Project Support Officer Intern (Students with Autism Spectrum Only)

Perth, WA

About Rio Tinto

Every idea, every innovation, every little thing the world calls ‘progress’ begins witha first step, and someone willing to take it: explorers, inventors, entrepreneurs, pioneers.  For nearly 150 years, Rio Tinto has been a company of pioneers – generations of people spanning the globe, all with the grit and vision to produce materials essential to human progress. 

Our iron ore has shaped skylines from Shanghai to Sydney. Our aluminium – the world’s first to be certified “responsible” – helps planes fly and makes cars lighter. Our copper helps wind turbines power cities, and our boron helps feed the world, and explore the universe. Our diamonds help us celebrate the best parts of life.

The Autism Academy for Software Quality Assurance (AASQA) at Curtin University is an Australian social innovation initiative with the vision of harnessing the special talents of people with autism spectrum for the collective benefit of these individuals, the industry and the wider community. The mission of the AASQA is to enable individuals with autism spectrum to leverage their unique talents through outreach, training and educating, and graduate programs, to create pathways from schools to valued, long-term employment; whilst addressing the business needs of the Australian ICT industry facing challenges in attracting and retaining software and quality assurance testers within the sector.

RioTinto, the ACS Foundation and AASQA are in partnership to support this unique Specialist ACS Foundation WIL scholarship for students with autism and related conditions.

Role Responsibilities include:

• Analyse operational and assets performance data for trends which help the RL&O team focus on key improvement opportunities.
• Support the RL&O team with technical knowledge of the AutoHaul system.
• Develop presentations with simple graphics and data.
• Support a range of internal and external RL&O business improvement projects by using data and statistics.
• Developing and update of operational procedures.

Desired Skills:

• Engineering, Mathematics, IS&T or similar tertiary or TAFE qualification.
• Ability to read and understand technical information.
• Previous work experience would be well regarded.

Key attributes

• Able to work effectively with minimal supervision
• Ability to build positive working relationships
• Embraces a challenge
• Innovative, logical thinker

Our integrated iron ore network is supported by our Operations Centre (OC) in Perth, a state-of-the-art facility that enables all the autonomous trucks, trains and drills at our mines, ports and rail systems to be operated from a single location. The Centre incorporates visualisation and collaboration tools to provide real-time information across our demand chain and allows us to optimise our mining, maintenance and logistic activities across the Pilbara in a way never before possible. Located near the Perth domestic airport, the OC operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to coordinate our integrated network of mines, rail, and ports from 1,500km away.

This internship is open to WA University or TAFE students with Autism. Applicants should be working towards a formal qualification in Engineering, Mathematics, IS&T or similar. We request applicants provide proof of Autism diagnosis as part of their application.

This role amounts to a $17,000 tax-free scholarship for 6 months full-time/pro-rata for part-time

You must an Australian Citizen or Australian Resident and currently studying at a WA University or TAFE  

Every Voice Matters

At Rio Tinto, we particularly welcome and encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women, the LGBTI+ 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.