Senior Project Engineer

• Great opportunity to join a global mining organisation offering outstanding personal development & career opportunities
• Competitive compensation, benefits and flexible work arrangements
• Permanent FIFO opportunity in the friendly coastal community of Gove, Northern Territory

About the role

Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs.

Rio Tinto Projects Business Unit is responsible for delivering projects, as required by the Development & Technology (D&T) Product Group to deliver the strategic business objectives. Rio Tinto Projects comprises Studies, Projects and Approvals Divisions, who together take the projects from conceptual studies, through Order of Magnitude (OoM), Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), Feasibility Study (FS) and construction phases, and then hand over to Operations.

Rio Tinto Projects have been engaged to deliver the Pond 5 capping and closure project at Gove Operations, Northern Territory. Pond 5 is on the critical path for the Residue Disposal Area (RDA) closure programme and is a unique and challenging engineering project.

To provide support to the Area Manager by providing technical direction to and support and supervision of the construction contractor during the sequential project stages while ensuring that D&T’s safety, scope, functional requirements, technical design, and quality standards are satisfied.

The Senior Project Engineer is the Pond 5 Area Manager’s second in charge and may assume their authority when absent from the project.

Reporting to the Area Manager Pond 5, you will be responsible for:

• Supervise and direct the Engineering Department as required to ensure that the engineering design work and related deliverables meet the required technical standards, functional objectives, budget constraints and project deadlines.
• Confirm appropriate actions or mitigating responses are put in place promptly, such that the project objectives for HSE, cost and schedule are not put at risk.
• Supervision and coordination of Construction Contractors delivering key scope packages in accordance with contract obligations
• Liaise with the Engineering Services Provider and key discipline leads during all phases of the delivery to ensure that engineering outputs are consistent with decisions taken to meet project objectives.
• Managing Technical Queries (TQ), Requests for Information (RFI) and Project Assurance.

Project Management & Controls

• Review management plans and supporting contractor documents to ensure compliance is met.
• Monitor progress of the confirm compliance with project schedule and identified key milestones.
• Review the Lean in Construction metric and ensure effective use of the process.
• Review and comment on project schedules
• Monitor engineering productivity and effectiveness.
• Review monthly reports for accuracy and due diligence.
• Review and provide recommendations for approval relating to proposed scope changes.
• Maintaining interface drumbeats and leading progress meetings.

The role will also:

Manage the construction contractor and Engineering Services Provider to:

• Managing the RFI and TQ process to ensure timely and effective are maintained between the Owner’s Team and the Construction Contractor.
• Development of minor scopes of work and Site Instructions.
• Generating 4 week look ahead and interface mapping.
• Managing dayworks and variations on site
• Ensuring project diaries and certification reports are prepared and delivered in accordance with project requirements.
• Confirm works are undertaken according to design standards and technical specifications.
• Participate in any construction reviews, Value Engineering Study’s, Capital Intensity Reviews.
• Managing the onsite Certification Representatives to ensure objectives are met.

Procurement & Contract Management

• Review technical portion of tender documents/ scopes or work prior to issue.
• Review technical portion of Award Recommendations.
• Actively contribute in progress claims and variation assessments.

Project Readiness

• Participate in readiness planning and coordinate interface between various stakeholders.
• Provide technical direction and support of punch lists during construction and handover.

Health, Safety and Environment

• Actively participate in site interactions and inspections.
• Leading teams in the field by actively coaching and mentoring personnel.
• Leading Critical Risk Management (CRM) for fatality prevention.
• Maintaining a culture where Rio Tinto’s values of Care, Curiosity and Courage are recognised and rewarded.
• Participate in, and contribute to, safety and environmental workshops, programs, meetings and audits.
• Leading compliance with Rio Tinto’s site and global safety standards.

Leadership

• Active leadership and promotion of a collective and respectful work environment.
• Foster and mentor junior team members.
• Contribute and maintain felt experience of personnel including craft labour.
• Encouraging team members resolve challenging issues respectfully.
• Promote and actively participate in time in the field.

What you’ll bring

• 15-20 years post graduate experience in an earthworks or civil construction environment
• Engineering Degree- Civil

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’ll be workingOur Gove site in Australia’s Northern Territory has been supplying the global aluminium industry with world-class bauxite for more than 40 years.

Gove bauxite is shipped internationally as well as domestically to supply Queensland Alumina Limited and Yarwun refineries in Gladstone, Queensland. These refineries produce alumina as feedstock for our Australian aluminium smelting operations and for sale on the international market.

We expect our bauxite mining operations in the Gove Peninsula will cease later this decade and we are doing significant work to support closure of the operation.

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 Thursday the 31^st of August 2023 (Rio Tinto reserves the right to remove advertised roles prior to this date)