Principal Advisor - Trade Working Capital (Commercial Finance)

Principal Advisor - Trade Working Capital (Commercial Finance) – Fixed Term

Why explore

• An opportunity to work on shaping and delivering the key priorities for one of the world’s largest companies - finding better ways to provide the materials the world needs
• Work in a collaborative and fast paced environment
• Engage and influence senior leaders
• Fixed term 12-months

About the role

​We are looking for an experienced Principal Advisor Projects to join the Commercial Finance team. This role is a great opportunity for an experienced professional to drive a high impact project as part of a large, dynamic and complex business. Proven engagement and influencing skills, project management experience and demonstrated ability to run financial analysis are crucial to be successful in this role.

Reporting to the Senior Manager Finance Business Partner – Iron Ore & Copper, you will drive the coordination and execution of the Trade Working Capital (TWC) improvement program for the Copper and Iron Ore Product Groups. Key responsibilities include:

• Coordinate the end‑to‑end rhythm of the TWC Working Group, ensuring clear preparation, alignment, follow‑through on actions and governance.
• Partner with the business on the TWC analysis and evolution to understand the underlying trends and drivers and aligning on optimal levels of TWC
• Drive initiative pipeline management by supporting ideation, shaping proposals, trade-off reviews and tracking progress across streams.
• Ensure initiative visibility and escalation pathways to maintain high ambition and contribution towards the Product Group’s TWC targets.
• Facilitate deep dives and cross‑stream problem‑solving to remove roadblocks and maintain momentum on value delivery.
• Proactively partner with key stakeholders and initiative owners across the Product Groups to ensure high-quality inputs, prioritisation and robust value cases.
• Lead TWC analysis, insights, identify risks and trends.
• Maintain strong governance by coordinating templates, communication and weekly drumbeats.
• Proactively identify opportunities and recommend areas of improvement.

Key interfaces / works closely with:

• Product Group GMs across various streams such as Finance, Sales & Marketing, Operations, Procurement
• Various Product Group stakeholders
• Finance Business Partners
• Project Sponsors – Copper and Iron Ore PG CFO, Commercial CFO, VP Copper Sales & Marketing, VP Iron Ore Sales & Marketing

About you

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

Bachelor and/or professional qualifications.
10+ years + significant finance experience within a global organisation.
Project Management and/or strategy consulting expertise.
Experience effectively managing and influencing a diverse range of stakeholders.
Strong acumen for analysis, commercial and business improvement.
Demonstrated analytical thinking capability.
Capacity to work autonomously.
Ability to simplify complex problems and present in written and oral modes to senior management.

Where you will be working

Our Commercial function at Rio Tinto connects our product groups, customers and suppliers from mine to market. We bring together Sales & Marketing and Trading (Sell), Global Procurement (Buy), and Marine & Logistics (Move) to buy, sell and move the materials the world needs, by partnering across the value chain to optimise outcomes for our customers and the Group. Headquartered in our global Commercial hub in Singapore, and with a strong presence in Chicago, Frankfurt, Antwerp and across Asia in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul, we work as one team to deliver customer centric value, safely and sustainably.
Work at the heart of our global Commercial hub in Singapore, partnering cross‑functionally across Buy, Sell and Move to shape strategy and deliver mine‑to‑market value around the world.