General Manager

Mint Biomining has been developing innovative cleantech since 2016. Our mission is to provide low-carbon, circular economy solutions for recovering critical metals from waste (the urban mine) via plants in major cities around the world.

We’re nearing completion of our first electronic waste recycling facility in Western Sydney, which will showcase the innovative tech we’ve developed for recovering base and precious metals (e.g. copper & gold) from old scrap electronics. Following in its footsteps will be a roll-out of plants in major cities globally, as well as the deployment of further product lines.

Why Apply?

This role is for a motivated, confident individual who from the outset can lead the team running our first commercial-scale plant, and is an amazing opportunity to join a growing tech startup in the cleantech space. You’ll have a high degree of autonomy to get things done, and as our first GM, you’ll appreciate the importance and consequence your role has on the company’s success. Mint can offer a competitive salary plus super, as well as a bonus/profit-share scheme.

By the time you’re onboard our project team will be commissioning the installed plant, so your first priority will be to shadow our engineers and familiarise yourself with how it functions end-to-end. These walkthroughs will mesh with your existing familiarity of chemical handling, dangerous goods or hazardous work environments. In the background you’ll be using your prior experience in plant operations management to develop a work and hiring programme to bring the facility into full production as a near 24/7 operation in 2023. As it’s our first facility, you’ll be aware that there’ll be teething issues as it enters production, so your ability to identify these and work through solutions with our engineers will be crucial for ensuring our first plant makes its mark.

Your excellent communication and logistical skills will be in need as you take over the relationship management of our key customers, suppliers and contractors, as well as ensuring that all council and EPA requirements are being met. Due to the valuable nature of the plant’s products, you’ll also have an interest in security arrangements, and lead from the front to promote a culture of workplace health and safety. And as the plant hits its straps, you’ll start digging into the commercials to experiment with ways to optimise.

The Role

The position is full-time, and will be located at our facility in Smithfield, Sydney. Initially you’ll report to our chief project officer (whose office and team is onsite) until commissioning is concluded and the keys to the plant are handed over to you.

Your main responsibilities will be to:

• Manage the complete staffing and operation of the plant and its facilities to meet performance targets
• Establish, manage and develop plant team members to ensure optimal level of plant operating performance
• Ensure facility and plant equipment is maintained and repaired in timely manner, monitor all unit outages
• Promote a culture of workplace health and safety; ensure that the plant is run safely and in accordance with standard operating procedures, approved permits and current health and safety regulations
• Oversee plant logistics, e.g. process inputs and outputs
• Manage cost control of plant, including inventory control of all plant inputs/outputs and spare parts
• Ensure the facility’s security is appropriate, maintained and updated as necessary
• See that plant operational data is collected, monitored, reported and accessible by other business units for analysis
• Build and maintain relationships with key customers and suppliers
• Implement and manage continuous improvement to increase plant productivity, reduce operating costs and improve outputs

In short, you will lead day-to-day life at the plant. While you build out your work programme and plant team, you’ll have full support from our technical, engineering, project and business teams at Mint HQ.

Skills and Experience

As a company that was born in a dingy basement, everyone at Mint has a “can do, no fuss” attitude and our General Manager will be no different.

Our ideal candidate will have as many of the following qualities as possible:

• 3+ years experience as a plant GM or potentially as a plant operations/production manager, preferably dealing with chemicals/dangerous goods or similar (e.g. chemical plant, wastewater treatment, mining)
• Proven leadership skills
• Strong communicator, at ease talking with plant operators through to customers, suppliers and regulators
• Sound understanding of best practice in plant operations, logistics, personnel and shift management
• Knowledgeable in industrial health and safety systems, standards and WHS compliance, especially with regards to hazardous goods (e.g. chemicals, mining)
• Commercially orientated and capable of driving plant optimisation
• Able to document technical issues from a production perspective, identify potential workarounds to our technical team, generally sort out plant teething issues
• Thirst for continuous improvement
• And finally - an accomplished fire-fighter (metaphorically speaking)

If the above sounds like you, apply with your CV via Seek. We’re aiming to shortlist and interview candidates through August for a start date in October.

Please note you must have the right to work in Australia to apply for this job; regrettably we will not be offering visa sponsorship to relocate. Due to the nature of the role security screening, medical assessment and drug testing may be required. We embrace diversity and inclusion and are committed to equal opportunities. We actively encourage applications from all backgrounds.

For more background on Mint see our website - https://www.mint.bio/