Job Description

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 Group Expert in Microbiology & Analytical Chemistry.

As part of the Group’s Technical Department, you will help to drive the development of practices, skills and technical standards that underpin the SAUR Group’s growth and transformation ambitions. In this role, you will lead strategic expertise in the areas of water quality, health risk management and process performance.

Your area of responsibility covers analysis, understanding biological mechanisms, optimising treatment processes and keeping abreast of changes in regulatory and standards requirements.

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

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

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 units.

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, Chemical Engineering specialising in Water Treatment, Biology, Biotechnology or Environmental Science.

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 expertise

Biological processes:

• Nitrification, denitrification, biological phosphorus removal, anaerobic digestion, biofilm formation, biodegradability (AOC, BDOC), disinfection kinetics.
• Water analysis:
• Analytical chemistry (UV-Vis spectroscopy, total organic carbon (TOC) analysis, ion chromatography (IC), gas or liquid chromatography (GC/LC) and HPLC.
• Microbiology (methods for biological characterisation and monitoring, sampling protocols, conventional microbiology, molecular biology (qPCR, dPCR), biofilm analysis and activity indicators).
• Water chemistry (acid-base equilibria, redox reactions, calcium-carbonate equilibria, coagulation/flocculation, chlorination/ozonation, adsorption, disinfection kinetics, water hardness).
• Water quality and regulatory compliance
• Pathogen monitoring and risk assessment for raw water, treatment processes, distribution networks, discharges, reuse systems and bathing waters.
• Organic and inorganic micropollutants.
• Regulations (DERU, PGSSE, Continuous Monitoring).
• Physico-chemical processes
• Acid-base equilibria, redox reactions, calcium-carbonate equilibria, coagulation/flocculation, chlorination/ozonation, adsorption and membrane processes.
• REUT (Reuse of Treated Wastewater)
• Microbiology applied to water reuse and regulatory compliance.
• Experience in the fields of sensors (Redox, O₂, pH, conductivity, NH₄, NO₃, COD, etc.) and process modelling (SUMO, LPWIN, BioWin) would be an advantage.

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 euros and 60,000 euros depending on your profile, paid over 14 months
• The target bonus is 10% acording to company policy, individual objectives, pro-rata to the accrual etc
• You will, of course, be entitled to 22 days’ paid annual leave

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.