Area Manager, Mining (Mine Infrastructure)

Based in Vicuña’s Vancouver office, the Area Manager, Mining is Vicuña’s single point of accountability for a defined project area; Mine Infrastructure (AHS, Explosives magazine, Truck shop, Mine operations facilities). The role is responsible for integrating engineering, procurement, construction readiness, field execution, interfaces, and decision-making within the assigned area to deliver the work safely, in accordance with scope, quality, schedule, cost, and long-term operability requirements.

Regular visits to site are required.

Key Responsibilities:

Area leadership and accountability

• Act as the Owner’s accountable lead for the assigned area across development, execution, and handover.
• Provide clear direction on area priorities, risks, interfaces, and decision requirements.
• Maintain an integrated view of scope, constructability, operability, safety, schedule, cost, quality, and readiness for the area.
• Serve as the primary Owner contact for the area in dealings with EPCM/EPI teams, contractors, consultants, and internal stakeholders.

Engineering and technical integration

• Lead Owner review and integration of engineering for the area, ensuring designs are fit for purpose, constructible, operable, maintainable, and aligned with project requirements.
• Ensure engineering maturity supports procurement, permitting, early works, temporary works, field release, and construction sequencing.
• Drive timely closure of technical issues, review comments, TDMs, design deviations, and unresolved interfaces.
• Confirm that area design decisions do not create avoidable constraints for commissioning, operations, or future project phases.

Construction readiness and execution oversight

• Oversee readiness for construction within the area, including access, temporary facilities, utilities, permitting dependencies, construction sequencing, turnover of engineering deliverables, materials availability, and contractor mobilization.
• Monitor execution progress in the field and verify alignment with approved scope, schedule, quality, HSE requirements, and execution strategy.
• Escalate emerging field issues early and drive resolution across engineering, procurement, project controls, and contractor teams.
• Ensure site observations and lessons learned are fed back into ongoing engineering and planning.

Contractor and EPCM/EPI performance management

• Manage owner-side performance oversight of EPCM/EPI and construction contractors within the area.
• Ensure contractor work is consistent with contract requirements, approved deliverables, project procedures, and technical standards.
• Support evaluation of change requests, claims exposure, progress certification inputs, and commercial impacts from an area perspective.
• Verify that technical instructions, RFIs, non-conformances, punch items, and corrective actions are being managed effectively.

HSE, quality, and operational integrity

• Champion Vicuña’s HSE expectations within the area and ensure safety is embedded in design, planning, and field execution.
• Promote proactive identification and management of construction, operational, and high-altitude execution risks.
• Ensure quality requirements, inspection/test plans, and assurance processes are appropriate and being implemented effectively by those responsible for execution.
• Confirm that area solutions support reliable startup, safe operation, maintainability, and operational handover.

Schedule, cost, and decision velocity

• Own the area view of schedule drivers, critical path impacts, forecast milestones, and short-term execution priorities.
• Work with Project Controls to maintain accurate progress visibility, risk identification, and recovery planning for the area.
• Review cost and trend impacts arising from area decisions, scope development, field changes, contractor performance, and execution strategy.
• Drive timely owner decisions to avoid engineering churn, procurement delay, or construction disruption.

Interfaces and stakeholder coordination

• Lead coordination of all internal and external interfaces affecting the area, including adjacent areas, utilities, shared infrastructure, operations, community/permitting matters, and third-party dependencies.
• Ensure area requirements are clearly communicated to project support functions including supply chain, logistics, document control, HSE, quality, and commissioning.
• Support engagement with authorities, operations, and other stakeholders where area-specific technical input is required.
• Coordinate with other Area Managers to ensure consistent priorities, interface control, and integrated project delivery.

Commissioning, handover, and operational readiness

• Ensure the assigned area is planned and executed to support orderly mechanical completion, pre-commissioning, commissioning, and handover.
• Support development of turnover strategy, systems completion logic, area punch philosophy, and readiness criteria.
• Coordinate with operations and commissioning teams to ensure area deliverables, documentation, training, and handover requirements are understood and achieved.
• Confirm that outstanding issues are tracked, dispositioned, and closed in accordance with project priorities.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience:

• Degree in engineering, construction management, or related technical field. Equivalent major project experience may be considered.
• 18–25+ years of relevant experience in major mining, infrastructure, or industrial projects, with substantial experience in owner, EPCM, EPI, or major contractor environments.
• Strong experience in at least one major execution domain relevant to the assigned area, such as process plant, heavy civil, tailings/water, power, infrastructure, camp, or surface facilities.
• Demonstrated experience taking work from engineering completion through contracting, mobilization, field execution, and handover.
• Experience on remote, high-altitude, logistically constrained projects strongly preferred.
• South America experience, ideally Argentina, strongly preferred.
• English required; Spanish strongly preferred.

Core Competencies

• Strong owner mindset and judgment
• Technical breadth with practical field credibility
• Interface management
• Decision-making under ambiguity
• Commercial awareness
• Schedule and risk focus
• Constructability and operability thinking
• Leadership without overbuilding the owner team
• Clear written and verbal communication
• Ability to work effectively across Vancouver office and site environments