Principal Specialist, International R&D Scientist

Role Overview

Principal Specialist, International R&D Scientist at Ma'aden. The role develops and manages Ma'aden's global innovation ecosystem to identify, evaluate, and deploy breakthrough technologies that create measurable business value across the company's operations.

Role Purpose

The Principal Specialist, International R&D Scientist serves as Ma'aden's global interface for innovation. The role builds strategic relationships with leading universities, startups, mining laboratories, technology providers, mining companies, research institutes, and venture ecosystems to ensure continuous access to emerging technologies that improve productivity, sustainability, resource recovery, and operational competitiveness.

Key Responsibilities

Global Partnership Development

• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with leading international universities, mining laboratories, technology providers, startups, mining companies, venture funds, and research organizations.
• Establish long-term collaboration agreements, joint development programs, and technology demonstration partnerships.
• Represent Ma'aden within international innovation networks and strengthen the company's global technology presence.
• Build a strong pipeline of strategic partners aligned with Ma'aden's innovation priorities.

Advanced Research & Innovation Delivery

• Sponsor development of new technologies, methods, and solutions, ensuring alignment with business needs.
• Oversee design, execution, and validation of experimental and pilot studies.
• Ensure research outputs (models, methods, technologies) are scalable and transferable to operational environments.

Technology Scouting & Opportunity Identification

• Scout emerging technologies in mining and mineral processing, material science, waste valorization, gold recovery from historical tailings, modular processing plants, small-footprint processing technologies, fast and low-cost exploration, AI-enabled exploration, geophysics and multi-sensor drone technologies, ore sorting, water reduction and reuse, decarbonization, critical minerals recovery, and process intensification.
• Assess technology maturity, technical readiness, commercial potential, scalability, intellectual property position, and strategic fit for Ma'aden.

Technology Evaluation & Deployment

• Coordinate technical evaluations with internal business units.
• Facilitate laboratory testing, pilot programs, demonstration projects, and industrial trials.
• Support development of business cases for technology adoption.
• Ensure successful transition from external innovation into operational deployment.

International Innovation Ecosystem Management

• Build and manage an international network of innovation partners.
• Organize executive technology visits and technical exchanges.
• Coordinate collaborative workshops with external organizations.
• Identify opportunities for co-development, licensing, and joint ventures.
• Develop strategic relationships with government innovation agencies and international research programs.

Portfolio Development

• Maintain a global technology pipeline aligned with Ma'aden's strategic priorities.
• Prioritize opportunities based on business value, implementation readiness, and strategic importance.
• Track technology landscape evolution and competitor activities.
• Provide regular intelligence reports on emerging technologies and innovation trends.

Commercial & Strategic Collaboration

• Support negotiation of collaboration agreements, non-disclosure agreements, memoranda of understanding, joint development agreements, and technology licensing arrangements.
• Work closely with Legal, Procurement, Intellectual Property, and Business Units to establish successful partnerships.
• Protect Ma'aden's strategic interests throughout external collaborations.

Qualifications & Experience

Education

• Bachelor's degree or Master's degree in Mining Engineering, Metallurgy, Mineral Processing, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Geoscience, or related discipline.
• PhD is optional.

Experience

• 10–15 years in mining, mineral processing, technology development, innovation, business development, or strategic partnerships.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating with international universities, technology companies, startups, or research organizations.
• Strong global network within the mining innovation ecosystem is highly desirable.

Skills & Competencies

• Global partnership development
• Relationship management
• Technology scouting
• Open innovation
• Mining innovation
• Technology commercialization
• Business case development
• International stakeholder management
• Negotiation and collaboration
• Technology due diligence
• Strategic thinking
• Excellent communication and networking skills
• Program and portfolio management
• Strategic Thinking
• Innovation and Creativity
• Stakeholder Management
• Problem Solving
• Delivery Excellence
• Collaboration