Principal Mine Planning Engineer

Compass Minerals, Inc.; Louisiana; On-site; USD 110,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Compass Minerals in the United States seeks a Principal Mine Planning Engineer, the senior technical authority for underground mine planning to ensure safety, practicality, and compliance while aligning plans with production, safety, and business objectives.

You will lead multidisciplinary planning teams, integrate geology, geotechnical data, ventilation, utilities, and equipment constraints, and convert strategic plans into executable, sequenced operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mining or related field required.
• 10 years of underground mining experience with increasing technical responsibility.
• Advanced proficiency in underground mine planning for short-term, mid-range and life-of-mine planning.
• Proficiency in mine planning, surveying, AutoCAD, ventilation modeling, and related software (Deswik, Maptek, Leica Geosystems, GPS, VnetPC, Ventsim, AggFlow).
• Strong data literacy; experience querying databases and building dashboards in Power BI.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior technical authority for underground mine planning and provide independent judgment for plans.
• Lead engineers, surveyors, technicians, interns, and contractors in mine planning development and execution.
• Develop, optimize, and govern mine plans integrating geology, ventilation, utilities, equipment capabilities, and constraints.
• Direct mine design activities, including development layouts, sequencing, pillar design, and supporting infrastructure.
• Provide oversight of underground utilities and systems to ensure safety, compliance, and feasibility.
• Convert strategic plans into actionable execution plans that operations can implement.
• Interface between mine planning and execution to ensure plan clarity and feasibility.
• Facilitate technical reviews and planning forums to identify risks and constraints.

Skills

Data literacy

Power BI

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Mining Engineering/Geotechnical Engineering/Geology or related field

Tools

AutoCAD

Deswik

Maptek

Leica Geosystems

GPS

VnetPC

Ventsim

AggFlow

Job description

We invite you to Explore the Potential of being part of something Clearly Essential!

Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP) is a leading global provider of essential minerals focused on safely delivering where and when it matters to help solve nature’s challenges for customers and communities. The company’s salt products help keep roadways safe during winter weather and are used in numerous other consumer, industrial, chemical and agricultural applications. Its plant nutrition products help improve the quality and yield of crops while supporting sustainable agriculture. Compass Minerals operates 11 production and packaging facilities with more than 1,800 employees throughout the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Visit compassminerals.com for more information about the company and its products.

Summary

The Principal Mine Planning Engineer is the senior technical authority for underground mine planning, responsible for the integrity, optimization, and execution-readiness of short-term, mid‑range, and life‑of‑mine plans.

This role provides strategic and operational leadership for a large underground mining operation, ensuring mine plans are safe, practical, compliant, and aligned with production, safety, and business objectives. The position leads multidisciplinary planning teams, integrates technical disciplines, and serves as the primary interface between strategic planning and day‑to‑day execution.

Essential Job Functions

Included but not limited to the following:

• Serve as the senior technical authority for underground mine planning, providing independent expert judgment, technical direction, and assurance for short-term, mid-range, and life-of-mine plans.
• Lead and mentor engineers, surveyors, technicians, interns, and technical contractors in the development and execution of mine plans and planning strategies.
• Develop, optimize, and technically govern mine plans that integrate geology, geotechnical conditions, ventilation, utilities, equipment capabilities, and operational constraints.
• Direct and technically govern mine design activities, including development layouts, sequencing, pillar design, and supporting infrastructure.
• Provide technical oversight of underground utilities and systems—including ventilation, atmospheric monitoring, power, water, compressed air, and communications—to ensure regulatory compliance, safety, and execution feasibility.
• Convert strategic and long-range mine plans into actionable, clearly sequenced execution plans that operations can reliably implement.
• Serve as the primary interface between mine planning and execution, ensuring plans are clearly communicated, understood, and executable by operations and frontline leadership.
• Facilitate technical syndication of mine plans across operations, maintenance, safety, leadership, and other stakeholders to ensure alignment, feasibility, and shared ownership.
• Facilitate and participate in technical reviews, planning forums, and execution-readiness discussions to proactively identify risks, conflicts, and constraints prior to implementation.
• Apply advanced analytics, scenario modeling, and trade‑off studies to optimize mine design, sequencing, production rates, recovery and capital efficiency.
• Support ground control inspection, monitoring, and risk mitigation programs in collaboration with geotechnical teams.
• Support exploration programs, including drilling, seismic activities, and geologic modeling; contribute to mineral resource and reserve estimation and validation.
• Assess plan performance through reconciliation and variance analysis; integrate lessons learned and operational feedback into continuous plan improvement.
• Create and sustain high‑quality planning deliverables, including schedules, layouts, models, and technical documentation that clearly articulate design intent and assumptions.
• Guide production scheduling and mine services planning while driving continuous improvement in planning processes.
• Identify, assess, and elevate planning‑driven risks and constraints that may impact safety, production, schedule, or capital outcomes; lead mitigation planning in collaboration with stakeholders.
• Lead or contribute to capital projects related to underground development and infrastructure upgrades.
• Act as a key contributor to annual budgeting, forecasting, long‑range capital planning, and resource and reserve reporting.
• Enforce compliance with safety standards, regulatory requirements, and company engineering practices while optimizing operational and economic outcomes.

(Management reserves the right to add or modify the duties and responsibilities at any time.)

Minimum Required Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mining Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Geology, or a related discipline, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 10 years of progressive experience in underground mining operations with increasing technical responsibility.
• Demonstrated expertise in short‑term, mid‑range, and life‑of‑mine planning for underground operations.
• Demonstrated advanced proficiency in mine planning tools and methodologies, with emphasis on planning quality and design support rather than software operation alone.
• Proficiency in mine planning, surveying, AutoCAD, ventilation modeling, and related software (e.g., Deswik, Maptek, Leica Geosystems, GPS, VnetPC, Ventsim, and AggFlow).
• Strong data literacy; experience querying databases and building dashboards and analytics in Power BI.

Preferred

• Professional Engineer (PE) license.
• Experience managing and/or mentoring technical teams.
• Experience managing a salaried and hourly workforce.
• Experience working in unionized environments.

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Ability to walk up to 2 miles over uneven underground and surface terrain.
• Ability to wear required personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Ability to stoop, kneel, crouch, climb ladders, and crawl in confined or restricted spaces.
• Ability to lift and/or move up to 10 pounds routinely and up to 50 pounds occasionally.
• Vision abilities include close vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Periodic work in hoists, shafts, and underground mine environments involving close‑quarters conditions, limited clearance, vertical access, and exposure to hot, humid, dusty, and noisy conditions.
• Perform indoor and outdoor work in adverse weather conditions.

Compass Minerals is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are firmly committed to making all employment‑related decisions without regard to race, ancestry, ethnicity, color, religious creed or belief, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy and breastfeeding), age, military or veteran status, status as a qualified individual with a disability, genetic information, and any other characteristic protected by law. Learn more about equal employment opportunity laws at dol.gov . April 2026

Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.