Make the commercial idea clear enough to build

Two teams can agree that a promotion is simple and still calculate different totals for the same basket. One applies a fixed reduction first; the other starts with a percentage. Both programs may run exactly as written. The unresolved issue is what the business intended to offer. I begin much of my work there, with the example that makes an apparently shared idea concrete. A useful architecture gives that decision a clear owner and carries its meaning through the customer's experience.

I am the CTO of Solmerive Retail, a fictional homewares business headquartered in Lyon. We sell through 110 stores in France, Belgium and the Netherlands and through our own websites. I lead 228 technology employees through six direct reports, with 42 contractors counted separately. My 2026 authority is €64 million, divided between €41 million for customer products and €23 million for engineering platforms. I report to Maelle Orsavin, our chief executive. Our 7,600 employees and €2.1 billion of 2025 revenue describe the company around that remit, rather than a personal revenue claim.

My responsibility concerns the software products through which a retail idea becomes something a customer can use and the engineering capability that supports their development. I work with commercial director Dorian Velcenne on the intended offer and its consequences. Our CIO has a separate enterprise systems remit. Good collaboration does not require those responsibilities to become indistinguishable; it requires the boundary to be explicit when a product change depends on work or decisions outside my team.

Current focus

I have worked in software engineering since July 1995, first at Corvanel Systems and then at Solmerive from January 2003. Moving from programmer to product leader taught me to ask what a calculation, ranking or experiment permits the business to conclude. My next contribution should retain that attention to meaning, while inviting colleagues with commercial, operational and financial experience to question the product from their own responsibilities.

Conversations I welcome

I am interested in a carefully scoped board, advisory or speaking discussion about consumer software and digital product judgement. I have no present director seat. Any prospective appointment would need company-specific preparation, relationship review, employer agreement and a realistic calendar before the proposed twenty annual days could be treated as available.