Software engineers in demand at Safran!

For a high-tech group such as Safran, digitalization is essential to its competitive edge. As well as contributing to increased productivity, quality and operational excellence, digitalization also helps Safran use data more effectively to add value and create new services. Hence the importance of software engineering, a cornerstone of our digital transformation. “Software development is at the heart of our digitalization process,” notes Émilie Delacourte, Chief Information Technology Officer.. “It’s used for business applications dedicated to production management or quality, for instance, and also for data analysis, helping us optimize product operability or deliver more efficient customer service. It’s based on technical skills – programming languages, agile methodologies, etc. – and also on the ability to understand business needs in order to deliver relevant, reliable and secure solutions.”

 

Recruitment of software engineers

To keep pace with the growing importance of digital technology in all its businesses, Safran is strengthening its teams by recruiting people with training in the latest technologies. Most of this new talent will be fairly young. Around two-thirds will be recent software engineering graduates, while the remaining third will already have some work experience – between three and six years – and are more likely to be recruited for software architecture jobs. After joining the company, these new hires can also acquire specific skills (such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data analysis, etc.) at Safran University.

 

A dedicated community

The expansion of Safran’s digital skills highlighted the need to create a framework for sharing experience, building common tools and developing digital career paths. That’s the goal of the Software In-House Development Community, or SISDEV, set up in December 2020. Bringing together software development specialists from all Safran companies, its role is to promote the exchange of best practices, define the standards for the Group, and structure a career path dedicated to software development.

 

Contribution of embedded software

Among the SISDEV community members is Safran Electronics & Defense, which is sharing its historical expertise in embedded software development with other Group companies. “We call it embedded software because it sits at the heart of the system – control units, landing systems, inertial guidance units, etc. – unlike business apps, which run on a computer, PC or server,” explains Laurent Speyser, head of software engineering at Safran Electronics & Defense. “Embedded software shares a common technical base with non-embedded software, based on good software engineering practices such as coding rules and configuration management. The difference is that embedded software needs to meet additional requirements in terms of reliability, real-time performance and certification.”