Lead Drilling & Sampling Data

BHP Group; Canada; Hybrid; CAD 160,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global resources company is seeking a Lead Drilling & Sampling Data professional in Toronto, Canada. This role involves managing various geoscience data applications and leading a globally distributed team. Responsibilities include developing strategies for data systems, ensuring data governance, and driving collaboration among teams. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in geoscience, leadership experience, and expertise in relevant tools. Additional benefits include competitive salary and incentives.

Benefits

Short-term incentive bonus

Health plan

Pension

Qualifications

• 10 years’ experience in economic geoscience or geoscience data applications.
• Deep knowledge of mining drilling and sampling data workflows.
• Expert-level skills in geoscience database modelling and SQL/no-SQL practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a globally distributed team across multiple time zones.
• Drive short and long-term strategy for drilling & sampling data systems.
• Develop and implement data standards and governance protocols.

Skills

Leadership

Geoscience data applications

Collaboration

Communication

Problem-solving

Education

Degree in Geoscience

Tools

acQuire GIM Suite

Seequent

aiSiris

Esri products

Job description

Lead Drilling & Sampling Data

Job Country: Canada

Job State/Province: Ontario

Job Location/Region: Toronto

About BHP

At BHP we support our people to grow, learn, develop their skills and reach their potential. With a global portfolio of operations, we offer a diverse and inclusive environment with extraordinary career opportunities. Our strategy is to focus on creating a safe work environment where our employees feel strongly connected to our values and objectives, and where the capability of our people is key to our success.
Come and be a part of this success!

Work Location

Downtown, Toronto office. 40 hours per week. Hybrid working (flexible, shared workstations and a combination of office and work from home) is standard for BHP.

Total Rewards

The starting annual salary range for this role is $160,000 - 200,000 CAD. Additional rewards includes a short-term incentive bonus program, health plan, personal spending account, dental, life insurance, and pension.

Purpose

We are seeking a motivated and experienced leader, with a track record of designing and implementing geoscience data systems to join our Exploration Geoscience Data team within Exploration Excellence and Innovation. This role will report to the Manager of Geoscience Data.

As the ‘Lead Drilling & Sampling Data’, you will lead a globally distributed team responsible for the end‑to‑end lifecycle of drilling & sampling datasets; from acquisition (field campaigns, external data sources) through ingestion into repository, and subsequent delivery to internal and external stakeholders. You will ensure seamless and consistent data practices across Exploration, and drive collaboration with other Geoscience Data verticals: Geospatial Data, Systems, Central Data Platform, and Data Integration.

The successful candidate will be a highly collaborative leader who creates a positive team culture, and champions testing and adoption of new methodologies leveraging ML and AI. Since this role is accountable for managing stakeholders across various BHP functions, geographies, and time zones, you will require exceptional skills in communication, relationship building, influencing on best practices, and delivering customer‑centric solutions. Your team will be accountable for efficiently delivering data solutions across a range of Exploration projects, from concept to targeting. Occasional international travel may be required for this role.

About the Role

Governance & Strategy:

• Develop and drive short and long‑term strategy and roadmaps for Drilling & Sampling data systems, capabilities, and solutions that are aligned with broader Geoscience Data goals toward future‑proofing Exploration’s cloud‑native data infrastructure.
• Establish and implement drilling and sampling data standards, governance and best practices through technical documentation and training.
• Accountable for systems and protocols related to ingestion and management of structured and unstructured data from both internal and external sources across all Exploration applications and geographies.
• Enforce compliance of data integrity, security and privacy protocols, aligned with enterprise Data and Technology strategies.
• Develop and design core components of Exploration’s drilling and sampling data systems, including data modeling, business rule definition, schema creation, data validation, quality assessment and interoperability (APIs, connectors).
• Drive global data standardization by leading the optimisation and harmonisation of Exploration’s various acquired databases into a unified data model.
• Oversee strategic integration and automation, ensuring seamless data migrations and workflow optimisation between internally developed BHP platforms and commercial off‑the‑shelf solutions such as Esri.

Solution Delivery:

• Act as a key liaison with other Geoscience Data leads (Geospatial, Systems, Central Data Platform, Integration) to deliver integrated geoscience data solutions to an ever‑evolving pipeline of Exploration projects.
• Oversee resource allocation to support geoscience teams across multiple Exploration phases.
• Develop roadmaps and task prioritisation for day‑to‑day front‑line geoscience data solutions, as well as large enterprise‑level initiatives.
• Partner with Technology and Exploration’s geoscience and operations teams to assess current state, anticipate future needs and continuously identify improvement opportunities.
• Lead testing, development and deployment of new tools and workflows using customer‑centric approach.
• Manage contracts with external partners, ensuring high standards in contract performance.

Leadership:

• Develop goals (KPIs) to drive drilling & sampling strategy in alignment to broader Exploration strategy.
• Lead and provide mentorship to a high‑performing, globally distributed team across multiple time zones. Foster a positive team culture that encourages innovation, continuous improvement, and a shared sense of purpose across Geoscience Data.
• Manage stakeholders across various BHP functions, driving collaboration and ‘one‑team’ attitude.
• Drive alignment and buy‑in from geoscientists and stakeholders, who do not directly report to you through credibility, trust; approach problem solving using a customer‑centric mindset.

About You

• Degree qualification in Geoscience from a reputable university
• 10 years’ experience in economic geoscience and/or business experience in economic geoscience and/or geoscience data applications, with deep knowledge of mining drilling and sampling data workflows and supporting software.
• Domain knowledge in geoscience disciplines, including petrophysics, geology, geochemistry, specialised sampling.
• Experienced in the development of partnerships (both internal and external).
• Proven leadership experience in team development, mentoring, and fostering a culture in innovation.
• Deep product knowledge of acQuire GIM Suite, Seequent, aiSiris, and Esri products. Expert‑level skills in geoscience database modelling, design, schema creation, SQL/no‑SQL practices and database maintenance.

Application Deadline

This posting will be active until 11:59pm CST on December 19, 2025.

About Our Process

At BHP, we are committed to employing individuals who align with the BHP Charter Values and meet the requirements of the role. As part of the recruitment process, there are a number of checks which may be conducted to demonstrate applicants’ suitability for a role including police/criminal background checks, medical, drug and alcohol testing, due diligence checks, right to work checks, and/or reference checks. The outcome of these checks is not determinative of whether or not BHP decides to make an offer of employment.

Supporting a Diverse Workplace

At BHP, we know that we are strengthened by diversity. We are an Equal Opportunity employer that is committed to making BHP a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive and be at their best every day. We are focused on creating a workforce that is more diverse and represents the communities where we work and live. Providing a work environment in which everyone is included, treated fairly and with respect. We recognize that true diversity includes gender, age, race, disability status, sexual orientation, religion, neurodiversity, education levels, and many more aspects of your identity. BHP is committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible for all. If you have a disability, we know that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. If you would like to reach out to someone about your situation and our recruitment process, please email us at [e-mail]. At BHP, we aim to unlock the enormous potential that diverse and inclusive teams bring to the workplace, to leave a strong legacy within and beyond our operations for the generations to come.