Desalination and Wastewater Treatment Specialist

TRACTEBEL; Dubai; On-site; AED 700,000 - 1,100,000; Full time

Job summary

Tractebel UAE is seeking an experienced SWRO and wastewater treatment specialist with a strong process engineering background. You will lead planning, design reviews, construction, commissioning, and handover of seawater reverse osmosis and wastewater facilities across the GCC, including UAE and Saudi Arabia.

You will assess process solutions, challenge assumptions, identify risks, and ensure safe, energy-efficient, maintainable systems meeting local and international standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical/Process/Environmental/Mechanical engineering or closely related field.
• Minimum 12 years of relevant water and wastewater engineering experience, including SWRO and wastewater projects.
• Experience in GCC (UAE and KSA preferred) and client-facing advisory work.

Responsibilities

• Act as process engineering SME for SWRO and wastewater systems.
• Lead design reviews, FEED, detailed design, and vendor submissions.
• Coordinate interfaces across disciplines to ensure integrated, compliant designs.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to standards and tools.
• Perform troubleshooting, root-cause analyses, and life-cycle cost reviews.

Skills

Process engineering

Client-facing advisory

Mentoring

Multidisciplinary coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Master's degree advantageous

Tools

WAVE

ROSA

IMSDesign

SCADA

Job description

Desalination and Wastewater Treatment Specialist

SWRO & Wastewater Treatment Specialist

Process Engineering / Technical Advisory

Duration: Permanent

Location: UAE based and UAE / KSA project assignments

Employment: Full-time

Travel : Project sites and vendor facilities

Position Overview

Tractebel is seeking an experienced SWRO and Wastewater Treatment Specialist with a strong process engineering background to provide technical leadership across the planning, design, design review, , construction, commissioning, performance testing, and operational handover of seawater reverse osmosis and wastewater treatment facilities. The role requires engineering consulting experience and a proven record of delivering water-sector projects in the GCC including UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The successful candidate will act as a subject matter expert, independently assessing process solutions, challenging design assumptions, identifying technical and operability risks, and ensuring that proposed systems are safe, reliable, energy-efficient, maintainable, and compliant with project requirements and applicable local and international standards.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership

• Act as the process engineering subject matter expert for SWRO desalination and municipal or industrial wastewater treatment systems.
• Lead or independently assess process design bases, design criteria, water quality data, mass balances, hydraulic profiles, process calculations, process flow diagrams (PFDs), piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), control philosophies, cause-and-effect matrices, equipment data sheets, and technical specifications.
• Participate in client, authority, contractor, and vendor meetings, clearly communicating technical findings, recommendations, risks, and required corrective actions.
• Provide technical mentoring and quality assurance for junior process engineers and contribute to the development of engineering standards, calculation tools, and design review checklists.

Design Review

• Ensure designs comply with contractual requirements, health and safety expectations, environmental permits, utility requirements, local authority requirements, and relevant international codes and good engineering practice.
• Evaluate treatment process selection and configuration, including intake and outfall interfaces, screening, coagulation and flocculation, dissolved air flotation (DAF), media filtration, ultrafiltration (UF), cartridge filtration, SWRO trains, energy recovery devices, chemical dosing, clean-in-place systems, remineralization, disinfection, and product-water conditioning.
• Review wastewater treatment solutions incorporating preliminary and primary treatment, biological processes, clarification, tertiary treatment, nutrient removal, filtration, disinfection, sludge thickening and dewatering, odour control, treated sewage effluent reuse, and associated residuals management.
• Assess membrane system design, including feed-water characteristics, recovery, flux, staging, array configuration, salt passage, pressure requirements, membrane selection, fouling and scaling risks, pretreatment adequacy, chemical consumption, and cleaning strategies.
• Perform design reviews, value engineering, technical due diligence, constructability and operability reviews, HAZOP participation, risk assessments, and lifecycle cost evaluations.
• Prepare and review feasibility studies, concept designs, tender documents, employer requirements, bid evaluations, technical clarifications, contractor and vendor submissions, and engineering deliverables during EPC execution.
• Review equipment sizing and selection for pumps, pressure vessels, membranes, blowers, mixers, tanks, clarifiers, filters, chemical systems, sludge equipment, and process instrumentation.
• Analyse plant and pilot data, identify performance gaps, and lead troubleshooting and root-cause analysis for process upsets, membrane fouling, scaling, biofouling, poor effluent quality, excessive chemical use, energy inefficiency, or capacity constraints.

Design

• Develop process design bases, design criteria, water quality data, mass balances, hydraulic profiles, process calculations, process flow diagrams (PFDs), piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), control philosophies, cause-and-effect matrices, equipment data sheets, and technical specifications.
• Develop concept, preliminary, and detailed process designs for SWRO and wastewater treatment systems
• Coordinate technical interfaces with civil, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and control, marine, environmental, and operations disciplines to ensure an integrated and compliant design.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Process Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related discipline. A relevant master's degree is advantageous.
• Minimum 12 years of relevant professional experience in water and wastewater engineering, with involvement in large-scale SWRO and wastewater treatment projects.
• Demonstrated experience in both developing process designs and performing independent design reviews for desalination and wastewater treatment systems.
• Engineering consulting background is preferred, including client-facing advisory work, multidisciplinary coordination, technical reporting, tender support, and review of EPC contractor or vendor designs.
• Proven project experience in the GCC (UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia preferred), with an understanding of regional water quality challenges, climatic conditions, utility expectations, approval processes, and project delivery practices.
• Experience across multiple project stages, preferably including feasibility, concept, FEED, detailed design, procurement, construction support, commissioning, performance testing, and operational handover.
• In-depth knowledge of water chemistry, membrane technology, biological wastewater treatment, disinfection, sludge treatment, scaling and fouling mechanisms, process control, and plant performance assessment.
• Working knowledge of applicable international standards and recognized industry practices for desalination, potable water, wastewater treatment, reuse, environmental compliance, and performance testing.
• Proficiency with SWRO membrane design and projection tools such as WAVE, ROSA, or IMSDesign.
• Ability to develop and verify process calculations, mass balances, hydraulic profiles, equipment sizing, chemical consumption estimates, and energy assessments.
• Practical understanding of SCADA and process-control systems, field instrumentation, alarm and interlock philosophy, and process data analysis.
• Knowledge of energy recovery devices, high-pressure pumping systems, membrane cleaning systems, and energy-efficiency optimization.
• Ability to interpret laboratory, pilot-plant, and operational data and translate findings into robust design criteria and operating recommendations.
• Familiarity with BIM and common engineering document-control and review platforms is desirable.

Core Skills

• Excellent technical writing, presentation, stakeholder-management, and client-interface skills.
• Ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary and multicultural project teams.
• Commercial awareness and an understanding of CAPEX, OPEX, whole-life cost, performance guarantees, and contractual technical risk.

Preferred Experience

• Owner's Engineer, lender's technical advisor, PMC, design consultant, or EPC engineering experience on major desalination and wastewater infrastructure projects.
• Experience with independent water projects, public-private partnership delivery models, and utility or developer technical requirements in the GCC.
• Experience with advanced treatment and reuse applications, including MBR, tertiary filtration, UF, NF, RO, advanced oxidation, and high-quality treated effluent production.
• Professional engineering registration or chartership is preferred.

Work Conditions

• Full-time office based, or project site, depending on project requirements.
• Potential travel within the UAE and KSA, with occasional travel to supplier or manufacturer facilities for technical meetings, inspections, and FATs.
• Flexibility to support commissioning, performance testing, and urgent troubleshooting activities outside normal working hours when required.