Aira is a Chartered Professional Engineer and senior technical leader specialising in engineering governance, asset management, and reliability improvement across mining, petroleum, LNG, petrochemicals, and water. Engineering has been part of her life from the very beginning. Growing up around industrial environments gave her early exposure to complex operations and engineering systems — and a deep respect for the people who work in them. This early influence shaped her path into mechanical engineering and later into a Master’s in Environmental Engineering. Over her career, she has worked across the full lifecycle of assets, from design and construction to operations, shutdowns, and decommissioning. She is recognised for leading maintenance strategies in high‑risk operational environments where safety and compliance are critical. Her career is defined by dynamic leadership, strong technical capability, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. What truly defines Aira’s leadership, however, is her focus on people — she is passionate about building high‑performing teams, creating trust, and bridging relationships between engineering and operations. She is also highly effective across diverse stakeholder groups, from operations and engineering through to executive leadership, providing pragmatic, process‑driven advice while protecting performance, safety, and organisational reputation. Aira holds a First Class Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Environmental Science Engineering (Honours), a Postgraduate Diploma in Project Management, and a Certificate in Business from Curtin University and accredited in ISO 9001:2015 implementation. She began her career in Venezuela’s Petrochemical in engineering, maintenance and operations. She then progressed into management roles, later holding senior technical and leadership positions across the hydrocarbons and mining industries. This experience gave her a strong foundation in reliability and maintenance systems across petroleum and mining. Her responsibilities later expanded into technical and production support across Asset Management and Operations Management roles, culminating in her work as a senior technical leader across multiple industries. Her passion for reliability and excellence ultimately paved the way for her regional‑level and enterprise technical authority roles in Australia. After migrating to Australia, Aira joined Clariant as Oil & Gas Technical Manager, where she improved fluids treatment processes and strengthened equipment reliability across offshore operations. She later contributed to major Woodside‑aligned projects through senior contractor roles in commissioning, cost engineering, and ISO/NATA quality assurance, supporting safe start‑ups and shutdown execution across multiple facilities. Aira’s expertise expanded further at BP Australia, where she served as Senior Mechanical Engineer for the Alkylation Unit Turnaround at Kwinana Refinery. She provided end‑to‑end mechanical leadership, ensured compliance with BP standards, and delivered a high‑hazard shutdown with a triple‑zero safety outcome. During this period, she also designed a engineered venturi solution to eliminate a flammable gas hazard a defining example of her evidence‑based, safety‑driven approach. Her career reached enterprise scale at BHP’s Maintenance Engineering Centre of Excellence, where she led asset management strategy, petroleum operations audits, and the development of reliability and asset health frameworks across operations. Aira joined Rio Tinto in 2019 and has since held several Principal and Group‑level roles, including Principal Asset Health, Principal Hydrocarbon Management, Principal Central Reliability Engineering, and Principal Fixed Plant & Infrastructure Engineering. Across these roles, she has led the development of global engineering standards, strengthened critical risk alignment, uplifted condition monitoring and lubrication practices, and delivered enterprise strategies that improved reliability, reduced maintenance backlogs, and enhanced technical assurance across more than 19 operations. Beyond engineering, Aira has an exceptional sporting background. She represented Venezuela as a National Basketball Team player, serving as team captain for five consecutive years, competing internationally, and earning the national honour “Gloria Deportiva” in 2010. Her sporting journey achieved reflects her belief that discipline, resilience, and passion make anything possible. Aira is bilingual in Spanish and English. Outside of work, she enjoys mentoring young engineers, supporting STEM, and spending time outdoors with her family.