Crew Lead at Rio Tinto Lithium

About Rio Tinto: Rio Tinto is a leading global mining and materials company. We operate in 35 countries where we produce iron ore, copper, aluminum, 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 and meet opportunities.

About Rio Tinto Lithium: On 5 March 2025, Rio Tinto completed the acquisition of Arcadium Lithium and combined it with its Rincon asset to form Rio Tinto Lithium, establishing Rio Tinto as a global leader in the supply of energy transition materials and one of the world’s top lithium producers. 

Position Summary: Responsible for the safe and efficient day to day operation of the area.  Oversees crew to ensure safe plant operations, effective execution of plan, and regulatory compliance in the manufacture of chemical products.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Qualified to back fill operator positions during shift as needed.
• Establishing an effective team level short interval controls to drive shift performance.
• Manage team productivity to established work and capacity standards to achieve weekly and daily plans.
• Set and communicate shift goals and targets to achieve daily plans.
• Ensure close communication and coordination of team activities to other crews.
• Responsible to coordinate unplanned coverage.
• Responsible to ensure Safe Operation of the processes.
• Responsible to execute EHS process and environmental daily checks.
• Respond to incidents, perform initial investigation steps.
• Responsible to escalate safety, environment, production, and equipment issues to the appropriate personnel.
• Qualified as IC or OO for PERT.
• Perform daily safety inspections including environmental.
• Ensure employees adhere to training requirements, including PERT, Regulatory, and job required.
• Ensure crew has adequately trained personnel to perform activities to support operations. (i.e.. Manlift certified, CSE certification, Hydroblasting certified, etc.) 
• Intervene when unsafe acts or conditions are encountered.
• Ensure Production to Plan.  Allocating employees to process as needed and evaluating production lost time to include troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
• Provides input to Production Lead as to performance development of crew.
• Lead and participate in the evaluation, testing, and training of operation staff. 
• Responsible to execute maintenance plan.
• Responsible to ensure employees follow SOP’s.
• Responsible to make himself available to quality auditors.
• Ensure required product samples are done during shift.
• Accountable for OEE entry.
• Responsible for shift reports and effective shift turnover to include leading the start of shift safety huddle.
• Responsible to enter maintenance notifications.
• Accountable for team members ITP execution.
• Lead shift turnover meeting with oncoming or outgoing crew to communicate status and if necessary, the path forward to overcome production failures.

Education and Experience: 

• Minimum of a GED or high school diploma, two years of college is highly desired; a four-year degree in a technical discipline is preferred 
• Minimum of three years manufacturing or engineering experience leadership experience must include exposure to production and process functions.

Knowledge and Skill Requirements:

• General working knowledge of plant engineering, human resources practices, quality assurance practices, and environmental management.  
• Experience in Manufacturing software, Human Resources systems; MS Office, and ISO 9000.

Safety Requirements: (position and location specific) All employees are expected to carry out their work functions in a healthy and safe manner, to encourage and support safe work practices at all times, and to report and/or rectify any unsafe conditions that may come to their attention immediately.

Physical Demands: (position and location specific) 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. While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to sit and talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to walk and use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee is occasionally required to stand; climb or balance and taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to [10] pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and color vision.

Work Environment: (position and location specific) The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is frequently exposed to toxic or caustic chemicals. The employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions; moving mechanical parts; fumes or airborne particles and outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Personal Protective Equipment – (position specific) Must wear PPE as required based on job duties or when traveling to locations where PPE is essential.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

RIO TINTO LITHIUM employs people across a broad range of occupations in locations across the world. We are looking for people to join us in creating, developing, and improving our products, our processes, and our markets. Employees enjoy competitive compensation, a menu of work/life benefits and opportunities to continue developing their skills and building their career. 

RIO TINTO LITHIUM is an Equal Opportunity Employer, EEO, AAE, MFDV and supports a drug free workplace.