Senior Advisor Programme Governance & Compliance

We are looking for a Senior Advisor Programme Governance & Compliance to support legal, mandate and agreement compliance activities across Traditional Owner Partnerships.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who enjoys working at the intersection of legal, compliance and programme delivery. You will play a key role supporting the tracking and coordination of agreement obligations, mandate conditions, decision records, assurance evidence and legal risk inputs, helping ensure commitments are clearly understood, appropriately documented and delivered in line with approved positions.

Working closely with Legal, Agreement Making, Engagement, Heritage, Finance and operational teams, you will help strengthen compliance discipline, improve the quality of legal and governance records, and support consistent decision-making across a complex and evolving portfolio.

Reporting to the Manager TOP Governance & Improvement , you will:

Support legal, mandate and agreement compliance activities across Traditional Owner Partnerships

Monitor compliance with approved mandates, agreement commitments, governance frameworks, decision rights and escalation pathways

Maintain accurate records of decisions, obligations, legal inputs, action registers, risk registers and issue registers

Prepare briefing notes, decision papers, compliance updates and governance materials for leadership and legal review forums

Coordinate reporting across agreement making, implementation, engagement, heritage, legal, finance and risk workstreams

Maintain dashboards and trackers covering agreement obligations, mandate conditions, decision status, risks, issues, dependencies and assurance actions

Support compliance assurance activities, internal reviews, audits and legal risk management processes

Manage evidence, documentation and record keeping to support legal, compliance and assurance requirements

Track assurance actions, compliance improvements and legal review actions through to completion

Coordinate inputs from Agreement Making, Engagement, Heritage, Legal and Finance teams to support compliant agreement delivery

Support continuous improvement of compliance tools, templates, reporting routines, legal records and ways of working

Build trusted relationships with Traditional Owner groups, Prescribed Body Corporates and internal stakeholders to support clear, consistent and compliant outcomes

A commitment to the safety of yourself and your team

Experience in legal support, compliance, assurance, risk management, contract administration, corporate governance or programme governance within a complex organisation

Demonstrated ability to coordinate compliance processes, legal inputs, decision records and reporting routines across multiple stakeholders

Strong understanding of compliance frameworks, decision rights, escalation mechanisms, accountability structures and record keeping requirements

Experience maintaining obligations registers, action tracking systems, compliance evidence and assurance records

Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify compliance gaps, legal risks, emerging issues and opportunities to strengthen controls

Excellent written communication skills with the ability to prepare briefing notes, compliance papers, legal review materials, reports and executive updates

Strong organisational capability with the ability to manage competing priorities, confidential information and multiple compliance deliverables

Experience working respectfully and effectively with Traditional Owner groups, Prescribed Body Corporates or diverse stakeholder groups will be highly regarded

Continuous improvement mindset with a focus on strengthening compliance effectiveness, legal record quality and programme discipline

You will join the Traditional Owner Partnerships Governance & Improvement team, supporting legal, compliance and programme delivery outcomes across a broad portfolio of Traditional Owner agreements, commitments and initiatives.

Working closely with Agreement Making, Engagement, Heritage, Legal, Finance and operational teams, you will help coordinate compliance routines, strengthen decision-making records and improve visibility of agreement obligations, legal risk, programme performance and delivery outcomes.

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.