Principal Advisor Sustainability – NutonTM
- Become a part of the team pioneering Rio Tinto’s latest heap leaching technology.
- Grow your career and contribute to a technology venture committed to build a more sustainable future.
- Experience why Utah is the best overall state to live and work as ranked by the U.S. News and World Report. (Utah Ranked #1 U.S. News and World Report)
About the role
Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs.
NutonTM is a Rio Tinto venture with the purpose of commercializing our copper bio-heap leaching technologies, which enables us to leach copper sulfide ores and unlock vast copper resources that were previously uneconomic or technically challenging to process. One of the main differentiators of Nuton is our commitment to achieving leading environmental performance, including lower carbon emissions, lower water usage, a smaller land footprint, the ability to valorize materials otherwise considered waste, and the commitment to achieve positive social outcomes. Through deploying our technology, we have the potential to produce the lowest impact copper in the market and enable Positive Impacts in at least one of our five pillars: energy, water, materials, land and society.
We are looking for a passionate and experienced Principal Advisor Sustainability to join our Nuton™ team. In this role, you will play a crucial role in realizing Nuton’s ambition to be a sustainability leader. You will identify, evaluate and recommend the most attractive opportunities to reduce Nuton’s environmental footprint, and find efficiencies to minimize our impacts on our processing flowsheet and our partners’ minesites. This position requires a solid background on material sciences or environmental engineering, with exceptional project management and communication skills.
In this role, you’ll report to the Growth and Sustainability VP, and your responsibilities will include:
- Research and Development: Identify advanced materials and technologies to reduce the environmental footprint of Nuton’s flowsheet. This includes studying the properties and behaviors of materials under various conditions and the suitability of novel technologies to identify opportunities to enhance Nuton’s process.
- Process Optimization: Analyze Nuton’s flowsheet and optimize existing processes to reduce waste, energy consumption, water requirements and carbon emissions. Recommend process improvements to project teams and collaboratively work to implement improvements to enhance efficiency and sustainability.
- Collaboration: Work closely with environmental scientists, engineers, and other stakeholders to integrate sustainable practices into Nuton’s deployment at our partners’ sites. Facilitate cross-functional collaboration with technology development and deployment teams to ensure that sustainability goals are met.
- Environmental impact evaluation: Evaluate the environmental impact of materials and processes, propose improvements, and use sustainability metrics to measure and report on environmental performance of competing technical solutions. Conduct trade off studies on competing environmental solutions.
- Technical Documentation: Prepare technical reports, presentations, and documentation to communicate findings and recommendations. Provide clear and concise information to support decision-making processes.
- Technical Support: Provide technical support and guidance to project teams on sustainability issues. Offer expertise in materials science and applied technology to solve complex problems.
What you’ll bring
- A commitment to the safety of yourself and your team.
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Materials Science, Engineering, Industrial Processing or a related field. A Ph.D. in a relevant discipline is desirable. Prior knowledge or experience in mining also useful.
- Minimum of 10 years of experience in materials science, applied technology, and sustainability practices, preferably within the mining industry.
- Knowledge of sustainable materials, including recycled materials, bio-based materials, and nanomaterials. Understanding of how these materials can be applied in mining and processing operations to improve sustainability performance.
- Awareness of LCA methodologies and related evaluation tools to assess the environmental impact of materials and processes.
- Skills in project management, including planning, execution, and monitoring of sustainability projects.
- Proficiency in data analysis, modeling, and simulation tools.
- Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to think creatively and innovatively.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.
- Passion for pushing the boundaries of sustainability in the mining industry and a commitment to Rio Tinto's sustainability values.
What we offer
Be recognized 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.
- Competitive base salary reflective of your skills and experience with an annual incentive bonus.
- Access to top-tier family-friendly health programs including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, life insurance coverage, and various voluntary benefits.
- Excellent retirement plan including up to 6% defined company contribution; Generous 401k matching program.
- Attractive share ownership plan.
- Comprehensive leave policies which cover all the moments that matter in life: PTO (paid time off), paid holidays, and paid bereavement leave.
- A generous parental leave policy, which ensures you’re able to spend quality time with your new family.
- Discount programs for leisure purposes and access to Virgin Pulse with incentives supporting your wellbeing.
- Access to our Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which provides confidential counselling or expert guidance for you and your family to help get through life’s challenges
Where you’ll be working
The role will be based in Salt Lake City in the United States, with some domestic and international travel requirement.
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.
Every Voice Matters
At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, women, the LGBTQ+ community, mature workers, people with disabilities and people from different cultural backgrounds.
Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V
Rio Tinto participates in E-Verify to confirm work authorization. Please visit http://www.uscis.gov/ for more information.
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.
Salary Range
0,00 $ – 0,00 $
JOB_POSTING-3-230
Take your leadership career to the next level.
Where can Rio Tinto take you?
You’re passionate and ambitious with tremendous career aspirations. The breadth and growth of our organisation empowers you to define your ideal career path.
Take a look at Katie’s career journey
- 2022 - PresentManager Projects - Energy DevelopmentBrisbane, Queensland, Australia
- 2021Superintendent Operations CentreBrisbane, Queensland, Australia
- 2020Development / Drill and Blast SuperintendentPilbara, Western Australia
- 2019Deputy Quarry ManagerPilbara, Western Australia
- 2018Development SupervisorPilbara, Western Australia
- 2017Senior Engineer of Drill, Blast and SurveyPilbara, Western Australia
- 2016Production EngineerPilbara, Western Australia
- 2015Mine scheduler - 2 week plannerPilbara, Western Australia
- 2014Drill and Blast EngineerPilbara, Western Australia
- 2012Graduate Mining EngineerPilbara, Western Australia
Working at Rio Tinto
Help us deliver the materials that make human progress possible.
The plane you’re flying in just landed. You fire up your phone and get your laptop out of the overhead bin. Immediately, you’re in work mode – thousands of miles from your office. Do you ever stop to think about all the materials that make life in the 21st century possible? At Rio Tinto, we discover, develop and deliver the materials that drive human progress. When you work with us, you’ll experience advantages you won’t find anywhere else.
Our application process
01
Apply
The first thing you’ll need to do is apply to the role. You can do this with your LinkedIn profile or you can upload your resume. We’ll also ask you to complete a few questions before you submit your application.
02
Undergo assessments
Our assessments are designed to help us work out whether you are suitable for the role. We will let you know which ones you’ll need to complete.
03
Interview(s)
Our interviews could be in person or online. It’s a great opportunity for us to get to know you a bit better, answer any of your questions and talk about the exciting career opportunity you have applied for.
04
Offers and checks
At this stage, we will let you know if you have been successful. If you have been, we’ll need to conduct a couple of checks, such as a background or security check. You may also need to do a medical assessment depending on the role you have applied for.
05
Join the Rio Tinto team
Once the checks have been completed, we’ll be in touch to talk with you about your start date and answer any questions you may have before you start with us.