A leading water utilities or industrial company in Sharjah, UAE is hiring a Senior Chemist — Water Treatment. This full-time role is responsible for monitoring water quality, conducting chemical analysis, managing chemical dosing, and supporting the efficient operation of Reverse Osmosis (RO) water treatment plants — covering seawater intake through storage quality compliance, chemical inventory management, operational performance monitoring, technical report preparation, team supervision and training, and full HSE and regulatory compliance. BSc in Chemical Engineering or Chemistry required, along with experience in water treatment, RO operations, and laboratory analysis.
Role Context — Water Treatment / RO Plant, Sharjah UAE
Sector: Water treatment and desalination — one of the UAE’s most strategically critical industrial sectors, given the region’s reliance on seawater desalination and water treatment for potable, industrial, and commercial water supply
Technology: Reverse Osmosis (RO) water treatment — the primary desalination technology used across the UAE and GCC for converting seawater into high-quality treated water for industrial and domestic use
Location: Sharjah, UAE — one of the UAE’s major industrial emirates with a significant and growing water treatment, utilities, and industrial manufacturing sector
Importance: Water quality and chemical treatment management at RO plants is a safety-critical, technically demanding responsibility where the Senior Chemist’s expertise directly protects public health, plant equipment integrity, and regulatory compliance
Career: An excellent opportunity for experienced water treatment chemists to advance their career in the UAE’s strategically important water utilities and desalination sector
Senior Water Chemist Scope — Sharjah RO Plant
Water Sampling: Collect and analyse water samples from seawater intake through storage — full water quality compliance monitoring
Chemical Dosing: Monitor and optimise chemical dosing throughout the RO water treatment process
Chemical Inventory: Manage chemical inventory and stock levels — including annual chemical requirement planning
Reporting: Prepare chemical analysis reports, operational records, and technical documentation
Team: Supervise and guide team members — support technical training and development
Compliance: Ensure compliance with operational procedures, quality standards, and HSE requirements
Position Overview
This Senior Chemist — Water Treatment role in Sharjah, UAE is a technically demanding and operationally critical chemistry position within a Reverse Osmosis (RO) water treatment plant — responsible for the full spectrum of water quality monitoring, chemical analysis, chemical dosing management, and technical operations support that ensures the consistent production of high-quality treated water in compliance with applicable quality, safety, and regulatory standards. The Senior Chemist collects and analyses water samples across the complete treatment train from seawater intake through storage, monitors and optimises chemical dosing at each treatment stage, manages chemical inventory and annual requirements planning, prepares technical reports and operational records, monitors plant performance and recommends improvements, supervises and develops team members, and ensures all activities comply with HSE and quality management requirements. A BSc in Chemical Engineering or Chemistry and solid experience in water treatment, RO plant operations, or water quality laboratory analysis is required.
Why This Role Matters: As Senior Water Chemist in Sharjah, UAE — working on Reverse Osmosis seawater treatment — you will protect the quality and safety of treated water that industrial operations, facilities, and communities in the UAE depend on every day, applying your water chemistry expertise and analytical precision to a genuinely safety-critical role where the accuracy of your chemical dosing decisions and water quality assessments directly determines whether treated water meets the quality specifications that protect both human health and plant equipment integrity, contribute to the UAE’s strategically essential water security infrastructure — the desalination and water treatment sector that makes human habitation and industrial activity in one of the world’s most arid regions possible, apply advanced chemical analysis techniques and RO process chemistry knowledge in a technically rich, continuously challenging water treatment environment where process optimisation, chemical management efficiency, and regulatory compliance are all simultaneously required, and build a highly specialised and genuinely valuable water treatment chemistry career in Sharjah — a UAE emirate with a growing and diversifying industrial and utilities sector that demands expert water treatment professionals.
Key Responsibilities
Water Quality Monitoring & Chemical Analysis — Seawater Intake to Storage
- Collect water samples at all defined monitoring points across the full RO treatment train — from seawater intake through pre-treatment, RO membranes, post-treatment, and finished water storage — ensuring that the sampling programme provides complete, representative coverage of water quality at every stage of the treatment process with the frequency required by plant operating procedures and regulatory requirements
- Conduct comprehensive chemical analysis on collected water samples — performing and overseeing laboratory tests for all required water quality parameters including turbidity, conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS), pH, chlorine residual, hardness, alkalinity, silica, SDI (Silt Density Index), microbiological indicators, and all other parameters specified in the plant’s water quality monitoring plan
- Evaluate water quality analysis results against defined acceptance criteria and treatment targets — identifying any parameters that deviate from specification, determining the significance of deviations, and initiating appropriate responses ranging from process adjustment through operational intervention to formal non-conformance reporting
- Maintain complete, accurate, and chronologically organised water quality monitoring records — ensuring that all sample collection and analysis data is recorded correctly and immediately, that historical trends are preserved and accessible for operational review and regulatory inspection, and that water quality records meet the documentation standards applicable to the plant’s quality management and regulatory compliance framework
Chemical Dosing Monitoring & Optimisation
- Monitor chemical dosing at all dosing points throughout the RO water treatment process — including coagulation and flocculation chemical dosing in pre-treatment, antiscalant and biocide dosing to protect RO membranes, pH adjustment chemical dosing, disinfection chemical dosing in post-treatment, and any other chemical treatment steps in the plant’s chemical treatment scheme
- Optimise chemical dosing rates based on real-time water quality analysis results, feed water quality variations, plant operational conditions, and process performance data — adjusting dosing pump settings, chemical concentrations, or dosing sequences to maintain optimum treatment effectiveness while controlling chemical consumption costs and minimising the risk of overdosing or underdosing
- Evaluate the performance of chemical treatment programmes against key process performance indicators — including RO membrane fouling rates, scaling tendency, biofouling indicators, permeate quality, and pre-treatment filter performance — and recommend dosing programme modifications that improve treatment effectiveness, extend membrane service life, or reduce overall chemical treatment costs
- Collaborate with operations and maintenance teams on chemical dosing system performance — identifying and reporting chemical dosing pump reliability issues, dosing line blockages, or chemical feed system malfunctions that affect treatment effectiveness, and coordinating with maintenance to ensure that chemical dosing infrastructure is maintained in reliable, accurately calibrated operating condition
Chemical Inventory Management & Annual Requirements Planning
- Manage chemical inventory for the RO plant — maintaining accurate, current records of chemical stock quantities across all storage locations, monitoring consumption rates against planned dosing programmes, calculating remaining stock durations, and initiating timely procurement requests that ensure chemical stocks never fall to levels that could interrupt treatment operations
- Monitor chemical stock levels on a daily basis — conducting or overseeing regular physical stock checks, verifying stock figures against system records, investigating any stock discrepancies, and maintaining the chemical inventory accuracy that is essential for reliable supply chain planning and cost management
- Prepare annual chemical requirements estimates — analysing historical chemical consumption data, projecting treatment chemical needs based on planned production volumes and anticipated feed water quality, preparing well-documented annual chemical procurement plans, and providing management and procurement teams with the accurate chemical demand forecasts needed for budget planning and supply contract negotiations
- Ensure safe chemical storage and handling across all plant chemical storage areas — verifying that chemicals are stored in designated areas with correct segregation of incompatible materials, that chemical storage areas meet HSE requirements, that chemical safety data sheets are current and accessible, and that all personnel handling chemicals are trained in correct handling and emergency response procedures
Reporting, Operational Records & Process Improvement
- Prepare chemical analysis reports, operational records, and technical documentation to the standard required for plant management review, regulatory reporting, and quality management system compliance — producing clear, accurate, well-structured technical reports that communicate water quality status, chemical dosing performance, treatment effectiveness, and any significant operational findings or recommendations
- Monitor RO plant operational performance — tracking key performance indicators including RO recovery rate, permeate quality, specific energy consumption, membrane differential pressure trends, chemical usage efficiency, and pre-treatment performance — and identifying process performance trends that indicate developing operational issues or improvement opportunities
- Recommend process improvements based on operational performance analysis and water quality monitoring data — contributing technically informed suggestions for optimising the water treatment process, improving chemical usage efficiency, extending membrane life, reducing energy consumption, or enhancing the overall reliability and quality performance of the RO plant
- Support continuous improvement initiatives and maintain accurate technical documentation — contributing chemistry expertise and process knowledge to operational improvement projects, and ensuring that all technical procedures, chemical treatment protocols, and operational records are current, complete, and accessible to all authorised personnel who need them for safe and effective plant operation
Team Supervision, Training & HSE Compliance
- Supervise and guide water treatment laboratory and plant chemistry team members — providing clear task direction, reviewing work quality, answering technical questions, monitoring individual performance, and creating the structured, professional work environment that enables every team member to perform their water quality monitoring and chemical management responsibilities effectively and safely
- Support technical training and development of team members — developing and delivering training on water analysis techniques, chemical handling procedures, laboratory instrument operation, chemical dosing system management, HSE requirements, and any other technical competencies relevant to the water treatment chemistry function’s operational responsibilities
- Ensure compliance with all operational procedures, quality standards, and HSE requirements across all water treatment chemistry activities — including correct use of personal protective equipment for chemical handling, adherence to confined space and lone working safety procedures, compliance with chemical storage and waste disposal regulations, and participation in HSE inspections, incident reporting, and safety improvement activities
- Maintain knowledge of HSE, quality, and environmental standards related to water treatment — staying current with applicable UAE regulatory requirements, industry best practices, and evolving environmental and chemical safety standards, and proactively updating operating procedures and team training to reflect changes in the applicable regulatory and technical framework
Qualifications & Requirements
Education
- Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, or a closely related science or engineering field — a relevant technical degree is a mandatory qualification requirement for this Senior Chemist — Water Treatment role
Experience Requirements
- Practical professional experience in water treatment, RO plant operations, water quality analysis, or laboratory operations — with a demonstrated understanding of seawater or brackish water desalination processes, RO membrane chemistry, chemical treatment programmes, and the water quality monitoring activities required to maintain treated water quality compliance
- Strong knowledge of chemical analysis methodologies applicable to water treatment — including the analytical techniques, laboratory instruments, and data interpretation skills required to monitor the full range of water quality parameters from seawater intake through finished water storage
- Experience with laboratory instruments and data analysis software — confident use of water quality analysis instruments (spectrophotometers, titrators, pH and conductivity meters, turbidimeters, IC instruments, and similar) and data management or SCADA/DCS software for operational data collection and trend analysis
- Knowledge of HSE, quality, and environmental standards related to water treatment — including chemical handling safety, laboratory safety, waste disposal regulations, and the operational quality and environmental compliance requirements applicable to water treatment plant operations in the UAE
About Water Treatment Chemistry Careers in Sharjah, UAE
The UAE’s water treatment and desalination sector is one of the most technically sophisticated and strategically essential industrial sectors in the Middle East — responsible for producing the vast majority of the country’s potable and industrial process water from seawater through advanced desalination technologies including Reverse Osmosis and Multi-Stage Flash distillation. In a region where annual rainfall is minimal and natural freshwater resources are severely limited, the desalination and water treatment infrastructure that Senior Water Chemists help operate and optimise is quite literally indispensable to human habitation, economic activity, and public health across the UAE.
Sharjah, as one of the UAE’s largest and most industrially active emirates, has a substantial water treatment and utilities sector supporting its population, industrial zones, and commercial facilities — creating consistent professional demand for experienced water treatment chemists who combine strong analytical chemistry competence with practical RO plant process knowledge, chemical management expertise, and the HSE and regulatory compliance awareness that safe, compliant water treatment operations require.
Career Excellence: Join this Senior Water Chemist opportunity in Sharjah, UAE — where your RO plant chemistry expertise, seawater desalination process knowledge, chemical dosing management skills, and analytical precision will protect the quality and safety of treated water for industrial and community users and advance your specialised water treatment chemistry career in one of the UAE’s most strategically important and technically sophisticated industrial sectors.
Who Should Apply?
- Water Treatment Chemists & RO Plant Specialists: With a BSc in Chemical Engineering or Chemistry and hands-on experience in RO plant water chemistry, seawater desalination operations, chemical dosing management, and water quality laboratory analysis — ready for a senior chemistry role in Sharjah’s water treatment sector
- Desalination & Industrial Water Treatment Professionals: With experience in seawater or industrial water treatment operations — managing chemical dosing programmes, water quality compliance monitoring, and chemical inventory across an RO or multi-stage flash desalination plant environment
- Water Quality Laboratory Analysts with Process Experience: With strong water chemistry laboratory analytical skills — proficient in chemical testing of water at all treatment stages — and process chemistry knowledge applicable to RO membrane protection, antiscalant dosing, disinfection management, and pre-treatment optimisation
- UAE-Based Water & Utilities Chemistry Professionals: Currently based in Sharjah or the UAE with relevant water treatment chemistry experience — familiar with UAE regulatory requirements for water quality and chemical safety — and ready to apply their expertise in a senior, supervisory water chemistry role in Sharjah’s active utilities and industrial sector
- Chemical Engineers Seeking Water Treatment Specialisation: With a Chemical Engineering background and experience in process chemistry, chemical dosing systems, or industrial water quality management — ready to develop a specialised senior career in the
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