An engineer's career at Kosmos - Mathieu, Product Manager

Can you tell us about your background?

My final internship was with a company that had an office in Montreal. This enabled me to go on to do a VIE with the same company in Canada, working on development activities in the aeronautics sector.

After two years, I returned to France and joined Kosmos in 2009 as a design and development engineer in the aerospace team.design and development engineer in the Skolengo team. I was in charge of specifications, development and, if necessary, technical scoping. As time went by, I took on more and more responsibilities and, as I've always been interested in management, after two years I moved on to the position of technical project manager and development team manager. This involved monitoring the activity of the developers, managing schedules, taking part in recruitment, and overseeing the integration and training of new employees. I've always kept a technical side to my work, particularly when it comes to architecture and design.

In 2014, the question arose of opening a subsidiary abroad. For me, it was a chance to move back to Montreal, and for Kosmos it was a strategic opportunity. We had to think with Jean, the group's president, about how to implement this project and identify the subjects on which the Canadian team would be asked to work.

The idea was for the company to set up its own Timetable design service. This was the subsidiary's first responsibility. To design a Timetable service for Kosmos that was adapted to our needs, modern, intuitive and that would integrate naturally with our solutions.

I found myself in charge of a team of three developers, where we were responsible for the whole project, from scoping to architecture and development, right through to production launch.

Since 2018, the service has been integrated into Skolengo and used by Schools. Timetable is still part of our responsibilities, it's a service we maintain but for the past two years, we've joined the other Skolengo teams to contribute to the development of evolutions to other services.

What is your role as manager of the Canadian team?

Today there are six of us and I manage the branch operationally. I'm in charge of the team, which means I'm responsible forI'm in charge of the team, so I'm responsible but I also play a support role for my teamI also support my team, particularly on technical and architectural issues.

When the subsidiary opened, I was involved in recruiting the team, structuring and choosing the premises. Setting up a team from scratch was a great challenge, both motivating and gratifying. While continuing to work at Kosmos, I had the opportunity to try out something new and take on other responsibilities.

What advice would you give to students considering a career path like yours?

Don't neglect your choice of companies during your Internships.. The subject itself is not decisive. However, the choice of company is more important. In my case, it was the choice I made for my final internship that enabled me to go to Canada. And I wouldn't be where I am today without it.

What's more, I wouldn't recommend choosing a company for your final internship solely on one particular criterion. Working for Kosmos, it was all about thinking through the mission, the business context and the possibilities for development..

And finally, to seize opportunities as soon as you finish your studies. In my opinion, this is the most opportune time to experiment, like going to work abroad for example.