INDUSTRY:
MINING
CLIENT:
RIO TINTO
YEAR:
2024/25
EXPERIENCE:
APP / SCALING PLATFORMS
Rio Tinto
about.
Rio Tinto is one of the world’s largest mining companies, operating complex industrial systems across remote and high-demand environments. I’ve worked across two internal digital products supporting Rio’s field operations in Western Australia—each focused on improving maintenance workflows and driving operational efficiency at scale.
These projects gave me the opportunity to lead both UI and UX design in fast-moving, high-stakes environments—working closely with product owners, engineers, and domain experts to ensure the tools we built were not only aligned to business needs, but also practical and intuitive for end users in the field.
challenge.
Product 1 – Shutdown Maintenance Planner
The first project involved redesigning an internal tool used to plan and manage large-scale equipment maintenance shutdowns at mining sites. The challenge was to balance real-time operational complexity with a clear, usable interface that could support decision-making across multiple teams.
key contributions
Co-led UI design in close collaboration with a UX designer, facilitating workshops and feedback sessions with the Product Owner.
Helped refine workflows to match the real-world use case, improving usability while adhering to Rio’s strict brand and accessibility guidelines.
Delivered a modern, modular interface that enhanced scheduling visibility, reduced cognitive load, and gained strong adoption from internal stakeholders.
This product is now actively used by Rio’s maintenance teams and is considered a successful upgrade to a previously fragmented process.
Product 2 – Rail Maintenance System
The second engagement focused on a rail network maintenance system used in the Pilbara region—an area critical to Rio Tinto’s iron ore logistics. The product aimed to reduce operational costs and streamline maintenance planning for rail infrastructure.
My role expanded to lead both UX and UI, taking a holistic, user-centered approach from discovery through to delivery.
key activities
Conducted user interviews, A/B testing, and wireframe validation to ensure alignment with real-world processes.
Led iterative UI design, translating validated concepts into dev-ready designs with detailed specifications.
Managed Design QA in collaboration with the test team to maintain high standards in final implementation.
Worked directly with engineering to troubleshoot edge cases and maintain consistency in component behavior.
The product is currently in phased rollout, with strong feedback from users and stakeholders.
results.
Across both products, our work delivered tangible operational improvements and user value:
Improved visibility and coordination for large-scale maintenance events, reducing delays and miscommunication.
Streamlined user interfaces that brought consistency, trust, and efficiency to daily workflows.
Established a reusable component design approach aligned to Rio’s internal design system.
Strengthened collaboration across product, engineering, and QA teams—enabling faster iterations and better-quality outcomes.
Provided field teams with tools that better reflect the complexity of their work without overwhelming the interface.
These projects not only deepened my understanding of designing for enterprise-scale operations, but also gave me a practical appreciation of how mining workflows, rail logistics, and field maintenance interact with software in the real world.
