Principal Hydrogeologist

Rio Tinto; Western Australia; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Permanent role

Competitive salary

Medical benefits

Share ownership plan

Insurance cover

Salary packaging options

Education assistance

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Rio Tinto in Perth seeks a Principal Hydrogeologist to provide technical leadership for water resource planning across the West Pilbara. You will lead a regional team, shape strategy, governance and capability development while partnering with operations, studies and closure to deliver defensible groundwater outcomes.

This senior role requires building capability, translating data into decisions, and influencing through collaboration with site teams, regulators and stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Tertiary qualification in hydrogeology or geoscience.
• Experience in mining or safety-critical industrial environments.
• Ability to interpret data and modelling into decision-ready options.
• Experience coaching technical professionals and building team capability.
• Ability to collaborate with operational, regulatory, JV and Traditional Owner stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead a technical delivery team for regional hydrogeological and water management planning across the portfolio.
• Lead through influence to align priorities and shape decisions at regional level.
• Build team capability, capacity and succession through coaching and development pathways.
• Apply scientific and technical excellence to hydrogeological investigations and risk management.
• Act as accountable technical leader for groundwater risks and assurance of work fitness for purpose.
• Govern hydrogeological compliance and assurance against regulatory obligations and standards.
• Translate hydrogeological insights into mine planning, studies and closure activities.
• Drive annual water resource and management planning routines with an integrated risk view.
• Build external partnerships to resolve shared water risks and accelerate best practices.

Skills

Hydrogeology expertise

Team leadership

Risk management

Stakeholder engagement

Strategic thinking

Education

Hydrogeology/geoscience degree

Tools

Groundwater modelling tools

Job description

• Shape high-quality, defensible hydrogeology outcomes that support safe and sustainable water management across West Pilbara operations, studies and closure planning.
• Lead technical direction, governance and capability development across a regional portfolio, with scope to influence long-term water strategy and emerging practices.
• Perth-based opportunity focused on the West Pilbara, combining collaboration in the Perth office with meaningful connection to our Pilbara sites and stakeholders.

We're Finding Better Ways™ to provide materials the world needs, now and in the future. Our values – care, courage and curiosity – guide how we work and how we treat each other.

About The Role

We are looking for a Principal Hydrogeologist to provide technical leadership, direction and process governance for water resource planning and management across the West Pilbara. In this role, you’ll connect water resource planning and management across operations, studies, projects and closure to deliver consistent, fit-for-purpose and defensible hydrogeology outcomes across the mining lifecycle, while building capability and supporting sound, risk-based decisions. This is a great opportunity for someone who enjoys solving complex groundwater challenges, building capable empowered teams to deliver at the right level and wants to influence regional strategy, technical standards and continuous improvement.

What You’ll Be Doing

Reporting to the Manager Hydrogeology, you will be a member of the Hydrogeology leadership team and a trusted partner to operational, technical and business leaders across Rio Tinto Iron Ore, you will

• Lead a technical delivery team for regional hydrogeological and water management planning across the assigned portfolio, setting clear priorities, accountabilities and performance expectations.
• Lead through influence to align competing priorities and ensure regional insights shape portfolio and business decisions.
• Build team capability, capacity and succession through coaching, development pathways and effective allocation of work.
• Apply scientific and technical excellence to hydrogeological investigations, assessments, decision-making and risk management.
• Act as the accountable technical leader for material groundwater risks set assurance expectations, test whether work is fit for purpose, surface emerging issues early and elevate decision-ready recommendations at the right level.
• Govern hydrogeological compliance and assurance against regulatory obligations, environmental commitments and technical standards.
• Translate hydrogeological constraints, opportunities and insights into mine planning, studies, operations and closure activities.
• Drive annual water resource & management planning routines, maintaining an integrated view of risk, value, capacity and dependencies to make portfolio trade-offs and translate long-term strategy into funded, sequenced action.
• Build relationships and external partnerships needed to resolve shared water risks, challenge siloed decisions and accelerate the adoption of practices and technologies that improve whole-of-business outcomes.

About You

We're looking for an enterprise‑minded technical leader who sees hydrogeology as a business‑critical capability and takes ownership beyond organisational boundaries. You do not need to meet every "helpful for success" item to apply; if you bring relevant experience and are excited by the opportunity, we encourage you to submit an application.

Required for Success

• A commitment to the safety of yourself and your team.
• Demonstrated technical expertise in hydrogeology and groundwater management within mining, resources or another large-scale, safety‑critical industrial environment.
• Experience leading technical delivery, assurance or governance across a complex portfolio, including management of groundwater‑related risk and compliance obligations.
• Capability to interpret and translate hydrogeological data, modelling outputs and uncertainty into decision-ready options, trade‑offs and recommendations for studies, mine planning, operations and closure.
• Experience coaching technical professionals and building team capability, capacity and succession.
• Ability to built trust, influence and collaborate with operational, technical, regulatory joint venture and Traditional Owner stakeholders, including communicating complex communicating complex issues simply and influencing decisions without relying on formal authority

Helpful for Success

• A tertiary qualification in hydrogeology, geology, geoscience, environmental science or a related discipline.
• Experience in strategic water planning, integrated portfolio leadership, mine closure, hydrogeological modelling practices or emerging groundwater technologies, including shaping investment priorities and cross‑functional delivery.
• Experience managing work plans, budgets or schedules for a technical team or portfolio.

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 and salary packaging options
• Career development and 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, including annual, paid parental, personal and cultural leave
• Exclusive employee discounts across banking, accommodation, cars, retail and more
• Possible domestic relocation assistance

Where you’ll be working

This role is based in Perth and is specific to our West Pilbara portfolio. Our modern office in the Central Park tower provides an inspiring environment for collaboration and professional growth, with access to a modern gym, wellness programs and convenient amenities that support a healthy work-life balance. Situated in the heart of Perth, the office is close to public transport and several parking options.

In the Pilbara region of Western Australia, Rio Tinto operates an integrated network of mines, port terminals, rail and related infrastructure. From Perth, you will work closely with technical and operational teams supporting safe, sustainable water management across the West Pilbara through development, operations and into closure.

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 LGBTQ+ 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.