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Career of Sophie : work-study programme, international volunteer, then Programme Management Controller at Safran Transmission Systems

Business

Portrait of Sophie, Programme Management Controller at Safran Transmission Systems since March 2018. She joined the company four years earlier as an apprentice, then completed an eighteen-month international corporate volunteer (VIE) placement in the United States.

Having completed her economics and management degree at Nanterre university in Paris, Sophie decided to continue her studies with a Masters in operational management and auditing on a work-study basis. This was how she joined Safran Transmission Systems, first as an internal operations manager for one year, then as a management controller in the following year.

Sponsored traineeship at Safran Transmission Systems: two positions and a meaningful first work experience

During her first year as a sponsored trainee at Safran Transmission Systems' Colombes site, she was responsible for checking the correct application of procedures, processes, accounting standards, internal audits, etc. In practical terms, "my work consisted of checking the various processes in place, then ensuring that they were consistent with the Safran reference system," Sophie explains.

Following what she found to be "a very rewarding experience", Sophie's second trainee year saw her working as a management controller. Her role? To implement the Group Business Object Financial and Consolidation system at Safran Transmission Systems, enabling forecasting data to be supplied to Safran.

The VIE international volunteer programme: an entirely positive experience

With her Master's degree under her belt, Sophie decided she wanted to explore new horizons. "Thanks to the opportunities provided by Safran, I was able to take a VIE placement abroad," she explains. Her overseas experience was in Irving, Dallas County (USA). For a year and a half, she was responsible for auditing the Group's Human Resources department's accounts and invoicing, also discovering an entirely different approach to work during this period. This experience saw Sophie working in a multicultural environment in which employees of various different nationalities rubbed shoulders. "An extremely rich, intense professional adventure. It was an entirely positive experience."

Full-time Programme Management Controller

Before completing her VIE placement, Sophie was offered a Programme Management Controller position at Safran Transmission Systems. "It was an obvious step to continue my career with Safran, as it aligned neatly with my own values; winning as a team, valuing staff and giving people the resources to achieve their goals," she explains. Today, her role is to ensure that the accounts reflect the economic reality of the actual programmes. "I help programme managers and operational staff to identify levers for action so that they can manage the profitability of their own programmes."

And who knows, maybe the next step in her journey will take her to discover a new part of the Safran group. After all, "although all of the Group's entities around the world share the same values, each of them also has its own specific characteristics." And in a Group such as Safran, the opportunities for growth and new discoveries are indeed considerable!