Job type – Permanent

Location – Cardiff office but remote (UK national or International) working options available. Travel overseas is expected as part of the role

Salary - £28,000 - £35,000 depending on experience

About SRK Consulting

Mining is essential to provide the materials for modern life. These materials are needed to support farming, healthcare, water supply, technology and increasingly, for renewable energy opportunities. SRK Consulting seeks to support the industry to extract natural resources in a sustainable way that benefits the environment and society.

SRK Consulting is a specialist mining consultancy, focused on adding value to the mining companies, investors, governments and insurers we support. Our services include engineering, geotechnics, metallurgy, geology, geochemistry, water and environmental, social and governance (ESG) services.

SRK Consulting has a reputation for thinking ‘outside of the box’ to come up with new solutions and supporting our clients by tracking the latest industry and regulatory trends. We are an independent, international consulting practice that employs 140 staff in our Cardiff office but work closely with our international colleagues located in sister practices in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia.

SRK Consulting has a flat management structure, meaning all employees have the opportunity to lead projects, develop client relations and tailor their career based on their own interests. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package including corporate gym membership, private healthcare, option to purchase shares in SRK UK and SRK Global, as well as annual bonuses (profit dependant). SRK also supports continued training and professional development, funding professional registration, training and conference attendance.

We are committed to increasing diversity and maintaining an inclusive workplace, where all employees feel part of the ‘SRK family’. We welcome all applicants with the relevant experience and skills to apply, regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, religious beliefs or sexual orientation.

The Role:

We are looking for a motivated and passionate environmental and/or social consultant to join our ESG team. Ideally we are looking for a person with experience but we will consider graduates with directly applicable qualifications and relevant student ‘work experience’.

This opportunity will involve working on a diverse range of exciting projects with multi-disciplinary teams both in the UK and overseas. To find out more about the varied range of projects we work on, click here.

Your primary responsibilities will be to gain an understanding of the local, national and international sustainability factors affecting mining projects and operations and to help to address these to achieve positive sustainability outcomes. This will involve:

• Supporting ESG data collection, collation, analysis and reporting related to various aspects of mining and infrastructure projects.
• Reviewing  applicable legislation and standards in relation to how they apply to mining projects / operations and the associated permitting processes.
• Distilling down to the relevant ESG information for each project and communicating the findings and implications to decision makers.
• Supporting senior colleagues with project management.

About You

You will share our passion for improving the sustainability performance of the mining industry and have an understanding of the key mega trends affecting our work (e.g. climate change, international law, human rights etc). You will be an effective communicator, able to influence decision makers and convey complex topics in an accessible and succinct fashion.  You will be a motivated team player with a proven track record in a consultancy, company or association.

Ideally you will have experience in the extractives sector, although transferable skills and knowledge from other sectors will also be considered.

Essential Requirements:

• Honours or master’s degree in environmental or social sciences
• Willingness to travel to project sites, which can be in remote locations
• Excellent communication / presentation skills (written and verbal) in English
• Ability to write clearly in the language of environmental and social risk and opportunity
• Ability to produce detailed and coherent written reports
• Physically fit enough to conduct site walkovers at mines and exploration sites 
• A commitment to high technical standards and continued professional development (registration with IEMA, IAIA or equivalent professional body)
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team and enjoy meeting new people
• Competent with Microsoft packages
• Creative and able to present information in clear, innovative and accessible ways (GIS skills would be an advantage)

Knowledge of the mining industry is an advantage but not a necessity. A second language (particularly French, Spanish or Arabic) would be and advantage.

The Team

The ESG team is a dynamic team led by recognised international industry experts.  Our ESG team works alongside our inhouse mining focused specialists to influence mine design and development and communicate the main ESG risks and opportunities to decision makers. As part of this we conduct environmental and social impact assessments (ESIA) for new and expanding mines, provide advisory services, and undertake audits and reviews. Our work is a combination of desktop (75%) report writing and site visits overseas (25%).

Together we work to embed ESG into mine design and decision making, communicating with a range of audiences (governments to CEOs) of the importance of integrating sustainability to improve outcomes. Each member of the team also has a specialist interest, e.g. climate change mitigation and adaption, tailings (waste) management, mine closure planning, biodiversity, stakeholder engagement and human rights.

As a team we are also committed to improving the public perception of mining and are involved in various outreach programmes to support government, universities and other public institutions to raise awareness of the critical role mining plays in society.