Procurement Business Partner – Gladstone Operations
-
Be part of a team that is safety driven and which values inclusion and diversity
-
Join a leadership group committed to Rio Tinto’s core values of Care, Courage and Curiosity
-
Work within a high performing dynamic environment
-
Opportunity to lead the Procurement team supporting our Yarwun Alumina Refinery and Boyne Smelter Operations
-
Based in Gladstone, with domestic relocation assistance provided
About the role
Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs.
We are looking for an experienced Procurement Business Partner – Gladstone who can lead people and execute commercial strategies to deliver superior commercial outcomes for our business. In this role, you will be responsible for providing leadership for the procurement team supporting Rio Tinto’s Yarwun Alumina Refinery and Boyne Smelter Operations.
This role has a strong focus on procurement service delivery and stakeholder engagement with the respective site based operational leadership teams. The aim is to improve safety, control costs and generate continuous improvement initiatives intended to keep Rio Tinto at the leading edge of the resources industry. This is an exciting, permanent opportunity within a flexible workplace environment with the option to work a 9-day fortnight.
In this role, you will provide collaborative leadership to develop and maintain a team culture that consistently demonstrates our organisational values and seeks to identify and deliver value to our stakeholders. This role is a great opportunity to establish yourself as a key business partner across our Gladstone sites, manage positive relationships with key internal stakeholders and critical suppliers, and to exercise your commercial acumen to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.
Reporting to the Senior Business Partner, Procurement and working in a challenging and exciting environment, you will:
-
Provide day to day leadership of the Gladstone based procurement team and drive a high performing and collaborative culture that will support each team member to achieve their full potential. Direct reports: 7
-
Support the management of relationships with site stakeholders across two critical Aluminium assets to ensure their needs are consistently met, and that they understand what is required to maximize value from procurement.
-
Be an effective procurement leader responsible for strategy development and execution, overseeing commercial negotiations of your team and ensuring best practice contract management outcomes;
-
Be responsible for building highly functioning and engaged internal relationships by deploying business partnering principles to improve customer centricity, whilst also partnering with external suppliers to develop mutually rewarding relationships, unlocking innovation and advancing ESG principles;
-
Embed a holistic and robust approach to safety, security, risk in supply chain, change and project management across your assigned portfolio ensuring that all material risks are identified and appropriately managed;
-
Lead a team of procurement and sourcing specialists, and be able to demonstrate effective people leadership skills to drive and enable a positive and engaging team culture;
-
Ensure initiatives are implemented in accordance with Rio Tinto's strict governance requirements spanning contracts compliance, expiries and renewals, negotiations, variations, supplier performance management and contract implementation; and
-
Continually seek to improve functional capabilities in order to deliver best total value outcomes for Rio Tinto and proactively look to increase the speed of delivery through optimised and technology enabled processes.
What you’ll bring
To be successfully considered for this role, you will have:
-
A tertiary degree in Business, Law, Engineering, or related discipline;
-
Ideally 10+ years of procurement experience with demonstrated prior people leadership accountabilities;
-
Exceptional level of stakeholder engagement skills;
-
Ability to create a vision, and present information and analysis to support complex procurement category and sub-category strategies;
-
Demonstratable understanding of end to end procurement processes;
-
Strong negotiation skills and demonstrated experience leading complex contract negotiations; and
-
Proficiency in using MS Office suite, PowerBI and other technology enablers;
What we offer
-
A work environment where safety is always the number one priority
-
Flexible working from home arrangements as per operational requirements
-
18 weeks of gender-neutral and equal paid parental leave, with continued superannuation contributions whilst employees are on unpaid or half paid parental leave
-
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); and
-
Local relocation packages offered for Australian residents only
Where you’ll be working
Rio Tinto Global Procurement ensures resilient supply chains that deliver value to the Rio Tinto Group through the strategic sourcing and buying of goods and services for our operations. Playing a fundamental role, value is achieved through effective supplier partnerships, innovation, easy and standardised processes, e-technology, corporate social responsibility and increased commercial advantage.
Application Deadline: 29th June 2025 Sunday Australia WA time
(Rio Tinto reserves the right to remove advertised roles prior to this date)
Please note, in order to be successfully considered for this role you must complete all pre-screening questions.
Rio Tinto does not accept unsolicited CVs or candidate profiles from recruiters or employment agencies. Rio Tinto will not consider or agree to payment of any referral compensation or recruiter fee relating to unsolicited CVs or candidate profiles. Rio Tinto reserves the right to hire those candidate(s) without any financial obligation to the recruiter or agency. Any unsolicited CVs or candidate profiles, including those submitted to hiring managers, are deemed to be the property of Rio Tinto.
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 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.
JOB_POSTING-3-8264
Rio Tinto is a leading global mining and materials company. We operate in 35 countries where we produce iron ore, copper, aluminum, 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.
At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, women, the LGBTQIA+ community, mature workers, people with disabilities, and people from different cultural backgrounds.
We are committed to an inclusive environment where people feel 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 – 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 who we are.
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
Take a look at Shona’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
- 2022 – PresentGeneral Manager Weipa OperationsWeipa, Far North Queensland, Australia
- 2020General Manager Bell Bay AluminiumLaunceston, Tasmania, Australia
- 2017Metal products DepartmentBoyne SmeltersGladstone, Queensland, Australia
- 2014Reduction line Manager – Boyne SmeltersGladstone, Queensland, Australia
- 2012Services department Manager Boyne SmeltersGladstone, Queensland, Australia
- 2011Manager Health, Safety, Environment and business improvement Boyne SmeltersGladstone, Queensland, Australia
- 2010Lean Six Sigma Black Belt – Boyne SmeltersGladstone, Queensland, Australia
- 2009Operations SuperintendentGladstone, Queensland, Australia
- 2005Operations SuperintendentLaunceston, Tasmania, Australia
- 2004Graduate EngineerLaunceston, Tasmania, 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.
Working in a technical role at Rio Tinto
Your advanced expertise will help drive human progress.
We’ve developed technical capabilities through nearly 150 years of discovering, planning, and operating mines in every corner of the world. We’re an open, connected international team of technical specialists using some of the most sophisticated tools and robust data on the planet. Join us and experience:
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.