Ten years after graduating, Corentin returned to ENSTA Bretagne for an Alumni reunion weekend. The perfect opportunity for answering our questions and going back over his decade of experience working in France and abroad: a highly eventful career so far, in keeping with his values and aspirations!
Tell us about your career since graduating.
During my end-of-study internship at Côtes d’Amor Développement, I had the opportunity of extending my assignment as a project engineer on the installation of offshore wind turbines in St. Brieuc Bay. I was expected to promote this project and to help the industrial fabric to thrive.
At the end of that year, I joined Vulcain Ingénierie, an engineering and management consultancy firm in the energy sector. I worked there for five years, spending two of those years in Paris on marine renewable energy projects, supervising twenty or so consultants.
I then moved to the UK to support the setting-up of the new entity, Vulcain Engineering UK, as Business Development Manager. This mainly involved sales development in the nuclear sector.
At the end of those five years, I felt like I wanted a change of path.
What did this ‘change of path’ entail?
For a long time, I had wanted to do an MBA and this was the right time: the aim was to round off my engineering degree with expertise in accounting/corporate finance. I sat some competitive entrance exams and enrolled in EDHEC Business School in Nice in January 2019.
Thanks to the alumni network, between the two semesters I worked at SBM Offshore in Monaco as a Business Analyst Consultant.
In February 2020, I was awarded my MBA, top of the class! Then COVID hit…
How did the first lockdown affect your professional plans?
By the time we got through COVID, major companies like SBM Offshore were no longer hiring. That meant I couldn’t join the company anymore.
I decided to start up a business with my dad: an innovation consultancy firm in the aeronautics and defense sector. We spent a year working on various projects such as maritime surveillance using autonomous drones.
Then, in February 2021, I joined an energy provider and producer as a key account manager. My job involved purchasing gas and electricity for major French companies and supporting them in terms of the best possible energy contracts. I stayed there for a year and a half but the company’s vision didn’t align with my own values.
Where do you work today? Have you found a job that resonates with your values?
Since May 2022, I have worked at Sobre Energie, an SME of the La Poste and Caisse des Dépôts Group. We work with companies and local authorities on energy optimization, relying on energy consumption data and providing users with training on ways to save energy.
As Development Manager, I support a wide range of structures, not least in the public sector, as regards the regulatory requirements (like the Tertiary Decree), associated with reducing energy use and strategies for reducing energy bills.
This job is better aligned with my values. I wanted to feel like I was doing my bit for the energy transition and the fight against climate change.
What does this job entail in practice?
Above all, I spend a lot of time engaging with prospects and clients: to understand their needs, their challenges and their ecosystems… I give them advice, point them in the right direction and show them tools like a consumption monitoring platform we’re developing, to be able to identify which buildings consume the most. In this way, we’re able to spot excessive consumption patterns, identify the least energy-efficient buildings – the worst-performing buildings in terms of energy performance – and work out what measures to take and how to renovate buildings depending on the investment amounts.
I realized fairly early on – during my studies in fact – that what motivates me most about this profession is working with people. In that respect, the sales/business engineer occupation is a good fit for me. It calls for attentive interaction and, thanks to my technical skill set, I can understand my clients’ technical issues and come up with solutions in line with their needs.
What opinion do you have of ENSTA Bretagne and the course you took here?
ENSTA Bretagne provides outstanding education in the scientific or highly technical trades (such as pyrotechnics and hydrography), but more than that, because of the type of school it is and the modules we take, we leave with all sorts of opportunities open to us, enabling us to branch out into different sectors and jobs.
ENSTA Bretagne’s location, in Brest, in a nice environment, with world-leading facilities (sports, research and other facilities) is an undoubted advantage!
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