- Lead leadership and capability development across Rio Tinto Lithium’s global asset footprint, with primary focus on sites in the US, UK and China
- Based in North Carolina, operating in a hybrid model (Charlotte and Bessemer City, three days per week in-office)
- Build and scale the Learning & Development capability, initially as an individual contributor with the opportunity to grow a high‑performing team over time
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
The Senior Adviser L&D plays a critical role in building leadership capability and workforce readiness across Rio Tinto Lithium’s global asset footprint. While anchored in North Carolina, this role supports a geographically dispersed portfolio and balances site‑level execution with broader functional leadership across Lithium operations outside of Argentina. The role includes direct L&D support for the Bessemer City site, alongside oversight of leadership and capability development for sites in the UK and China.
Learning and Development is an essential lever to mitigate operational risk, enable safe and efficient performance, and build the capability required to meet current and future business needs. This role oversees the end-to-end learning lifecycle, including identification of learning needs, design and development of learning solutions, delivery and scheduling, governance of training records, and evaluation of learning effectiveness.
This role is based in North Carolina and operates in a hybrid model, with time split between the Charlotte office and the Bessemer City site. The Senior Adviser works in close partnership with site‑based learning resources and global stakeholders across multiple regions to ensure alignment, consistency, and impact of learning initiatives.
Reporting to the
Manager – Capability Development for Lithium, you will
- Deliver and enable leadership development and workforce capability initiatives across global Lithium sites outside of Argentina
- Directly support lithium site operations, ensuring training and capability initiatives align with site priorities and operational needs
- Lead the design, implementation, and evaluation of learning programs with a strong focus on leadership development, capability uplift, and scalable learning solutions
- Establish and maintain consistent L&D standards, governance, and assurance across geographically diverse operations
- Partner with site and functional leaders to identify capability gaps and implement targeted learning solutions
- Oversee learning systems, processes, and data integrity to ensure compliance with corporate, statutory, and site requirements
- Drive continuous improvement through innovative learning approaches, technology adoption, and data-driven decision making
- Manage learning budgets, ensuring cost-effective and value-adding solutions
- Commence the role as an individual contributor while establishing the foundations to progressively build and scale a Learning & Development team in line with business growt
- Champion safety, inclusion, and leadership excellence through learning strategy and delivery
About You
You are a strategic and people-focused learning leader with the ability to operate effectively across complex, global operations. You bring strong leadership presence, sound judgement, and the ability to influence stakeholders across multiple levels and regions.
You will have
- Minimum 5 years’ experience in Learning and Development or Human Resources, with demonstrated experience delivering end‑to‑end learning solutions
- Experience designing, delivering, and evaluating training programs across diverse or multi‑site environments
- Proven experience in managing teams, including developing staff, providing mentorship, and leading initiatives that drive employee development.
- Ability to manage multiple training projects simultaneously and effectively allocate resources to meet organizational goals.
- Strong ability to align L&D activities with the organization’s overall business strategy and objectives.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to present to senior leadership and a variety of stakeholders
- Analytical skills to assess training effectiveness, learner outcomes, and overall program impact.
- Ability to build relationships across all levels of the organization and work collaboratively with other departments.
Desirable
- Experience supporting or working across global manufacturing or processing operations
- Prior experience managing or mentoring others, or readiness to step into a people‑leadership role in the future as business needs evolve
What We Offer
- Be recognized 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.
- Competitive base salary reflective of your skills and experience with an annual incentive bonus.
- Access to top-tier family-friendly health programs including medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, life insurance coverage, and various voluntary benefits.
- Excellent retirement plan including up to 6% defined company contribution; Generous 401k matching program.
- Attractive share ownership plan.
- Comprehensive leave policies which cover all the moments that matter in life PTO (paid time off), paid holidays, and paid bereavement leave.
- A generous parental leave policy, which ensures you’re able to spend quality time with your new family.
- Discount programs for leisure purposes and access to Virgin Pulse with incentives supporting your wellbeing.
- Access to our Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which provides confidential counselling or expert guidance for you and your family to help get through life’s challenges.
Where you will be working
Rio Tinto Lithium is part of Rio Tinto’s global portfolio of critical minerals, supporting the materials needed for electrification and the energy transition. With operations spanning multiple continents, Lithium plays a pivotal role in enabling sustainable technologies worldwide.
Applications close on May 8 2026 (Rio Tinto reserves the right to remove advertised roles prior to this date).
Please note, to be successfully considered for this role all application questions must be answered.
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 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.
