Richard has had a career in the university and resources sectors. His positions at the University of Adelaide included Mawson Professor of Geology and Pro Vice-Chancellor. Richard was also CEO of the Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (DET CRC). He was awarded South Australian Scientist of the Year 2018. He has been a director of several technology and resources companies and is currently a non-executive director of AuScope and HILT CRC, and non-executive chair of Investigator Resources.

Richard Hillis is nationally and internationally recognised as one of the world's leading researchers in
tectonics and geomechanics. His work has contributed significantly to the understanding of the manifestation of stresses in the Earth's crust from plate tectonics and crustal loading. This fundamental research has been applied to petroleum exploration, carbon dioxide geo-sequestration and geothermal energy and has contributed significantly to the discovery and successful exploitation of hydrocarbon and geothermal energy resources and to geo-sequestration of carbon dioxide. He is equally recognised as an innovator in the application areas of his research and his leadership as CEO of the CRCDET.