Chief Mine Engineer

P&C Recruiting and HR; Nevada (IA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

P&C Recruiting and HR is seeking a Chief Mine Engineer to lead the mine engineering function, ensuring the integrity of the life-of-mine plan and safe, cost-effective execution through to short-range production. The role blends hands-on field leadership with high-level design oversight.

You will supervise Senior Mine Engineers and Drill & Blast Engineers, partner with operations and geology, and drive standards, budgets, and capital projects while maintaining a visible field presence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering from an accredited institution.
• 10+ years of progressive mine engineering experience, including supervision of technical staff.
• Professional Engineer registration or equivalent designation.
• Prepare, review, and sign off technical reports and feasibility studies as a Qualified Person (QP).
• Ownership of mine plan across horizons—from short-range to annual budget.
• Knowledge of open pit planning, ground control, drill and blast design, and reconciliation.
• Experience in reserve estimation and annual budget preparation.
• Proficiency with Deswik, Vulcan, Maptek, and MS Office.
• Familiarity with federal and state mining safety regulations.
• Ability to lead, mentor, and train technical staff.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Commitment to safety and safe work practices.
• Demonstrated leadership and accountability.

Responsibilities

• Own the integrity of the life-of-mine plan and annual forecasts.
• Approve designs, drill and blast packages, and sequencing.
• Provide technical oversight of stockpile and waste dump management.
• Direct reconciliation of planned vs. actual tonnage, grade, and cycle times.
• Lead and mentor the mine engineering team and ensure succession planning.
• Manage departmental budget and capital project inputs.
• Collaborate with operations, maintenance, geology, and finance.
• Maintain standards and procedures, ensuring auditable work.
• Represent engineering in site leadership meetings and studies.

Skills

BSc Mining Eng

10+ yrs exp

PE registration

QP certification

Mine planning ownership

Open pit planning

Reserve estimation

Mine planning software

Mining regulation knowledge

Mentoring

Communication skills

Safety leadership

Leadership & accountability

Education

Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering

Tools

Deswik

Vulcan

Maptek

MS Office

Job description

Chief Mine Engineer

About the Job:

The Chief Mine Engineer leads the mine engineering function and holds accountability for the integrity of the mine plan, from long-range life-of-mine sequencing through to the weekly plans the operating crews execute. The role owns the technical standards that govern planning, drill and blast design, ground control, and survey, and is responsible for ensuring those standards translate into safe, achievable, and cost-effective plans.

This is a leadership position rather than a senior individual contributor role. Success is measured by the performance of the department and the credibility of the engineering group across the site: whether the plan is issued on time and executed as designed, whether reconciliation is understood and acted on, whether costs are forecast accurately, and whether the next generation of engineers is being developed. The Cheif is expected to spend meaningful time in the field and be hands on in the development of the engineering team as well as be the senior technical voice in operational decisions where ground conditions, sequencing, or equipment constraints put the plan at risk.

Reporting Relationships:

The Chief Mine Engineer reports to the Technical Services Manager and serves as a member of the site leadership team. Direct reports typically include Senior Mine Engineers, Drill and Blast Engineers, and Projects Engineers. The position works in close partnership with the Mine Operations Superintendents, Maintenance, Geology, Environmental, and Finance, and interfaces with corporate technical services on standards, studies, and reserve reporting.

Responsibilities:

Safety, Health, and Regulatory Compliance

• Exercise stop-work authority for any safety concern and hold the engineering team to that same standard in every design, review, and field inspection.
• Ensure engineering designs and work plans comply with federal and state mining regulations and with company safety standards before they are released to operations.
• Own the technical standards and safe operating procedures governing ground control and blasting and ensure they are reviewed and updated as conditions change.
• Participate in incident investigations where design, sequencing, or ground conditions are contributing factors, and drive the resulting corrective actions to closure.

Mine Planning and Technical Design

• Own the integrity and accuracy of the mine plan across all horizons: life-of-mine, annual budget, quarterly forecast, and the short-range plans that drive daily execution.
• Approve designs, drill and blast packages, pit development sequencing, and ancillary/project designs prepared by the engineering team.
• Provide technical oversight of stockpile and waste dump management.
• Ensure the design basis for every plan is documented and defensible, including assumptions on dilution, recovery, cycle times, and equipment productivity.
• Direct the reconciliation program, comparing planned to actual tonnage, grade, dilution, and cycle time, and ensure findings feed forward into subsequent plans.
• Establish and maintain the standards, templates, and modeling conventions used across the group so that work is consistent, auditable, and transferable between engineers.

Operations Integration and Plan Execution

• Partner with the Mine Operations Superintendents to ensure the plan reflects real operational constraints — equipment availability, crew capability, and spatial conflicts — before it is issued to the field.
• Attend the weekly planning meetings, ensuring conflicts are identified and resolved, or that contingency plans are in place, before the plan is committed.
• Coordinate with Maintenance to align equipment availability and major component schedules with the mining sequence.
• Maintain a visible field presence, conducting regular inspections with operations leadership to confirm that work is being executed to design and to standard.
• Serve as the senior technical escalation point when ground conditions, equipment failures, or grade variability require the plan to be reworked in cycle.

Reserves, Budget, and Capital Projects

• Lead the mine engineering contribution to the annual reserve and resource statement, including mine design, cut-off grade application, and mineable shape definition.
• Own the mining portion of the annual operating and capital budget, including plan development, consumables, and unit cost assumptions.
• Track performance against budget through the year and provide variance analysis and forecast revisions to site and corporate management.
• Evaluate alternative mining methods, equipment fleets, and sequencing options through trade‑off studies, and present recommendations with supporting economics.

Leadership and Talent Development

• Lead, coach, and develop the mine engineering team, setting clear expectations and holding people accountable for the quality and timeliness of their work.
• Build the technical team through structured mentoring, deliberate rotation across planning, drill and blast, and active succession planning for key roles.
• Conduct performance reviews, set development goals, and address performance concerns directly and fairly.
• Manage departmental resourcing, including workload balancing, recruitment, and the appropriate use of consultants and contract engineering support.
• Represent the engineering function to site leadership, corporate technical services, auditors, and external consultants, and present technical work clearly to non-technical audiences.

Business Improvement, Reporting, and Systems

• Identify and lead business improvement initiatives that reduce mining cost per tonne, improve productivity, or reduce operational risk, and quantify the results delivered.
• Own the mine engineering reporting suite, including plan compliance, development and production performance, reconciliation, and unit cost indicators, and ensure reporting is accurate and issued on schedule.
• Ensure mine planning and design software, survey systems, and data management practices are current, well governed, and applied consistently across the team.
• Critique the cost and operating practice of each mining area and translate accepted improvements into updated standards and safe operating procedures.
• Contribute to site strategic planning and technical studies, including expansion, mine life extension, and closure planning inputs.

Required Qualifications & Skills:

• Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering from an accredited institution.
• A minimum of ten (10) years of progressive mine engineering experience, including at least three years supervising technical staff.
• Professional Engineer registration or an equivalent professional designation.
• Prepare, review, and sign off on technical reports, feasibility studies, and mineral resource/reserve estimations as a certified Qualified Person (QP).
• Demonstrated ownership of a mine plan at multiple horizons, from short-range planning through annual budget.
• Working knowledge of open pit mine planning and sequencing, ground control, drill and blast design, and reconciliation.
• Experience contributing to reserve estimation and annual budget preparation.
• Proficiency with mine planning and design software such as Deswik, Vulcan, or Maptek, and with the Microsoft Office suite.
• Working knowledge of federal and state mining and safety legislation and regulations.
• Proven ability to lead, mentor, and train technical professionals.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present technical recommendations to senior management.
• Ability to work safely and to promote safe behavior in others.
• Sets high standards for self and others, builds trust, and takes accountability; approachable, reliable, and team oriented.

Preferred Qualifications & Skills:

• Experience across surface mining operations.
• Prior accountability for a departmental operating and capital budget.
• Experience leading or contributing to technical studies such as prefeasibility, feasibility, or expansion studies.
• Experience implementing or upgrading mine planning software, scheduling systems, or engineering data management platforms.
• Formal leadership or people management training.