Technology Planning And Strategy Specialist

Description:

We are currently seeking a Specialist, Technology Planning and Strategy to join our Information Technology team in St. John’s, Newfoundland. This is a permanent, full-time position, working Monday to Friday in a hybrid model between the St. John’s office and a home office.
 
As a Specialist, you will strategically align technology capabilities with business objectives across production, maintenance, and technical services. You will play a critical role in driving digital transformation, improving operational efficiency, and enabling seamless technology integration.
 
The position also supports governance, risk management, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring technology investments deliver maximum value for Vale Newfoundland & Labrador operations.

In this role, you will be responsible for:
Strategic Alignment: Developing technology operational strategies and roadmaps for systems such as ERP, MES, PIMS, LIMS, controls, and automation.
Value Delivery: Ensuring technology initiatives are aligned with business strategies to maximize operational and financial value.
Budget Management: Planning, managing, and executing OPEX and CAPEX budgets.
IT/OT Integration: Acting as a bridge between technology teams and operations by developing a strong understanding of production, maintenance, and technical services.
Governance & Risk Management: Ensuring alignment with technology architecture standards, governance frameworks, and strategic plans; identifying risks and implementing preventive actions.
Digital Transformation: Driving the adoption of technology solutions to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and generate data-driven insights.
Business Process Optimization: Supporting the development, optimization, and transformation of business processes enabled by technology solutions.
Stakeholder Engagement: Building strong relationships with operational and technical stakeholders by embedding within the business to understand strategies, priorities, and challenges.
 
This role favors candidates with an operations‑first mindset and direct exposure to asset‑intensive environments.
 
About You

You are excited by the opportunity to help build and shape a function from the ground up in an asset‑intensive environment. You are an operations and process expert who understands how physical assets run, how they fail, and how they are repaired—and how technology should support that reality.
You are deeply technology‑curious. You value practical, fit‑for‑purpose technology that improves reliability, uptime, and maintenance outcomes rather than software for software’s sake.
You are comfortable working close to the assets. Your mindset bridges operations, maintenance, and technology, enabling better decisions across the full asset lifecycle—from ore extraction through processing and shipping to market.
Reliability matters to you. You understand that in asset‑heavy environments—where capital investment is significant—uptime, maintenance discipline, and operational excellence are critical to value creation.
 
Experience & Education

Demonstrated understanding of the end‑to‑end asset lifecycle, spanning ore extraction, processing and refining, and shipping through to route‑to‑market operations.
Experience working within complex, asset‑intensive environments such as mines, refineries, and process‑heavy industrial facilities.
Strong appreciation for operational contexts where reliability, availability, and uptime are critical to business performance and value creation.
Hands‑on experience designing and supporting reliability and maintenance strategies, including predictive maintenance, asset monitoring, and maintenance planning and execution.
Background is aligned to roles such as Maintenance Planner or Reliability Engineer, with a practical, operations‑first perspective.
Deep exposure to rotating equipment, pumps, and core plant infrastructure, particularly in refinery‑based or process‑intensive operations.
Proven ability to drive process optimization, analyzing current‑state ways of working and designing more reliable, efficient future‑state processes.
Strong technology and systems acumen, including understanding of plant and operating hierarchies, real‑world maintenance execution, and SAP or equivalent EAM systems, with clear judgment on where technology genuinely adds operational value.
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business Administration, Information Systems, or a related field.

Skills:

Deep understanding of mining and metals industry operations.
Project management experience.
Ability to influence strategic decisions and engage with stakeholders.
Experience with SAP Fiori and S/4HANA. 
Knowledge of agile methodologies.
Proficiency in Lean or problem-solving methods.
Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office and Power BI.
Experience working with multidisciplinary teams.
 

What We Offer You

Competitive compensation including a variable annual incentive plan
Participation in a competitive Defined Contribution Pension package
Comprehensive benefits package (company paid core coverage, health and dental coverage, flex accounts, disability plans, and optional insurances)
Leave for all of life’s reasons (vacation, personal, sick, parental)
Work culture dedicated to safety, diversity & inclusion, and career growth
Employee Family Assistance Program
Virtual Healthcare online
Online training and career development opportunities