeted productivity insights
• Prioritise on-site coaching and training, dedicating time to uplift team capabilities, ensuring skills are honed to recognise and address constraints and bottlenecks
• Engage proactively with the broader Group Technical team to ensure best practices are consistently adopted, knowledge is shared, and productivity strategies are cohesively aligned
• Undertake regular site visits, reinforcing strong collaboration, ensuring on-ground operations are in sync with corporate productivity goals, and providing real-time support to address constraints and bottlenecks
• Continuously refine productivity strategies, ensuring Rio Tinto remains at the forefront of industry advancements and is well-poised to address emerging constraints and bottlenecks
• Employ advanced analytical skills to transform data into actionable insights, driving targeted interventions to improve productivity by addressing key constraints and bottlenecks

What you’ll bring

Your passion for continuous improvement, coupled with a keen eye on emerging trends, technologies and methodologies pertinent to productivity, will see you excel in this position. Your ability to build strong rapport across dynamic stakeholder groups is another key driver for success as you will utilise your clear and adaptable communication style to partner effectively with stakeholders across a broad range of disciplines. You will bring:

• A commitment to the safety of yourself and your team, promoting a proactive safety culture
• Proven experience in site diagnostics, bottleneck analysis, and analytical interpretation of business processes to drive productivity
• Demonstrated ability to think critically, focusing on value chain dynamics, constraints, and bottlenecks
• Exceptional interpersonal skills emphasising collaboration, facilitation, and engagement
• The ability to challenge existing norms, voicing concerns and innovative ideas with confidence and data
• An inquisitive mindset by seeking deeper insights in the realm of productivity
• A degree in Engineering (Mining, Chemical, Electrical, Mechatronics) or Applied Data Science

Due to the global nature of this position, there is an ongoing requirement for flexible hours outside the standard working day to support colleagues in alternative time zones. The ability to schedule your time flexibly around this requirement will be offered in return. You will also enjoy the opportunity to travel to our operational sites on an adhoc basis.

What we offer

Be recognised for your contribution, your thinking and your hard work, and go home knowing you’ve helped the world progress.

• A work environment where safety is always the number one priority
• A permanent position working directly for Rio Tinto
• A competitive 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
• Company provided insurance cover
• Extensive salary sacrifice & salary packaging options
• Career development & education assistance to further your technical or leadership ambitions
• Ongoing access to family-friendly health and medical wellbeing support
• Leave for all of life’s reasons (vacation/annual, paid parental, sick leave)
• Exclusive employee discounts (banking, accommodation, cars, retail and more)
• Possible domestic relocation assistance

About Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is a leading global mining and materials company. We operate in 35 countries where we produce iron ore, copper, aluminium, critical minerals and other materials needed for the global energy transition and for people, communities, and nations to thrive. We have been mining for 150 years and operate with knowledge built up across generations and continents. Our purpose is finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs – striving for innovation and continuous improvement to produce materials with low emissions and to the right environmental, social and governance standards. But we can’t do it on our own, so we’re focused on creating partnerships to solve problems, create win-win and meet opportunities.

Where you will be working

The Development and Technology (D&T) group partners with the Rio Tinto businesses to help create value, manage risk and innovate for the future. D&T improves performance by advising on leading practice, applying data insights and providing technical expertise.

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 close on 20 November 2023 (Rio Tinto reserves the right to remove advertised roles prior to this date).

Please note, to be successfully considered for this role all application questions must be answered.