Head of Technical - Africa | Mining & Explosives
Michael Page · Johannesburg, Gauteng
Overview
A huge mining conglomerate is looking for a Head of Technical to lead their Africa technical strategy from Johannesburg. You will drive blasting excellence, safety compliance and innovation across multiple African countries. This senior role suits someone with deep explosives and mining experience who wants to shape regional operations and work with diverse teams across the continent.
About the role
This is a senior regional role with a major mining conglomerate, based in Johannesburg. As Head of Technical for Africa, you will lead the technical strategy and operations across multiple African countries, ensuring that blasting and explosives work is safe, compliant and optimised.
What you will be doing:
- Define and execute the Africa technical strategy aligned to global standards and regional priorities
- Adapt global technical frameworks to local operating conditions, regulations and customer needs
- Oversee blast design, optimisation and execution across surface and underground operations
- Drive improvements in fragmentation, vibration control, productivity and cost per ton
- Ensure full compliance with country specific explosives legislation and safety standards
- Lead incident investigations and enforce robust risk management practices
- Partner with commercial teams to support strategic accounts and regional tenders
- Drive adoption of digital blasting tools and data analytics across the region
Application notes: This is a permanent, full time position. Apply online to discuss the role in more detail. The employer is an equal opportunity employer and non EE/AA candidates are welcome to apply.
Requirements
- Postgraduate degree in Mining Engineering, Mining Science, Chemical Engineering or a related field
- An MBA or business qualification is advantageous
- 12 to 15+ years of experience in mining, explosives and blasting operations
- Proven leadership experience in multi country or regional roles within Africa
- Strong exposure to both surface and underground mining environments
- Experience working across diverse regulatory and operational contexts in Africa
- Advanced expertise in blasting science, explosives application and mining optimisation
- Strong understanding of African mining conditions including logistical and infrastructure challenges
- Knowledge of regulatory frameworks across multiple African jurisdictions
- Strong project and change management capability
- Cross cultural leadership and stakeholder management skills
- Commercial acumen with a customer centric mindset
- Resilience and adaptability in complex operating environments
- Assertive, diplomatic and solutions oriented
Responsibilities
- Define and execute the Africa technical strategy aligned to global standards and regional business priorities
- Adapt global technical frameworks to suit local operating conditions, regulatory environments and customer needs
- Drive standardisation of best practices while allowing flexibility for country specific requirements
- Oversee blast design, optimisation and execution across surface and underground operations in the region
- Drive improvements in fragmentation, vibration control, productivity and cost per ton outcomes
- Provide advanced technical support and troubleshooting for complex or high risk operations
- Ensure consistent quality and performance of technical services across all countries
- Ensure full compliance with country specific explosives legislation and safety standards across Africa
- Lead incident investigations and enforce robust risk management practices
- Champion a strong safety culture aligned to a zero harm objective
- Provide guidance on regulatory engagement and licensing requirements in multiple jurisdictions
- Partner with commercial and business teams to support strategic accounts and regional tenders
- Develop differentiated, value adding technical solutions tailored to African mining conditions
- Support growth in revenue from technical and optimisation services
- Strengthen customer relationships through consistent technical excellence and advisory capability
- Drive the adoption of digital blasting tools, data analytics and optimisation technologies across the region
- Ensure successful localisation and implementation of new technologies in diverse operating environments
- Lead continuous improvement initiatives in explosives application and performance
- Build strong relationships with regional leadership, country managers and technical teams
- Engage with customers, regulators and industry bodies across Africa
- Collaborate with marketing to enhance technical brand positioning in the region
- Support knowledge sharing across countries and integration with global technical teams
Benefits
Permanent employment contract, basic benefits, pension fund contribution, company events, parking space, training, paid annual leave, barrier free access, incentives
Job details
- Organisation
- Michael Page
- Location
- Johannesburg, Gauteng
- Job type
- Full time
- Experience level
- Executive (12+ years)
- Education
- Postgraduate diploma
- Category
- Mining & Resources
- Application Method
- Apply online
Success Guide
This is a senior role, so your application needs to show more than just technical know how. Make sure your CV clearly highlights your experience leading technical teams across multiple African countries, and give specific examples of blasting projects you have improved. Mention both surface and underground work, as well as any exposure to different regulatory environments. In interviews, expect questions about safety incidents you have managed, how you have driven innovation, and how you balance global standards with local realities. Brush up on your commercial understanding too, because this role works closely with sales and business teams. If you have an MBA or business qualification, emphasise it. Good luck!
How we help you prepare
This employer takes applications on their own website, so you'll submit this one yourself — but SPAAN NOW gets everything ready for you first. Here's how it works:
- Our AI tailors your CV to match this job's keywords and requirements, so it stands out to recruiters and screening systems.
- A custom cover letter is written specifically for this role — no generic templates.
- We gather the documents this job needs: CV, Degree certificate and Academic transcript. SPAAN NOW pulls these from your profile and packages them together, ready to attach.
- Once your application is prepared, we show you exactly how and where to apply — just follow the link to the employer and submit your ready-made CV, cover letter and documents.
- Mark it as applied under Applications to keep track, and if you're shortlisted, use AI Interview Prep to practise questions commonly asked for roles like this.
We do the hard part — tailoring and gathering everything — so applying yourself only takes a minute.
Spaan Talk
Nobody has said anything yet. Be the first.