Global Desk Head - Handy/Supramax

Why explore

• An excitingopportunity to work with one of the world's leading multinational corporations
• An opportunity to develop your career and lead a significant global freight portfolio
• Located in Singapore, a global commercial hub for Rio Tinto

About the role

We are looking for a Global Desk Head - Handy/Supramax to join Rio Tinto Marine’s global freight leadership team with full P&L accountability for the global Handy/Supramax vessel portfolio. This portfolio extends beyond Handy and Supramax vessels to include coverage of other vessel sizes such as Ultramax as well as other specialised shipping requirements, reflecting the diverse needs of Rio Tinto’s global operations. You will play a pivotal leadership role to achieve best-in-class freight trading and chartering outcomes for the business.

This is a senior leadership role requiring deep expertise across physical chartering, freight derivatives, and market positioning. You will be responsible for setting and executing the portfolio strategy, actively managing freight exposure, and optimising portfolio performance across market cycles whilst ensuring highest levels of service and safety for internal and external stakeholders. This role will also work closely with the global Sea Logistics book (containers) for trade‑off optimizations.

A critical component of this role is the reliable and efficient provision of freight to Rio Tinto’s operations, ensuring that vessel supply consistently meets operational requirements. Delivering the highest levels of service, safety, and reliability to internal customers is fundamental, requiring close alignment with supply chain, operations, and product groups.

You will lead a team of experienced charterers, driving commercial outcomes through a combination of market insight, disciplined risk management, and proactive engagement in both physical and paper freight markets, while balancing trading performance with operational excellence.

Reporting to theGeneral Manager, you will:

• Own and lead the global Handy/Supramax freight portfolio,including strategy development, execution, and performance delivery.
• Ensure consistent and reliable freight coverage for Rio Tinto operations, meeting volume requirements while maintaining high service levels and operational flexibility.
• Define and implement trading strategies across physical chartering and FFA markets to optimise cost/earnings and manage freight exposure.
• Actively position the portfolio based on market views, balancingspot, period, and derivative exposure to capture arbitrage and optionalitywhile safeguarding supply continuity.
• Drive commercial value through sophisticated freight tradingdecisions, including cargo-vessel matching, route optimisation, and timingstrategies.
• Lead market engagement with shipowners, shipyards, operators,brokers, and financial counterparties to originate and execute opportunitiesand secure high-quality tonnage.
• Develop and oversee freight risk frameworks, including exposure limits, hedging strategies, and scenario analysis across volatile market conditions.
• Integrate insights from market analysis, macro trends, asset valuations and supply-demand fundamentals into actionable trading decisions that support both profitability and service reliability.
• Collaborate closely with internal stakeholders (commercial including logistics, operations, derivatives, analytics) to maximise end-to-end value across the supply chain and ensure seamless execution.
• Partner with voyage operations and vetting teams to uphold safety,reliability, and performance standards across the fleet.
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing Handy/Supramax desk with a strong trading mindset, accountability, and customer service orientation.
• Ensure all trading and chartering activities are conducted within Rio Tinto’s governance, safety, and compliance frameworks.

About you To be successfully considered for this role, you will have:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, International Trade, Marketing, Supply Chain or Maritime/Logistics.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in dry bulk freight trading and chartering, ideally with significant exposure to Handy, Supramax and specialised shipping markets.
• Demonstrated track record of managing and optimising a freight trading book (physical and/or derivatives).
• Strong working knowledge of FFA markets, freight risk management tools, and trading systems
• Proven ability to balance commercial performance with operational service delivery in a global environment.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and leadership skills.
• Experience with safety aspects of dry bulk vessels (beneficial).

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