Innovation Manager - Desalination

We are seeking a highly accomplished Innovation Manager – Desalination to lead the end-to-end innovation, research strategy, and technology deployment for seawater and brackish water desalination at the Water Technology Centre. This role is responsible for defining the long-term desalination technology roadmap for L&T’s Water & Effluent Treatment IC, driving advancements in membrane performance, energy efficiency, brine management, and lifecycle cost optimization across large-scale desalination projects.

The role requires deep technical mastery of desalination processes and strong leadership capability to guide multidisciplinary teams across membranes, process design, materials, and digital integration. The Innovation Manager will provide strategic and technical leadership to both the Desalination Expert and the Membrane Specialist, ensuring strong alignment between fundamental research, pilot validation, and field deployment. The candidate will work closely with business leaders, EPC teams, digital teams, global technology partners, and clients to ensure that innovations developed at WTC transition successfully into reliable, commercially deployable solutions.

This position blends scientific depth with commercial and operational perspective. The Innovation Manager will continuously evaluate global desalination trends, emerging disruptions, start-up technologies, and regulatory developments, while guiding internal R&D programs focused on RO, FO, CCRO, hybrid membrane–thermal systems, and advanced concentrate management. The role is central to strengthening L&T’s leadership in large-scale desalination in India and international markets.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and own the long-term desalination innovation roadmap for WTC in alignment with WET-IC business growth plans.
• Lead large-scale R&D programs focused on membrane performance enhancement, energy optimization, process intensification, and brine management.
• Provide direct technical and managerial leadership to the Desalination Expert and the Membrane Specialist, including mentoring and capability building.
• Oversee the design, modelling, piloting, and scale-up of next-generation desalination plants and demonstrator systems.
• Establish and manage strategic collaborations with global technology providers, research institutions, start-ups, and industry consortia.
• Work closely with EPC, O&M, and business teams to ensure all innovations are commercially viable and field-deployable.
• Represent WTC in national and international desalination forums, and drive intellectual property creation through publications and patents.
• Establish strong documentation, benchmarking, and performance review frameworks for all desalination innovations.
  
  

Qualifications

• Education: PhD/M.Tech in Chemical, Mechanical, Environmental Engineering, or equivalent.
• Experience: Minimum 15 years total experience, with significant hands-on exposure to desalination R&D, process design, piloting, commissioning, and large-scale plant execution.
• Deep expertise in RO, FO, CCRO, membrane systems, thermodynamics, fouling science, energy recovery, and hybrid desalination configurations.
• Strong leadership experience in managing senior technical teams and multi-partner research programs.
• Hands-on experience with desalination simulation tools such as ROSA, WAVE, HYSYS, or equivalent.
• Publications: Minimum 5 peer-reviewed high-impact papers; patents and book chapters are highly desirable.
• Excellent stakeholder management, program governance, and strategic communication skills.