Principal Software Architect

Principal Software Architect, Digital Integrated Mine

• Join us in bringing our Digital Integrated Mine vision to life
• Drive towards the realisation of the next generation of highly integrated and automated digital systems.
• Work with a leading research and development group, collaborating with personnel across the globe on cutting edge technologies

About The RoleAll progress begins with pioneers. At Rio Tinto, it begins with you.Rio Tinto has a long history of being a leader in innovation and the development and deployment of technology within the mining industry. Innovation will continue to play a critical role in improving health and safety outcomes, delivering new mines of the future and decarbonising the industry.The Digital Integrated Mine team has a long heritage within Rio Tinto, and its members have been involved with a large number of industry and world first developments at Rio Tinto over the last decade. Our team pursues the creation of new technologies throughout the mine – from supporting better orebody knowledge, drill and blast process, material movement, fleet optimisation and interfaces with fixed plant. The focus is not only on individual technologies within those domains – it is also how the combination of those technologies achieves more than the sum of the parts.We are seeking a Principal Software Architect to support the development, maturation and deployment of new digital technologies to:

• Allows us to model and interpret our orebody data, with a particular focus on supporting improving grade control models and block-outs.
• Integrating those new technologies to form an improved capabilities that are more than the sum of the parts, supporting our people in understanding the data and making the best decisions.
• Working with the other R&D groups across Rio Tinto to ensure that novel technologies can be transformed to operationally beneficial capabilities. 

Reporting to the Principal Advisor Digital Integrated Mine Platforms, activities associated with the role include:

• Working with Digital Integrated Mine R&D teams, lead development teams in Group Technical and external partners in the industrialisations of new technologies, transforming them into productive capabilities.
• Developing and establishing new architectural patterns for Digital Integrated Mine technologies to both support the R&D activities and ease the transition of research technologies to deployed capabilities.
• Assess and evaluate new external capabilities, such as new cloud-based services, to assess their relevance and utility for the Digital Integrated Mine.

About YouSuccess in this role is dependent on the application of a growth mindset, your research and technology development skills, and collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders with varying expertise - both within the Digital Integrated Mine team, and the broader business.

Specifically, you will have:

• Commitment to the safety of yourself and your team
• A degree in computer science or software engineering is highly regarded and a high level of experience in software development. C++ and Python experience is required.
• A number of years experience in architecting, development and deployment of base solutions. Utilisation of server-less services will be highly regarded.
• A previous track record in leading software and system architecture teams in development.
• Examples of constructing successful, agile, teams that deliver new, large scale software products effectively and efficiently.
• Previous experience of developing software for mining will be highly regarded.

The team have a current focus on new technologies that utilise:

• Containers and orchestration services such as Kubernetes.
• Streaming and publish/subscribe communication.
• Machine Learning Platforms.
• Linux development.
• The Atlassian toolset – including JIRA, Confluence, Bitbucket.

About Rio Tinto 

Every idea, every innovation, every little thing the world calls ‘progress’ begins with a first step, and someone willing to take it: explorers, inventors, entrepreneurs. Pioneers. 

For nearly 150 years, Rio Tinto has been a company of pioneers – generations of people spanning the globe, all with the grit and vision to produce materials essential to human progress. 

Our iron ore has shaped skylines from Shanghai to Sydney. Our aluminium – the world’s first to be certified “responsible” – helps planes fly and makes cars lighter. Our copper helps wind turbines power cities and our boron helps feed the world, and explore the universe. 

Our diamonds help us celebrate the best parts of life. 

Where you will be workingThis role is based in Perth, Western Australia, out of our Central Park office, working Monday – Friday. We support and encourage flexible working arrangements.The Digital Integrated Mine team is highly collaborative and work in close partnership with Rio Tinto’s global R&D community, and external bodies such as research institutes, suppliers and industry partners.What We Offer

• 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 programme
• 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

Every Voice MattersAt 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.