I am a computer engineer and have worked with HR systems since 2004. My career has taken me through customer projects, HCM and WFM software vendors, and the design and implementation of my own platforms.
With Surikai engineering, I support organisations that need to connect business goals to practical decisions and implementation.
In 2005, at the company that was to become Gemalto (now part of Thales), I led the selection and implementation of a new HR system, replacing SAP HR, for 5,000 employees in 30 countries, in less than a year. The project covered requirements, vendor consultation, payroll interfaces, data migration and validation with local HR teams.
The project followed the IPO of Axalto, the former Schlumberger cards business. When Axalto merged with Gemplus to form Gemalto, I served as programme manager. I mapped the information systems of both groups across 40 countries, working directly with both CIOs, prepared Day One of the new group, then co-led the selection of the group ERP.
Before that, I started at Cipes, Peugeot’s training centre near Sochaux, with a training design assignment for Schlumberger’s PLM system. I then joined Schlumberger, first as administrator of the solution and then as project manager, leading its roll-out to research and manufacturing sites across three continents.
My years on the client side taught me to measure a software decision by its consequences on the ground, well beyond the initial selection.
Vendor side: understanding capabilities and commitments
After two years in presales at Gemalto, covering digital security and identity management, I joined Lawson Software in 2009, then Infor after the acquisition. Over fourteen years there, I moved from presales consultant to manager, then to presales director for HCM and WFM in Europe. I also led, for almost two years and from France, a US-based team responsible for designing HCM demonstration tools and environments.
At Infor, between 2017 and 2019, I also led European presales for the services industries, covering finance, supply chain and payroll alongside HR.
At Zebra Technologies, from 2023 to 2025, I led the EMEA team of technical consultants for the Workcloud solution, including WFM, then took charge of its business development in France.
Over these years I built customer scenarios, prepared demonstrations, responded to tenders and worked with business, HR, IT and finance leadership. This experience helps distinguish an available capability, a feasible adaptation and a commitment that needs closer verification.
Since 2026, I have been putting this knowledge of software vendors at the service of organisations that select and deploy their solutions, independently.
In implementation: testing ideas against real use
I started developing software well before my first job, alongside my studies. While still at school, I designed and developed the inventory management software for an industrial company of around a hundred employees. I defined its features with the people who would use it, spending time in the warehouse with the storekeepers, some of whom had decades of experience, as well as with the production and quality managers. I then provided user training, support and enhancements for several years, until the software was interfaced with the group’s new ERP.
As a student, I worked for several years with the software subsidiary of an accounting firm, developing business applications for its clients, from invoicing to accounting and payroll.
I stayed directly involved in technical delivery at software vendors. At Infor, I built a new cloud demonstration environment for the global HCM team. I also led the French certification of a North American accounting software product, working directly on the technical aspects with development teams in India, the Philippines and the UK, through to the demonstration before the auditors and the award of the certification. At Zebra, I made the demonstration platform more reliable and extended presales reporting globally.
More recently, with Surikai, I designed and built the Career & Mobility Hub, a platform connecting candidates and recruiters, built on Discourse. It combines CV management, AI-assisted profile search (RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)RAG enables an AI system to retrieve relevant information from a document collection and use only the selected extracts to generate a response, rather than sending the entire corpus to the language model. This improves response relevance and helps control which data is shared with the model.) and a European cloud architecture.
I start with a focused scope to deliver quickly and validate real-world use. The architecture is designed from the ground up to let the solution evolve without starting over, with operations and reversibility kept under control.
One conversation, from the CHRO to the CFO and the CIO.
I work on HR processes and talent management with a CHRO, build a value study with a CFO, then address cloud architecture and AI service integration with the CIO. Throughout these discussions I keep the same thread: business objectives, expected value, feasibility and the conditions for adoption.
Since 1998, I have worked on international projects, with teams spread across Europe, the United States and Asia, and clients in Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
A global model has to take account of local realities that can differ widely. Employment law, employee representation, payroll, statutory reporting and data protection all directly shape HR system choices. GDPR, French specifics such as the DSN payroll declaration, and the new EU pay transparency requirements are examples.
In an international roll-out, I therefore aim to identify from the scoping stage what can be shared across all countries and what needs to remain local.
AI: from predictive analytics to generative models
I have worked on AI solutions for HR and operations since 2014, first on the vendor side. That year I led the European launch of Infor Talent Science, a predictive talent analytics solution based on machine learning, which came from Infor’s acquisition of PeopleAnswers. I then took part in the launch of the conversational assistant built into Infor’s HCM solutions.
At Zebra, I presented the Workcloud solutions for deep-learning anomaly detection and machine-learning demand forecasting, designed for retail and frontline teams.
With the Hub, I moved on to designing a solution myself, using Mistral AI language models. RAG selects the relevant information in CVs instead of sending entire documents to the model. The architecture aims to use the capabilities of language models while keeping control of the HR data sent to them, through targeted search in CVs, pseudonymisation of personal information and local processing.
I therefore approach AI from use cases and expected outcomes, taking into account confidentiality, data control and operating costs.
Key facts
Education
Computer engineering degree, UTBM, after a two-year IT diploma (DUT)
