Senior Advisor People Data

Senior Advisor, People Data

• Join a high-performing team of data and technology experts

• Contribute to a culture of innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement

• Work in a flexible work environment where we prioritise a healthy work/life balance

Where we are all welcome

We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels comfortable being 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 but essential to our success. We treat each other fairly and with dignity, regardless of race, gender, nationality, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that makes us unique.

At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, the LGBTQI+ community, mature workers, people with disabilities, and individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. We believe that our differences are our strength. The diversity of skills, life experiences, and perspectives within our team enhances our way of working and our ability to achieve success together.

About the Role

Reporting to the Manager, People Planning & Analytics, The Senior Advisor People Data will design, implement, and optimise the infrastructure, data governance, and integration frameworks that underpin advanced analytics, predictive insights, and responsible AI solutions across the employee lifecycle. 

This role requires a strategic thinker and hands-on data professional with a proven track record in data engineering. You will partner across People, Digital, IST/data, and business teams to ensure our people data foundations are scalable, secure, ethical, and ready for automation and AI adoption. In particular, this role will have several responsibilities within the team:

Data Infrastructure & Architecture

• Lead the design, implementation and maintenance of the People data infrastructure, ensuring scalability for advanced analytics and AI capabilities.

• Partner with IST and Digital teams to integrate HR systems, workforce platforms, and external data sources into a unified data environment.

• Build and maintain pipelines to ensure high-quality, real-time, and accessible data for AI and predictive tools.

AI Enablement & Innovation

• Collaborate with People Analytics and AI specialists to operationalise machine learning and generative AI use cases (e.g., agentification, skills inference, workforce optimisation).

• Establish data readiness frameworks and standards for responsible AI applications in HR.

• Pilot and evaluate new technologies to enhance data-driven decision-making and employee experience.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner with HR, Digital, and Data Science teams to translate business needs into data solutions.

• Provide strategic advice on data infrastructure investments to enable AI transformation across People & Culture.

• Communicate complex technical concepts in accessible terms to senior stakeholders.

Capability Building

• Support uplift of people data literacy and AI awareness across HR teams.

• Mentor junior analysts and data engineers in modern data engineering practices.

About You

To be successful in this role, you will have:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or related field.

• 7+ years of hands-on experience in data engineering and data modelling, preferably in a cloud-based environment.

• Proven expertise with Databricks, Apache Spark, and Delta Lake.

• Strong programming skills in Python and SQL.

• Experience designing and implementing data lakehouses or modern data architectures (e.g., medallion/layered models).

• Proficiency with cloud platforms (Azure and/or AWS)

• Experience with data orchestration tools (e.g., Airflow, Databricks Workflows, or Prefect).

• Familiarity with DevOps practices, including CI/CD

• Understanding of data governance, cataloging, and metadata management (e.g., Unity Catalog, Purview, Collibra).

• Strong grasp of performance tuning, partitioning, and job optimization in Spark/Databricks environments.

• Databricks or cloud certifications (e.g., Databricks Certified Data Engineer Professional, Azure Data Engineer Associate) are advantageous, complemented with track record of delivering solutions in an enterprise environment.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey complex data-driven insights in a clear and compelling manner.

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate across functional areas and influence decision-makers at various organizational levels.

• People skills to manage external contractors when required.

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 bonus  

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

• 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, cultural leave)  

• To better suit different family needs, our paid parental leave approach gives all parents the option to take 18 weeks of paid leave after a new child arrives – at a time that suits them  

• Exclusive employee benefits and discounts including hotel stays, banking, accommodation, cars and retail.  

Where you’ll be working 

This role will be Perth based in our Central Park head office with flexible working arrangements on offer.

Applications close on Tuesday 25th November, 2025 (Rio Tinto reserves the right to remove advertised roles prior to this date). 

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 situations and meet opportunities.

Respect and Inclusion

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.

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