Principal Adviser, Civil Society and Outreach

• Exciting opportunity to be part of a new team within Rio Tinto, playing a vital role in Rio Tinto’s future strategy and culture change
• Play a pivotal role in engagement with civil society for Rio Tinto globally and with colleagues in key geographies
• Build leadership experience in responsible business and ESG
• London based with travel

About the role

All progress begins with pioneers. At Rio Tinto, it begins with you.

The Civil Society and Outreach team sits within Rio Tinto’s newly configured External Affairs function and reflects changing societal and stakeholder expectations of the role of business. Its establishment is one of the wide-ranging changes in strategy (as released in October 2021) and company culture following the Juukan Gorge incident. Civil society organisations of all kinds are paying close attention to mining, and mining companies such as Rio Tinto, especially as the race for critical minerals accelerates. Understanding civil society’s perspectives and where possible partnering with them to solve problems is a growing imperative for the company and an aspect of Rio Tinto’s commitment to having impeccable ESG credentials and building our social license.

The aim of the Civil Society and Outreach team is to foster positive relationships and interchange between the company and non-governmental entities in order to build trust and secure our license to operate around the world. We maintain a wide range of relationships with key organisations relevant to our operations and to the mining sector, aiming to listen and understand how Rio Tinto is perceived, to address emerging risks and find opportunities for partnership. We hold in depth dialogues on thematic issues and asset specific issues as needed by the business to hear from civil society organisations – both from critics and those who want to partner for change.

This role, within the Civil Society & Outreach team would support the development and implementation of a strengthened approach to civil society engagement and outreach across Rio Tinto’s global business operations. Reporting to the Chief Adviser for Civil Society & Outreach, the responsibilities of the role include:

• Leading the approach to ‘dialogue’ with civil society at global and asset level. Take the lead in overseeing the development of an approach to civil society dialogue across the business, bringing in best practice and expertise such as in facilitation, consultation and mediation.
• Managing the preparation and running of the currently annual Civil Society Roundtables to facilitate dialogue between civil society stakeholders and Rio Tinto’s top leadership. These are likely to take place in Australia, North America and Europe in October 2022.
• Tracking civil society developments across Asia as they relate to Rio Tinto, supporting colleagues involved in civil society engagement at specific assets (eg. Mongolia), and supporting work on civil society engagement related to transparency and environment issues or other themes as needed.
• Researching, advising and briefing Rio Tinto’s senior leaders on civil society issues.
• Managing key team processes: event planning; maintaining core written assets (presentations, briefing packs); knowledge management; tracking civil society outreach; writing briefs and meeting records; corporate reporting on civil society.

What you’ll bring

• Experience of successfully managing relationships with multiple, diverse civil society partners and internal and external stakeholders
• Experienced in and qualified to lead and advise on complex negotiations and to facilitate dialogues (highly desirable)
• Previous experience in the mining sector or multinational company with comparable stakeholder challenges (highly desirable)
• Ability to exercise sound judgment in dealing with complex issues and their relevant geographical and political contexts, ideally in a corporate context
• Demonstrable experience of acting as a trusted adviser to senior leaders
• Strong operational delivery experience, including effective management of stakeholder events and team processes
• Excellent analytical and communication skills, including the ability to produce written material for publication to a high standard
• Relevant degree or professional qualification
• A collaborative team player, who brings energy and creativity to solving problems and building new solutions and approaches
• Demonstrated commitment to helping businesses improve performance in relation to social and environmental issues and climate.
• Applications from candidates with first hand experience of one of the jurisdictions where Rio Tinto currently operates, or from indigenous communities are especially welcome.

About External Affairs

• Reporting to the Group Legal Office and External Affairs, the External Affairs (EA) function has accountability for engaging external stakeholders to positively shape Rio Tinto’s policy and regulatory environment, enhance our competitive position and build trusted partnerships in priority markets around the world.
• With teams and country offices located in Africa, Canada, the European Union the UK and US, the EA function has responsibility for delivering value adding and commercially focussed advocacy with stakeholders including governments, regulators, think tanks, civil society, industry associations, customers and suppliers. Working in collaboration with the Communications and Communities and Social Performance (CSP) teams, External Affairs seeks to drive Rio Tinto’s global reputation and build trusted partnerships that support our communities, our shareholders and drive shared value.
• External Affairs seek to embody Rio Tinto’s company values of Care, Courage and Curiosity, which underpin the way we manage the economic, social and environmental effects of our operations, and how we govern our business.

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 competitive salary package with annual cash incentive awards for eligible employees
• Career development & education assistance to further your ambitions
• Access top tier family-friendly health and medical programs and pension plan
• Wellbeing benefits
• Generous Rio Tinto employee share program
• Employee Assistance Program
• Ongoing individual wellbeing support for you and your family for personal and

About Rio Tinto

Every idea, every innovation, every little thing the world calls ‘progress’ begins with a first step, and someone willing to take it: explorers, inventors, entrepreneurs. Pioneers. For nearly 150 years, Rio Tinto has been a company of pioneers – generations of people spanning the globe, all with the grit and vision to produce materials essential to human progress. Our iron ore has shaped skylines from Shanghai to Sydney. Our aluminium – the world’s first to be certified “responsible” – helps planes fly and makes cars lighter. Our copper helps wind turbines power cities and our boron helps feed the world, and explore the universe. Our diamonds help us celebrate the best parts of life.

Every Voice Matters

At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, women, the LGBTQIA+ 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.

Process

To Apply:

• Please submit a CV, naming two professional referees; and
• A cover letter of up to 900 words on the subject of: “What are the key ingredients of meaningful dialogue between a company and civil society to solve a societal problem, using a case study from mining or another context to illustrate; and why you are the right person for this role?”.
• Deadline for applications midnight on 31st July 2022. Interviews will take place during the week of 8th and 15th August 2022.