Senior Product Manager - Ceramic Membranes / Desalination

About Us Are you ready to shape how cutting-edge technologies are positioned, understood, and adopted by real markets? At VentureOne, we build ventures and commercialize breakthrough technologies emerging from advanced research. Our focus spans Aerospace and Space, Security and Defense, Sustainability, Environment and Energy, and Transportation, with technologies across Cryptography, Secure Systems, Directed Energy, Advanced Materials, Autonomous Systems, and more. About The Role We are looking for a Product Manager / Senior Manager with strong hands-on experience in SWRO desalination plants, a solid understanding of RO and upstream pretreatment, and direct ceramic membrane experience. The role is product-focused, with a strong operational angle. The person will work closely with research, engineering and commercial teams to ensure the membrane product reflects real plant requirements and that customer pilots are designed around the KPIs that matter most for adoption. Key Responsibilities • Own the product definition and evolution of the ceramic membrane solution, incorporating customer, operational and technical requirements. • Bring a strong plant-operations perspective to product and system design, ensuring solutions are practical and suited to real desalination operating conditions. • Work closely with research and engineering teams to translate operational requirements and customer feedback into product improvements. • Own the product roadmap and support the scale-up and commercialization of the product, including the transition from pilot deployments to standardized commercial offerings and broader customer implementation. • Define pilot scope, operating parameters, KPIs and success criteria around the performance indicators that are most relevant to customers. • Anticipate operational challenges and incorporate these considerations into product and pilot design. • Support pilot commissioning, operation and performance assessment, translating results and customer feedback into product improvements. • Engage with customers, plant operators and O&M teams to understand operational needs and translate them into product requirements. • Support the scale-up and commercialization of the product, including the transition from pilot deployments to broader customer implementation Unit economics and value case • Own the product cost model and target cost per module and per m³ treated, working with the research and manufacturing teams. • Build the customer's total cost of ownership case against conventional pretreatment and RO processes ( e.g.: membrane life, flux, cleaning frequency, chemical use, footprint...) • Make the trade-offs between performance, membrane life and manufacturing cost explicit in product decisions. Design for manufacturing and scale-up • Work with the research centre and the manufacturing lead to freeze product specifications, tolerances and quality acceptance criteria as the product moves from lab to pilot line to volume production. • Work with the research and manufacturing teams to assess how design choices (including geometry, materials, coatings and module format) affect scalability, manufacturing yield, product cost and performance • Support the product roadmap and stage gates for technology and manufacturing readiness. Supply chain • Identify critical raw materials (e.g., alumina, silicon carbide and zirconia powders) and bought-in components (housings, seals, potting, skid parts). • Support supplier selection and qualification, second sourcing, lead-time planning and localisation, and flag supply risks that affect cost or delivery. Standard product and system integration • Define standard module and skid formats, interfaces with existing RO plants, and retrofit options for plants already running. • Own product documentation: requirements specification, datasheets, operating and cleaning manuals. Commercial support • Provide technical input to proposals, tenders and pricing, including the performance guarantees and warranty terms the product can safely support. • Support vendor registration and technology approval with utilities, EPC contractors and O&M operators in the GCC. • Track competing ceramic and polymeric pretreatment suppliers and benchmark the product against them. Field performance and IP • Set up pilot data collection and normalisation, failure analysis and root cause investigation, and feed the findings back into design. • Capture field learnings that support the patent strategy, working with the research team. • Cover certification and compliance (e.g., drinking-water contact approvals where needed) and health, safety and environmental aspects such as cleaning chemicals and end-of-life disposal. Minimum Qualifications • Bachelor’s degree in chemical, mechanical, environmental or process engineering, materials science, or another relevant technical discipline. • Strong hands-on experience in seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants. • Direct experience operating, commissioning, optimizing or troubleshooting membrane systems. • Strong understanding of RO systems and upstream pretreatment processes. • Direct experience with ceramic membrane systems is required, including practical exposure to their operation, piloting, commissioning, optimization or troubleshooting. • Experience with pilot or demonstration systems in real operating environments. • Strong understanding of membrane performance and operating considerations, including fouling, cleaning strategies, hydraulics, pressure losses, membrane integrity and operating envelopes. • Ability to assess product and system designs from an operational perspective and identify practical opportunities for improvement. • Experience defining relevant operating KPIs, testing protocols and performance criteria. • Comfortable working directly with customers and plant/O&M teams. • Product management or product development experience in water technology or industrial equipment, including requirements definition and stage-gate processes. • Exposure to scaling a membrane or ceramic product from lab or pilot to commercial production, and a working understanding of ceramic manufacturing (extrusion, sintering, coating). • Lifecycle cost / TCO modelling (CAPEX and OPEX). • Vendor-side experience, with an OEM, technology supplier or EPC contractor, alongside operator experience. This gives exposure to tenders, approval processes and performance guarantees. • Familiarity with membrane quality testing (integrity, bubble point, permeability) and quality systems such as ISO 9001 and NSF 61. Preferred Qualifcations • Experience in an early-stage venture setting with incomplete data and shifting priorities • Ideally, experience in desalination plants in the GCC / Middle East. We provide a competitive, tax-free salary and a comprehensive benefits package in a collaborative, innovative, and inclusive work environment. Our benefits include an education allowance, free on-site meals, annual flight allowance, health coverage, relocation support (if applicable), and access to well-being activities such as sports and recreational events. Join u

Bachelor’s degree in chemical, mechanical, environmental or process engineering, materials science, or another relevant technical discipline. Strong hands-on experience in seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants. Direct experience operating, commissioning, optimizing or troubleshooting membrane systems. Strong understanding of RO systems and upstream pretreatment processes. Direct experience with ceramic membrane systems is required, including practical exposure to their operation, piloting, commissioning, optimization or troubleshooting. Experience with pilot or demonstration systems in real operating environments. Strong understanding of membrane performance and operating considerations, including fouling, cleaning strategies, hydraulics, pressure losses, membrane integrity and operating envelopes. Ability to assess product and system designs from an operational perspective and identify practical opportunities for improvement. Experience defining relevant operating KPIs, testing protocols and performance criteria. Comfortable working directly with customers and plant/O&M teams. Product management or product development experience in water technology or industrial equipment, including requirements definition and stage-gate processes. Exposure to scaling a membrane or ceramic product from lab or pilot to commercial production, and a working understanding of ceramic manufacturing (extrusion, sintering, coating). Lifecycle cost / TCO modelling (CAPEX and OPEX). Vendor-side experience, with an OEM, technology supplier or EPC contractor, alongside operator experience. Familiarity with membrane quality testing (integrity, bubble point, permeability) and quality systems such as ISO 9001 and NSF 61.

Own the product definition and evolution of the ceramic membrane solution, incorporating customer, operational and technical requirements. Bring a strong plant-operations perspective to product and system design, ensuring solutions are practical and suited to real desalination operating conditions. Work closely with research and engineering teams to translate operational requirements and customer feedback into product improvements. Own the product roadmap and support the scale-up and commercialization of the product, including the transition from pilot deployments to standardized commercial offerings and broader customer implementation. Define pilot scope, operating parameters, KPIs and success criteria around the performance indicators that are most relevant to customers. Anticipate operational challenges and incorporate these considerations into product and pilot design. Support pilot commissioning, operation and performance assessment, translating results and customer feedback into product improvements. Engage with customers, plant operators and O&M teams to understand operational needs and translate them into product requirements. Support the scale-up and commercialization of the product, including the transition from pilot deployments to broader customer implementation. Own the product cost model and target cost per module and per m³ treated, working with the research and manufacturing teams. Build the customer’s total cost of ownership case against conventional pretreatment and RO processes. Make the trade-offs between performance, membrane life and manufacturing cost explicit in product decisions. Define standard module and skid formats, interfaces with existing RO plants, and retrofit options for plants already running. Own product documentation: requirements specification, datasheets, operating and cleaning manuals. Provide technical input to proposals, tenders and pricing, including performance guarantees and warranty terms. Support vendor registration and technology approval with utilities, EPC contractors and O&M operators in the GCC. Track competing ceramic and polymeric pretreatment suppliers and benchmark the product against them. Set up pilot data collection and normalisation, failure analysis and root cause investigation, and feed findings back into design. Capture field learnings that support the patent strategy. Cover certification and compliance (e.g., drinking-water contact approvals) and health, safety and environmental aspects such as cleaning chemicals and end-of-life disposal.