Your New Company

Our client, Vale Base Metals, is a global mining company dedicated to safely producing nickel, copper, cobalt, and platinum group metals—critical resources powering the world’s energy transition.

With a mission to improve lives and shape a better future together, Vale Base Metals plays a vital role in modern life. Their metals are found in everyday technologies, life‑saving medical equipment, and the electric vehicles advancing climate‑change solutions.

With more than 15,000 employees worldwide, the organization operates across Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and Japan. They are committed to transforming critical minerals into long‑term prosperity and sustainable development—making this an opportunity to contribute to work that truly matters.

Your New Role

We are currently seeking a Manager, IT Planning & Business Partnership – Exploration, Mining, Geotech, Processing & R&D; to join our Information Technology (IT) function in Toronto or Sudbury, Ontario or potential to work from Vale's Brazil office. This is a newly created, strategic role designed to strengthen how IT supports our global engineering and scientific functions.

This opportunity is ideal for a professional with a strong engineering or scientific background (geology, mining, metallurgical engineering, or related fields) who thrives at the intersection of IT, digital technologies, data, analytics, AI, and engineering.

In this role, you will serve as the primary IT business partner for Exploration, Mining, Geotechnical, Processing, Metallurgy, Mine Planning, and R&D; functions—ensuring that technology investments solve the right problems and deliver measurable business value.

About You:

- Strong communication and storytelling skills, essential for working with diverse global stakeholders
- Thought leadership. Ability to challenge conventional thinking and usage of digital technologies and strategic mindset with the ability to translate business priorities into clear IT, digital, data and analytics initiatives
- Hands-on experience and interest in building digital systems, IT systems, data, analytics and AI capabilities
- Build and maintain deep relationships and knowledge of the business, being embedded in the business to have a profound understanding of the business's strategy, roadmap, and pressing challenges, being able to influence leadership level
- Understanding of how data and AI drive innovation in science and engineering heavy business areas
- Proven experience leading demand management, investment prioritization, and governance routines
- A collaborative, curious,



and customer‑centric approach to problem solving.
- Act as the primary IT business partner for Exploration, Mining, Geotech, Processing, Metallurgy, Mine Planning, and R&D;
- Support the core mining value chain globally, ensuring technology initiatives align with operational and strategic priorities
- Build deep understanding of business strategies, processes, systems, and challenges to proactively identify digital opportunities
- Shape and manage demand intake, prioritization, and multi year roadmaps, considering budget and resource constraints
- Develop, champion, and track business cases for IT, digital, data and AI initiatives
- Lead IT governance forums for Engineering Functions and represent the function in broader IT steering committees
- Proactively propose solutions to the business avoiding software and other digital technologies sprawl, increasing complexity, cost and risk with no clear business value
- Develop and champion experiments and scaling of successful pilot projects and technologies.
- Drive value realization by tracking advantages and ensuring required business and technology changes occur
- Partner with IT, AI & Analytics delivery, PMO, and operations teams to ensure effective solution design and execution
- Partner with the company scientists and engineers in building digital IP where relevant and valuable
- Ensure alignment with enterprise IT strategy, architecture standards, and governance frameworks
- Hold IT accountable for delivery against agreed service levels, timelines, outcomes and ensure IT initiatives receive the right level of support and sponsorship from the business
- Maintain visibility of IT related business risks, audit findings, and remediation actions
- Guide business to ensure day-to-day operations needs are addressed by IT Operations through the proper IT delivery channels.

Education:

- Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline, such as:
- Mining Engineering
- Mineral / Metallurgical Processing
- Geological Engineering, Geoscience, or Exploration‑
- Other closely related technical disciplines

Experience:

- 11–15 years of progressive experience in mining & metals, or other heavy industries like Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Energy or Manufacturing.




- Experience or background in one of the following areas:
- Exploration or Geoscience
- Mining Engineering or Mine Planning
- Mineral Processing or Metallurgy
- Demonstrated experience partnering with IT, AI & Analytics delivery teams to ensure technical solutions selection and successful project implementation at scale
- Experience developing and executing multi‑year technology or digital roadmaps
- Proven capability in building relationships and influencing at leadership level, budget management, governance, and value realization
- Willingness and ability to travel frequently to our exploration, mining and refining sites.

Skills:

- Experience delivering IT, Tech, Data, Analytics and AI solutions with good understanding of how digital technologies are enabling productivity and innovation in scientific and engineering areas.
- Engineering experience with Geology, Geoscience, Minning Engineering and/or Metallurgical Engineering or related technical fields ideally in global heavy industry company (Mining & Metals, Oil & Gas, Chemicals etc.)
- Ability to build a multi-year digital technology roadmap, and secure sponsorship and support from all required stakeholders to approve funding and execution
- Experience controlling budget and tracking value realization. Experience with LEAN concepts.
- Customer centricity and ability to ensure service levels are meet as agreed with the business.
- Ability to communicate value of digital technology in business KPIs and terms
- Creative problem solver, able to understand business strategy and needs and proactively identify digital solutions
- Verbal and written skills to effectively convey complex IT concepts to non-technical stakeholders
- Fluent in English; Portuguese is a strong asset
- Exposure to tools such as Deswik, Leapfrog, or similar mining & metals industry software is beneficial.

What We Offer You

- Competitive compensation including a variable annual incentive plan
- Participation in a competitive Defined Contribution Pension package
- Comprehensive benefits package (company paid core coverage, health and dental coverage, flex accounts, disability plans and optional insurances)
- Leave for all of life’s reasons (vacation, personal, sick, parental)
- Work culture dedicated to safety, diversity & inclusion, and career growth
- Employee Family Assistance Program
- Virtual Healthcare online
- Online Training and career development opportunities

Interested?

Let's Talk! Email or call (phone hidden) to learn more. Know someone perfect for this role? Please share this opportunity!

📌 Manager, IT Planning & Business Partnership – Exploration, Mining, Geotech, Processing & R&D (Toronto)
🏢 Hays
📍 Toronto