Principal Advisor Sales

• Based in Shanghai – China

About the role

Portside is a critical lever in the iron ore value chain, supporting value protection, customer access and optionality. This role is on the front lines, ensuring Rio Tinto remains competitive, disciplined, and responsive in the Chinese market.

The Principal Advisor Sales – Iron Ore PST is responsible for the commercial execution of iron ore sales through the China Portside channel. The role focuses on managing customer relationships, executing sales and trading strategies, and optimising value across a diverse customer base within the Chinese steel industry.

This role operates at the interface of sales, trading, pricing, logistics, and planning, and requires strong market insight, commercial judgement, and cross-functional collaboration.

Reporting to the Manager Finance and Business Services, you will:

1. Commercial & Sales Execution

• Manage day to day iron ore sales activities through the China Portside channel, including pricing execution, contract administration and delivery coordination.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with small to medium Chinese steel mills, traders and downstream customers.
• Execute agreed Portside sales strategies to support broader Iron Ore book objectives, including value protection and optionality.

2. Market & Trading Interface

• Monitor Chinese steel market dynamics, including price relativities, demand trends, port conditions and inventory behaviour.

• Work closely with Pricing, Trading and Sales Planning teams to execute market responsive pricing and placement decisions.

• Identify and respond to short term market opportunities and dislocations at portside.

3. Cross Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with internal teams across Pricing, Product Services, Sales Planning, Logistics, Finance and Risk to ensure seamless execution.

• Support alignment between Portside sales activities and seaborne, Pilbara and Simandou sales strategies.

4. Governance & Compliance

• Ensure all sales activities are conducted in line with Rio Tinto’s governance frameworks, compliance standards and business integrity requirements.

• Maintain accurate documentation, reporting and audit readiness for Portside transactions.

About you

To be successfully considered for this role, you will have:

• Minimum 5 years’ experience in sales, trading and/or commodity market roles, preferably in iron ore, bulk commodities or related sectors.

• Demonstrated experience working within or closely with the Chinese steel industry, including customer engagement and market analysis.

• Experience operating in a fast moving, market linked commercial environment.

• Strong understanding of pricing mechanisms, market indices and value drivers in bulk commodity markets.

• Ability to interpret market signals and translate them into effective commercial actions.

• Sound commercial judgement with attention to risk, compliance and value outcomes.

• Proven ability to work effectively across multiple teams and functions in a matrix environment.

• Strong communication and relationship building skills with both internal and external stakeholders.

• Fluent in English and Mandarin (written and spoken)

Where you will be working

You will be based in our office in Shanghai. 

Since Rio Tinto established its first office in Beijing almost 40 years ago with just three people, the Group has built partnerships with China that span supply, innovation, knowledge transfer, culture and procurement. It's a relationship that has been transformative for Rio Tinto and which continues to make a significant contribution to China’s growth story.

The company’s history in China stretches back over a century, when Rio Tinto made the first borates sales to the country. Since 1973 when Rio Tinto was one of the first foreign companies to export iron ore to China, it has shipped over 2.5 billion tonnes of the commodity, more than any other mining company. This extraordinary volume has been driven in large part by the pioneering joint ventures and partnerships that the Group has forged in recent decades.

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 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 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.

R56021