Director Metallurgy & Strategic Planning

Why You Should Apply for This Job  

At Freeport-McMoRan, we are committed to providing an employment package that recognizes excellence, encourages safe production and a culture supported by our core values. Here, you’ll find a collaborative environment where safety is a top priority, all opinions are valued, and people are empowered to grow in their career. Apply Today!

 

Where You Will Work    

Our global headquarters is in Phoenix, Arizona. Several hundred employees support global operations in finance, human resources, information technology, planning and more from the main office, satellite offices or online. As a Hybrid employee, you’ll engage in virtual collaboration as well as attend in-person meetings at our Collaboration Hub in Phoenix or at one of our site locations. The Collaboration Hub provides an open, flexible workspace for individuals and teams to come together for various business needs. Amenities at the Hub include a working café, phone booths and meeting rooms with technology tools for virtual and in-person collaboration. In-person attendance may vary based on the position and department requirements. 

Phoenix is the capital of the Grand Canyon State and enjoys mostly bright skies throughout the year. It is the perfect place if you enjoy the outdoors, love sports, concerts and other big city amenities or technology. There are great neighborhoods around Phoenix, with easy access to a major city, nature, the arts and many more amenities.  

Description

This role is focused on driving value by improving the metallurgical performance of current and future Freeport processing plants, in the Americas. Key responsibilities include overseeing ore characterization, forecasting life of mine mill performance (throughput, recovery, and concentrate grades), supporting operations in resolving critical challenges, improving metallurgical performance through plant optimization and debottlenecking, and engaging with Growth Projects to ensure site specific requirements are incorporated. The role involves acting as the Qualified Person (QP) for SEC reporting. Also, the role requires interaction with other internal teams, vendors, and external engineering partners to ensure alignment with process design and automation objectives for plant optimization and debottlenecking activities. Another important aspect is understanding new technology and its Technology Readiness Level (TRL) as Freeport is a company that seeks to leans hard into technology to gain competitive advantage.

• Strategic Planning including:
  • Opportunity identification and framing
  • Converting Opportunities into Projects for execution.
  • Gaining approval for new projects from stakeholders
  • Identifying resources to assist with project execution
• Technology and Innovation
  • Embracing and leaning hard into Technology and Innovation in a way that adds value to the corporation
  • Assessing the strategic fit of various Technology and Innovation and determining whether to frame this as an opportunity.
• Project Execution including:
  • Management of internal and external resources 
  • Accountability for achieving project schedule and cost outcomes
  • Regularly communicating project status and outcomes to stakeholders
• Relationship Building
  • Engagement with personnel at the Americas jobsites 
  • Engagement with personnel across the wider Freeport organization
  • Engagements with vendors, consultants, engineering companies, metallurgical labs
  • Maintaining and expanding a network of contacts in the industry focused on metallurgy and mineral processing
  • Coaching and mentoring of team members assigned to the Director, as well as management of their performance
• Other
  • Preparation and presentation of update material to FCX executive management and external business partners
  • Preparation and presentation of technical materials for patents and conferences
  • Organizing site and other visits

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• BSc or BE with 10 years experience in the mineral processing or engineering related fields
• At least 5 year of experience at a mine site
• Specialized technical expertise in three (3) metallurgy-related areas and good general knowledge in another 4 metallurgy-related areas.  Metallurgical areas include crushing, grinding, flotation, leaching, smelting, hydrometallurgy, liquid-solid separation (including thickening and filtering), tailings, materials handling, process modeling and simulation, statistical analysis, process automation control, sampling and assaying, and metallurgical accounting
• Proficiency in speaking, listening, and writing English
• Ability to travel