Corporate Counsel

Corporate Counsel

• Join our global leading business offering outstanding personal development & global career opportunities
• Extend your legal expertise to the Exploration management team in North America
• Flexible working - to suit your family life

About the role 

Finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs. 

We are looking for a Corporate Counsel to provide legal support and strategic advice to the Rio Tinto Exploration North Americas team. This is a great opportunity for a legal professional to play a key role in executing core business strategy and provide legal services and expertise of the highest standards to the Rio Tinto Group, at a corporate level as well as in support of activities on the ground.

Reporting to the General Counsel, this role will provide support to the regional Exploration team in North America. You will also be: 

• Supporting the Regional Exploration Team's Leadership in North America
• Providing timely and commercially focused advice and assistance in managing the legal aspects and risks of the regional Exploration team's business objectives, monitoring compliance with changing government legislation and regulation, management of critical incidents, and general legal support to the regional Exploration team's support functions across the US and Canada
• Drafting and negotiating arrangements with third parties including earn in and farm in agreements, joint venture agreements, option agreements, acquisition and divestment agreements and land access arrangements (including with indigenous groups and communities)
• Support with permitting, tenure, approvals and land access matters
• Support exploration activities on engagement and agreement making with indigenous groups
• Support local exploration activities covering various commercial agreements such as services, drilling, rental, transport and consultancy agreements
• Provision of corporate governance support for regional Exploration entities
• Leading dispute resolution and litigation (major litigation will be handled by the Rio Tinto Litigation Team)
• Providing training to the Exploration Team on a range of issues
• Cost effective management of external legal resources in multiple jurisdictions
• Ability to manage and prioritise multiple matters effectively
• Maintaining awareness of, and advising on, relevant external legal developments and trends
• Developing and maintaining close working relationships with the Regional Exploration Team members, other members of the Rio Tinto Legal, Governance and Corporate Affairs group globally, as well as related functions

What you'll bring

To be successfully considered for this role, you will have:

• Law degree with admittance to practice 
• 10+ years of post-qualification experience as a legal practitioner in the relevant area of law or industry in particularly North America
• Comprehensive written and verbal English skills with French language skills a bonus
• Appreciation of and experience working/negotiating with people from different cultures
• The ability to work independently and to use your internal and external network to supplement your own skills and expertise where needed
• Strong problem solving, strategic and analytical capability, as well as commercial acumen
• Effective time management and personal organisational skills
• Demonstrated ability to develop strong working relationships
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Strategic decision making with a demonstrated ability to influence and negotiate

What we offer  

We are committed to providing our employees with a generous benefits package. Be recognized for your contribution, your thinking, your hard work, and go home knowing you've helped the world progress, we provide: 

• A safety-focused and inclusive working environment 
• Advantageous salary package with annual cash incentive awards (STIP) for eligible employees
• 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 
• Generous Rio Tinto employee share program, which allows you to purchase Rio Tinto Company shares. 
• Comprehensive leave policies which cover all moments that matter in life: PTO (paid time off), paid holidays, and paid bereavement leave.
• A favorable child-caregiver leave program (Up to 100% salary top-up) 
• Discount programs for leisure purposes and access to Virgin Pulse with incentives supporting your wellbeing 
• Ongoing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for you and your family; to help in addressing educational opportunities, addiction treatment, depression, stress, domestic issues, financial management, and legal concerns.
• Our team and industry experts are here to support and work with you to explore your learning potential and career goals

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 and meet opportunities. 

Where you'll be working 

Rio Tinto's Exploration group 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 copper, iron ore, nickel, uranium and diamonds. This role supports the North America region with the head office in Salt Lake City and other offices and sites in multiple locations across the region including Vancouver. You will be based in Salt Lake City or Vancouver, and be able to travel as reasonably required.

Every Voice Matters 

At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, women, the LGBTQ+ community, mature workers, people with disabilities and people from different cultural backgrounds. 

Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V

Rio Tinto participates in E-Verify to confirm work authorization. Please visit http://www.uscis.gov/ for more information.

We are committed to an inclusive environment where people feel comfortable being 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.