Principal International Affairs
United Kingdom
About BHP
At BHP we support our people to grow, learn, develop their skills and reach their potential. With a global portfolio of operations, we offer a diverse and inclusive environment with extraordinary career opportunities. Our strategy is to focus on creating a safe work environment where our employees feel strongly connected to our values and objectives, and where the capability of our people is key to our success.
Come and be a part of this success.
About the Role
The Principal, International Relations is a senior individual contributor role and a key day-to-day integration point for BHP's global geopolitical and public policy insight. The role works with an internal and external network of experts, advisors, regional teams and policy contacts to synthesise global policy and geopolitical developments and provide actionable insights at a global, strategic level. These insights are provided to senior audiences and used to inform planning and decision making, including how geopolitical insight is hard wired into BHP's strategy, portfolio and risk frameworks.
The role sits within Global Corporate Affairs and Communications and is part of BHP's International Affairs team, which operates across London, Singapore and Washington DC.
We will consider applications from candidates based in London, Santiago, Washington DC, Denver or Toronto. We are not able to fund relocation or visa sponsorship for this position.
Your accountabilities will include, and not be limited to:
- Working with an internal and external network of experts, advisors, regional teams and policy contacts to synthesise global policy and geopolitical developments and provide actionable insights at a global, strategic level, including through executive briefs, reports and scenario exercises.
- Supporting the integration of geopolitics and policy into BHP's strategy, portfolio and risk processes, working in close partnership with BHP's Commercial and Portfolio Strategy & Development teams.
- Maintaining BHP's global policy positions on issues including critical minerals, trade, industrial policy and energy security.
- Contributing to the ongoing development and application of BHP's Public Policy Framework as a structured means of analysing and advising on policy risks and opportunities.
- Supporting BHP's engagement with relevant international industry associations and multilateral bodies (e.g. ICMM, WEF).
- Supporting the maintenance of GCAC's geopolitical framework, including collection, monitoring, and dissemination processes.
- Managing day-to-day engagement with external advisors, ensuring fit-for-purpose service provision and complementarity across the advisor panel.
- Providing surge support to broader engagement efforts of International Affairs.
About You
You will ideally be a sophisticated geopolitical thinker with a sharp commercial mind, who thrives as a senior individual contributor with significant autonomy on day-to-day execution.
The successful candidate will embody the following:
- Ability to move quickly from analysis to insight, and from insight to action, with a clear understanding of how political and policy developments shape the operating environment for a global resources company, and the ability to translate that into concise advice for senior decision-makers.
- Deep expertise in policy and geopolitical analysis, ideally gained in government, a multilateral institution, a leading think tank, a specialist advisory firm or an in-house corporate role at a global company.
- Strong commercial acumen, with experience translating policy and geopolitical insights into commercial models, scenario planning, strategy or decision-making in a corporate, investment or advisory context.
- Exposure to mining, energy, industrials or another sector with significant global exposure is essential.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including an ability to draft sound and logical policy analysis advice particularly for internal audiences (including senior audiences).
- Excellent analytical skills with an ability to undertake critical thinking and analysis on complex issues.
- Multi-jurisdiction experience is preferred, ideally having worked in multiple jurisdictions with the ability to flex analysis and engagement style for different cultural and political contexts.
- Experience engaging with governments and policy makers, or working in a policy setting, is highly advantageous.
- A strong bias to action and a track record of delivering outcomes in matrixed global organisations.
- Comfort engaging with and managing commercial relationships with strategic consultants and advisory firms, and the ability to get value from them.
- Ability to juggle multiple competing priorities, navigate cross-functional relationships, and bring structured project management discipline to complex policy work.
- A demonstrated ability to brief and influence senior executives.
- Quality of judgement, the ability to operate calmly under pressure, and strength in building networks across boundaries.
- A pragmatic approach to ambiguity, with the ability to make a clear recommendation when the evidence is incomplete.
Open for applications until 19-Jul-2026.
About Our Process
At BHP, we are committed to employing individuals who align with the BHP Charter Values and meet the requirements of the role. As part of the recruitment process, there are a number of checks which may be conducted to demonstrate applicants suitability for a role including police / criminal background checks, medical, drug and alcohol testing, due diligence checks, right to work checks, and/or reference checks.
If you are already employed directly by BHP, please log in using your BHP email address or apply via our internal jobs portal.
Supporting a Diverse Workforce
The size, stability and magnitude of our business not only provides significant opportunity for professional development, but also attractive salary packages with performance-based bonuses and a best-in-class employee share program. We know there are many aspects of our employees' lives that are important, and work is only one of these, so we offer benefits to enable your work to fit with your life. These benefits include flexible working options, a generous paid parental leave policy, other extended leave entitlements and parent rooms.
At BHP, we know that we are strengthened by diversity. We are an Equal Opportunity employer that is committed to making BHP a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive and be at their best every day. We are focused on creating a workforce that’s more diverse and represents the communities where we work and live. providing a work environment in which everyone is included, treated fairly and with respect. We are an Equal Opportunity employer and recognise that true diversity includes gender, age, race, disability status, sexual orientation, religion, neurodiversity, education levels, and many more aspects of your identity.
BHP is committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible for all. If you have a disability, we know that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. If you would like to reach out to someone about your situation and our recruitment process, please email us at inclusion@bhp.com.