Senior Tailings Engineer

About the role

The Senior Tailings Engineer will join our Rivonia office to lead the design, monitoring and management of tailings storage facilities and return water dams across Southern Africa. This full‑time position involves both office‑based engineering work and field inspections at sites in South Africa, Tanzania and West Africa.

Key responsibilities

• Plan and schedule tailings projects, compile proposals and appoint sub‑contractors.
• Surveil existing tailings storage facilities and return water dams, performing annual audit inspections as Engineer of Record.
• Travel to project sites for monitoring, construction management and field investigations.
• Design new tailings storage facilities, return water dams and associated infrastructure, including stability and seepage analyses.
• Conduct limit‑equilibrium and numerical slope stability assessments using GeoStudio, Plaxis or Slide.
• Mentor graduate, junior and intermediate engineers, delegating work and transferring knowledge.
• Report progress to project managers and directors, and stay updated on industry developments.

Required profile

• Minimum 7 years of tailings engineering experience.
• BEng or BSc Eng in Civil Engineering; registration as a Professional Engineer with ECSA.
• Strong understanding of soil mechanics, CPTu testing, and laboratory testing of soils and tailings.
• Experience with geotechnical investigations, tailings dam breach assessments, and various engineering contracts.
• Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, MS Project/Primavera, and AutoCAD Civil 3D or Modelmaker.
• Valid driver’s licence and passport for regional travel.

Required skills

• GeoStudio
• Plaxis
• Slide
• Limit‑equilibrium analysis
• Numerical slope stability analysis
• Seepage analysis
• CPTu testing
• Soil mechanics
• Geotechnical investigations
• AutoCAD Civil 3D
• Modelmaker