Principal Adviser Exploration

• Play a critical hands-on role in enabling Greenfields exploration success across Australia

• Enjoy regular travel leading technical, logistics and operational activities across a broad project portfolio

• Join an exceptionally caring and respectful team who lead with high work ethics and values

• Permanent employment based in Brisbane, Australia

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

Are you ready to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Rio Tinto Exploration?

As Principal Adviser Exploration, you will lead geoscience teams in technical/operational and field activities in a hands-on capacity, ensuring the safe design, management, and delivery of in-field exploration programs. Supporting the Manager III Exploration, you’ll contribute to both strategic planning and tactical execution and collaborate across Rio Tinto’s internal teams.

We are an open, connected global team that includes some of the industry’s best and brightest minds. We offer competitive, performance-focused remuneration and a wide range of benefits to reward your contribution. With a global reach, the opportunities to develop and grow your career are broad and exciting.

Reporting to the Manager Exploration and leading a small team of Geoscientists as part of the Exploration ARR function, you will:

• Lead exploration programmes from initial concept through to execution, ensuring alignment with RTX Internal KPIs and strategy

• Plan and communicate team activities, results, and requests to management

• Maintain project schedules and budgets, ensuring robust systems and processes for safe delivery of exploration outcomes

• Monitor tenement expenditure and secure tenure, attending monthly meetings

• Foster strong collaboration with Generative and Technical teams, removing barriers to cross-team cooperation

• Develop and mentor junior team members, supporting their career advancement

• Draft safety plans, lead safety assessments and audits, and champion a culture of care and curiosity

• Prepare management presentations and biweekly reports

• Build positive relationships with Traditional Owners and land holders

What you will bring

We’re looking for someone who is diligent, well organised and can thrive in a fast-paced environment. You will also bring strong influencing and communication skills when working with our stakeholders. This role requires a genuine commitment to maintaining a physically and psychologically safe workplace, while fostering collaboration and teamwork across different areas of the business.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Geoscience or equivalent (postgraduate qualifications in geoscience, management, or economics highly regarded)

• A current Australian driver’s licence

• Proven ability to lead and partner with multidisciplinary teams

• Demonstrated hands-on leadership skills with the ability to guide and support diverse teams working remotely

• Demonstrated experience in Traditional Owner and land holder liaisons

• Experience in evaluating, planning, and executing exploration programmes from initial concept through to target testing.

• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with geoscience, project and contractor stakeholders

• High level of flexibility and willingness to travel extensively and work extended field rotations

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 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)

• Possible domestic relocation assistance

Rio Tinto Exploration

Rio Tinto Exploration seeks to create value for the business by discovering or acquiring new mineral resources. Organised into three regional teams (Americas, Australasia, and Africa-Eurasia), the Exploration group provides both a global reach and a local presence across a range of commodities including bauxite, copper, iron ore, and lithium.

Where you’ll be working

This is a Brisbane based role with regular travel to site. Whilst the role includes a rotating roster, you will also hold the flexibility to attend adhoc extended field-time.

Applications close on 25th September 2026 (Rio Tinto reserves the right to remove advertised roles prior to this date).

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.