Advisor Comm & External Affairs – Africa at Rio Tinto

Reporting to the Corporate Affairs Business Partner – Africa, you will: 

• Be responsible for supporting the implementation of corporate communications (including media, digital, employee communications and brand) and external affairs activities to protect and enhance Rio Tinto’s reputation, with a focus on key markets in Africa.
• Support proactive and reactive issues management with communications plans and corporate materials.
• Work in close coordination with colleagues within the team to ensure alignment and delivery of key deliverables.
• Provide project and event management support externally (including conferences, meetings and forums).
• Support in proactively and consistently managing stakeholder expectations, including managing external partners and vendors when relevant, helping ensure quality, timeliness and effective delivery against objectives.
• Support the coordination and development of relevant communication content, collateral and schedules.
• Research and prepare materials including briefs, presentations and key analysis reports.
• Together with the media team, support media relations initiatives within the region and monitor traditional and social media, including the identification and tracking of trends for key markets in coordination with other teams.
• Provide guidance and support to Rio Tinto Africa site teams in the development and execution of communications objectives to build site-based capacity.

What you’ll bring

• A commitment to safety for yourself and team.
• University degree in Communication, Journalism, Media or other related relevant degree. 
• Five Years or more experience working within an External Affairs and/or Corporate Communications environment.
• Proficient English (in addition, French proficiency would be an advantage).
• Strong research, writing, and editing skills to create effective and compelling content for a wide range of audiences and channels.
• Proven ability to engage with and communicate issues across external and internal stakeholders.
• Highly motivated and strong people engagement skills – empathetic and excellent listening skills.
• Drive, determination, creativity and ambition to make things happen.
• Experience working independently and as part of a team, exercising sound judgement, and managing multiple on-going projects while meeting critical deadlines is essential.
• Experience working on complex projects with multiple stakeholders, including reputational risks, will be advantageous.
• Experience in navigating complex stakeholder relationships, developing relationships and secure influence.