Who are we? Discover Saur!

Saur, a specialist in water and essential services, supports local authorities and industrial clients in the sustainable management of water resources.

With over 12,000 employees, 20 million customers served and a presence in more than 20 countries, the Group works every day towards a common goal:

💧 to restore water to the value it deserves.

YOUR DAY-TO-DAY WORK AT SAUR

Building on its sustained growth in recent years, the SAUR Group aims to accelerate its development by strengthening its Group Technical Department.

As the key driver of our operational excellence and the roll-out of our current and future solutions, the Group Technical Department plays a major role in supporting our Business Units both in France and internationally, across both municipal and industrial sectors.

With this in mind, we are seeking our Senior Drinking Water Expert.

Within the Group Technical Department, you will help to develop the practices, skills and technical standards that underpin the SAUR Group’s growth and transformation ambitions. In this role, you will lead strategic expertise relating to drinking water production and the performance of treatment processes.

Your area of responsibility covers the various process categories (physico-chemical processes, membrane processes, adsorption, disinfection) used in the production of drinking water, as well as the hydraulic systems of treatment works.

Working closely with operational teams, subject matter experts and innovation projects, you act as a point of reference and validation within the Group. Through your expertise and your ability to anticipate future challenges, you support the professional development of teams, inform strategic technical decisions and help to develop solutions that will address the environmental, health and regulatory challenges faced by different countries.

Your Group-wide role enables you to lead the community of experts in your field across our business units, both to support them and to arbitrate and/or validate their decisions.

Taking up this role means playing an active part in the transformation of a major player in the water sector, committed to innovation, sustainable performance and operational excellence. You will have the unique opportunity to make an impact across the Group by helping to modernise our business lines and develop the services that will shape the sustainable management of water in the future.

The main activities are divided between these two areas of responsibility as follows:

Develop and promote the Group’s technical expertise

• Define the Group’s strategic and technical direction, particularly in the field of innovative solutions;

• Lead communities of experts in their field;

• Structure and maintain the Group’s technical knowledge base;

• Identify and develop synergies between the Group’s various entities in order to accelerate the sharing of best practice;

• Consolidate, harmonise, validate and disseminate the Group’s technical knowledge;

• Provide support to Business Unit experts to develop the business;

• Support the development of staff skills and training;

• Ensure the technical consistency of marketing and sales offerings;

• Initiate and lead innovation programmes in collaboration with R&D teams and business lines.

Strengthening the Group’s risk management

• Approve the Group’s complex or strategic tenders;

• Provide technical support for crisis management at Group level;

• Identify, formalise and manage relationships with external partners on behalf of the Group and the business units;

• Support the delivery of major contracts or those involving high technical complexity;

• Help ensure the smooth start-up phases of new contracts;

• Monitor technological, regulatory and competitive developments;

• Provide expertise to the Procurement function in the evaluation and selection of strategic suppliers;

• Represent the Group and coordinate its participation in professional and technical bodies and sector-specific associations.

YOUR PROFILE

Engineer or PhD in Process Engineering or Chemical Engineering, specialising in Water Treatment, the Environment or Physical Chemistry.

At least 15 years’ experience (20 years preferred) in a design consultancy specialising in water treatment and/or with expertise in operations, construction or R&D.

Technical skills

Treatment processes:

• Sand filtration, multi-bed filtration, activated carbon filtration, membrane filtration (microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis), ion exchange filtration, ceramic membrane filtration

• UV disinfection, chlorination, ozone disinfection

• Water softening, ion-exchange demineralisation, mixed-bed polishing, electrodialysis (EDI)

Hydraulics:

• Calculation of pressure losses, sizing of pumping stations, mixing systems (static and dynamic mixers) and backwash systems

• Biological processes

• Nitrification, denitrification, dephosphatisation, anaerobic digestion, biofilm formation, disinfection kinetics, biodegradability

• Physico-chemical processes:

• Acid-base equilibria, redox reactions, calcium-carbonate equilibria, coagulation/flocculation, chlorination/ozonation, adsorption and membrane processes.

• Water chemistry (acid-base equilibria, redox reactions, calcium-carbonate equilibria, coagulation/flocculation, chlorination/ozonation, adsorption, disinfection kinetics, water hardness).

• Water quality, compliance and regulatory developments (micropollutants, PGSSE)

• Knowledge of public service delegation (DSP) contracts and local authority clients.

• Skills in the areas of sensors (Redox, O₂, pH, conductivity, NH₄, NO₃, COD, etc.) and process modelling (SUMO, LPWIN, BioWin) would be an advantage.

Required skills

• Proven technical leadership and a team-oriented approach

• Rigorous approach and attention to detail

• Project management

• Strong analytical and synthesis skills

• Excellent interpersonal, written and oral communication skills

• Ability to listen and persuade

• Ability to work across departments

• Results-oriented

• Ability to teach and pass on knowledge

• Ability to anticipate issues

• Sense of responsibility and ability to mediate and make decisions

• Curiosity

Languages:

• Fluent English essential (full writing proficiency),

• Knowledge of another language is desirable.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Travel within France and internationally is to be expected.

YOUR SALARY AND BENEFITS AT SAUR

You will join the Saur Group without any probationary period.

Your fixed remuneration will consist of:

- a basic salary of between 50 000 K euros and 60 000 euros depending on your profile, paid over 13.3 months

- a fixed allowance of €400 gross per year known as the ‘water sector allowance’

Variable remuneration may also be added:

- bonuses/allowances paid according to your duties (on-call duty, travel, night work, etc.)

- variable profit-sharing and incentive bonuses depending on the company’s results

You will benefit from social security cover, more than 50 per cent of which is funded by the company:

- supplementary health insurance (to cover your healthcare costs in addition to the National Health Service)

- personal protection cover (to ensure your salary is maintained in the event of health problems).

You will be able to build up savings through the Group Savings Scheme and the Collective Retirement Savings Scheme (PERECO) and benefit from a company contribution of up to 960 euros gross per year.

You will, of course, be entitled to 25 days’ paid annual leave, plus RTT days (approximately 14 days depending on the year).

Joining Saur means joining a Group that will offer you excellent and attractive career development opportunities. The #missionwater is waiting for you!

OUR COMMITMENT

As a committed employer, the Saur Group promotes diversity and considers all applications on the basis of equal merit.

Saur also places great importance on ethics, putting integrity and transparency at the heart of its activities. Join us to help create a working environment where ethical principles guide every decision and action.