Principal Specialist International R&D Scientist📣 Job Ad

About Ma'aden and the Opportunity

Ma'aden, established in 1997, is recognized as one of the fastest-growing mining companies globally and the largest multi-commodity mining and metals company in the Middle East. The company is instrumental in developing the mining industry as the third pillar of Saudi Arabia’s economy, building a world-class, fully integrated mining value chain. We are seeking a Principal Specialist, International R&D Scientist, to join our team in Riyadh. This full-time role requires over 10 years of experience and offers an opportunity to contribute to our strategic growth initiatives.

Role Purpose

The Principal Specialist, International R&D Scientist, is responsible for developing and managing Ma'aden's global innovation ecosystem. This involves building strategic relationships with leading universities, startups, mining laboratories, technology providers, research institutes, and venture ecosystems worldwide. The role focuses on identifying breakthrough technologies, establishing collaborative partnerships, and accelerating the evaluation, demonstration, and deployment of innovations that deliver measurable business value across Ma'aden's operations. This position serves as Ma'aden's global interface for innovation, ensuring continuous access to emerging technologies that enhance productivity, sustainability, resource recovery, and operational competitiveness.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with 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, representing Ma'aden within international innovation networks.
• Sponsor the development of new technologies, methods, and solutions, ensuring alignment with business needs, and oversee the design, execution, and validation of experimental and pilot studies.
• Ensure research outputs (models, methods, technologies) are scalable and transferable to operational environments.
• Continuously scout emerging technologies and assess their maturity, readiness, commercial potential, scalability, IP position, and strategic fit for Ma'aden.
• Coordinate technical evaluations with internal business units, facilitating laboratory testing, pilot programs, demonstration projects, and industrial trials.
• Support the development of business cases for technology adoption and ensure successful transition from external innovation into operational deployment.
• Build and manage an international network of innovation partners, organizing executive technology visits, technical exchanges, and collaborative workshops.
• Identify opportunities for co-development, licensing, and joint ventures, and develop strategic relationships with government innovation agencies and international research programs.
• Maintain a global technology pipeline aligned with Ma'aden's strategic priorities, prioritizing opportunities based on business value, implementation readiness, and strategic importance.
• Track technology landscape evolution and competitor activities, providing regular intelligence reports on emerging technologies and innovation trends.
• Support the negotiation of collaboration agreements, NDAs, MOUs, JDAs, and technology licensing, working closely with Legal, Procurement, IP, and Business Units.
• Protect Ma'aden's strategic interests throughout external collaborations.

Key Technology Focus Areas

The role involves scouting emerging technologies across a range of specialized areas, including but not limited to:

• Mining and mineral processing
• Material science and waste valorization
• Gold recovery from historical tailings
• Modular processing plants and small-footprint processing technologies
• Fast and low-cost exploration, including AI-enabled exploration
• Geophysics and multi-sensor drone technologies
• Ore sorting, water reduction and reuse
• Decarbonization and critical minerals recovery
• Process intensification

Candidate Profile

Candidates for this role should possess a strong background in R&D and innovation management within a relevant industry. The position requires:

• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in R&D, technology scouting, partnership development, or innovation management.
• Demonstrated ability to build and manage strategic relationships with international partners across academia, industry, and venture ecosystems.
• Proven expertise in identifying, evaluating, and deploying breakthrough technologies.
• Strong understanding of technology maturity assessment, commercial potential, and intellectual property considerations.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and collaboration skills to work effectively with internal and external stakeholders.

Location and Application

This full-time position is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Qualified candidates are invited to apply.