Principal Traditional Owner Participation

Rio Tinto; Perth; On-site; AUD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Annual incentive program

Private health insurance

Share ownership plan

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Rio Tinto is seeking a Principal Traditional Owner Participation to advance commitments with Traditional Owner groups through agreement-making. You will connect teams, monitor progress, and help overcome barriers to employment and enterprise outcomes.

You’ll engage with Traditional Owners, Prescribed Bodies Corporate and internal functions to ensure a consistent approach, while supporting services that enable development opportunities.

Qualifications

• Experience in Indigenous employment, training or government relations.
• Understanding Native Title and agreement-making frameworks.
• Experience influencing stakeholders across complex organisations.

Responsibilities

• Monitor employment, skills and business development commitments and risks.
• Draft and support employment and development commitments with Traditional Owners.
• Coordinate cross-functional delivery across multiple teams.
• Serve as central contact for interfaces with Traditional Owner groups.
• Support contractual arrangements for services to develop opportunities.
• Respond to escalations and concerns relating to commitments.
• Engage Traditional Owners on aspirations for jobs and enterprise development.

Skills

Indigenous engagement

Stakeholder coordination

Negotiation skills

Cultural competency

Strong communication

Job description

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 Traditional Owner Participation to help the Agreement Making team progress commitments and obligations made to Traditional Owner groups through agreement-making processes and established agreements. Reporting to the Manager Agreement Making, you will act as a key interface between the Traditional Owner Partnerships team, Traditional Owner groups and the Rio Tinto functions responsible for delivering commitments.

In this role, you will connect people across the business, monitor progress and help resolve barriers to employment, skills and business development outcomes. This is an opportunity to shape practical participation initiatives, strengthen trusted relationships and support commitments that create meaningful and measurable value.

What You’ll Be Doing

Reporting to the Manager Agreement Making and working across the Agreement Making and Traditional Owner Partnerships teams, you will be

• Monitoring employment and business development commitments, associated metrics and delivery risks, and taking action where progress is off track.
• Developing and supporting the drafting of employment, skills and business development agreement commitments with Traditional Owners.
• Partnering with Traditional Owner groups and Prescribed Bodies Corporate to identify economic development opportunities and connect relevant subject matter expertise.
• Coordinating cross-functional delivery across People, Procurement, Commercial, Capability Development, Renewables, Environment, Land Access and operational teams.
• Acting as a central point of contact for Rio Tinto teams that interface with Traditional Owner groups, helping provide a consistent and integrated approach.
• Supporting contractual arrangements for specialist services that assist Traditional Owner organisations to develop and execute business opportunities.
• Responding to escalations, grievances and concerns relating to employment, procurement and business development commitments.
• Engaging Traditional Owners on aspirations for jobs, skills and enterprise development, while helping internal teams understand commitments and relevant cultural context.

About You

We’re looking for someone whose experience aligns with the key requirements below. You do not need to meet every "helpful for success" item to apply.

Required For Success

• A commitment to the safety of yourself and your team.
• Demonstrated experience in Indigenous employment, training, business development, government relations, Indigenous affairs or a closely related field.
• Working knowledge of Native Title, agreement-making frameworks and the delivery of commitments with Traditional Owner groups.
• Experience negotiating, drafting or implementing agreements and influencing stakeholders across complex organisational settings.
• Commercial, procurement or business development capability, including experience supporting opportunities from concept through to delivery.
• Strong written and verbal communication, cultural competency and the ability to coordinate across multiple internal and external stakeholder groups.

Helpful for Success

• Experience working directly with Prescribed Bodies Corporate, Traditional Owner businesses or community organisations.
• Knowledge of employment and supplier development programs within mining, resources, government or another large operational environment.
• Experience using performance measures, reporting and risk controls to monitor delivery of agreement commitments.

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 an annual incentive program.
• Comprehensive medical benefits including subsidised private health insurance for employees and immediate family.
• An 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

Our modern office located in Central Park tower in Perth provides an inspiring environment for collaboration and professional growth. You’ll have 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.

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 needed - 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.