Specialist Procurement – Maintenance, Repairs, Operations (MRO) Consumables

Rio Tinto; Western Australia; On-site; AUD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working from home options

18 weeks parental leave

Private health insurance

Job summary

Rio Tinto is seeking a Specialist MRO to lead end-to-end category management within the Regional Goods & Services team. Based in Perth, you will manage MRO spend across industrial supplies, electrical, plumbing, PPE and more, coordinating with suppliers and internal stakeholders to optimise value and availability.

You will develop sub-category data bases, monitor market trends, run sourcing events and draft robust contracts with clear pricing and SLAs.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in procurement, supply chain, inventory or materials management, or a commercial role in asset-intensive operations.
• Experience negotiating pricing and commercial terms or managing supplier performance, linking outcomes to site availability and total cost of ownership.
• Understanding how MRO materials are planned, stocked and replenished (e.g., distributors, VMI, consignment).
• Ability to work with large data sets in Power BI and Excel and translate findings into recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Develop data-driven fact bases for sub-categories including spend by product group, site and buying channel, contract coverage, demand patterns and supplier insights.
• Monitor market trends and translate them into practical category actions.
• Manage end-to-end sourcing events from briefings to negotiation, award, implementation and Ariba workspace management.
• Draft agreements with clear pricing, indexation and service-level models to improve availability and long-term value.
• Implement and audit contract management controls including price reviews and tail spend reduction.
• Identify supply-base rationalization and spend consolidation opportunities and manage transitions with sites and suppliers.
• Identify substitution and low-cost-country sourcing opportunities with engineering for qualifying alternatives.

Skills

Data analysis

Power BI

Excel

Negotiation

Sourcing strategy

Cross-functional collaboration

Market understanding

Education

Business/SC/Finance/Engineering degree

Tools

SAP

Ariba

Job description

• Be part of the next exciting evolution of MRO
• Accountable for end-to-end category management and portfolio optimization
• Permanent role based in Perth

We are looking for a Specialist MRO within the MRO (Regional Goods & Services) team within Rio Tinto Procurement. MRO portfolio spans industrial supplies, electrical, plumbing and HVAC, hydraulics, industrial gases, drilling consumables and PPE, supplied through integrated supply partners, OEMs, distributors, and local and Indigenous suppliers.

This role is critical to delivering a stronger, sharper and simpler approach to MRO category management. Beyond your sub-category, you will understand the portfolio as a whole what we buy, how materials flow from supplier to site, and the market forces that shape cost and availability. Your work will keep strategies and agreements practical and operationally relevant.

Reporting to the Principal Advisor, MRO (Goods and Services), your key responsibilities will include

• Developing data-driven fact bases for your sub-category, including spend by product group, site and buying channel, contract coverage, demand patterns and supplier insights, and contributing to the wider portfolio view.
• Monitoring market trends and external influences, such as commodity and input costs, freight, FX and supply disruption, and translating them into practical category actions.
• Managing end-to-end sourcing events, from stakeholder briefings and tender evaluation through negotiation, award, implementation and Ariba workspace management, and drafting agreements with clear pricing, indexation and service-level models that improve availability, safety and long-term value.
• Implementing and auditing contract management controls, including annual price reviews, outline agreements and tail spend, to prevent value leakage, and performing Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) activities to improve supplier performance and outcomes for sites.
• Identifying and delivering supply-base rationalization and spend consolidation opportunities in your sub-category, using price benchmarking and should-cost analysis to assure value, and managing the transition with sites, warehousing, P2P, Finance and suppliers.
• Identifying and delivering substitution, standardization and low-cost-country sourcing opportunities, working with maintenance and engineering on technical equivalence, quality assurance and landed-cost evaluation.

What You’ll Bring

• 5+ years in procurement, supply chain, inventory or materials management, or a commercial role, ideally in mining, oil and gas, construction or other asset-intensive operations.
• Experience negotiating pricing and commercial terms or managing supplier performance, with the ability to connect commercial outcomes to site availability and total cost of ownership.
• A practical understanding of how MRO materials are planned, stocked and replenished (for example through integrators, distributors, VMI or consignment), and curiosity about the market forces that shape them.
• Strong logical and analytical thinking you structure problems, work confidently with large data sets in Power BI and Excel (ideally SAP and Ariba), and use data, automation and AI-enabled tools to turn findings into clear recommendations.
• Tertiary qualifications in business, supply chain, finance, engineering or a related discipline would be beneficial.
• A demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across commercial, operational and site teams, while contributing to a positive team culture in a diverse environment.

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)

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.

This role will be based in Perth.

(Rio Tinto reserves the right to remove advertised roles prior to this date)

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.

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.