The role sits at the intersection of strategy and engineering, acting as a constructive counter-power to the R&D and innovation teams. The person will rigorously evaluate technology choices, audit internal capabilities, and challenge product and technical trade-offs with a business lens. They will ensure that decisions on R&D, architecture, build vs buy, and roadmap prioritization are aligned with overall strategy, economically sound, and robust. The role also involves running continuous technology and market watch, contributing to the company's technology strategy alongside the Strategy & Operations Director, and producing syntheses and recommendations for COMEX-level governance.

Responsibilities

Challenge the technical choices and roadmaps proposed by R&D and the Innovation team (architecture, stack, prioritization, build vs buy vs partner)
Question the underlying assumptions behind technical projects (feasibility, ROI, strategic alignment, technical debt incurred)
Produce well-argued, independent analyses not rubber-stamped validations
Run continuous technical and technology watch (competitors, emerging technologies, market trends, new tools, and platforms) to keep the company's decisions informed by the state of the art
Identify technologies or approaches that could create a competitive advantage, or expose the company to being left behind
Turn watch findings into actionable inputs for the R&D/Innovation roadmap and for COMEX-level strategic discussions
Build and maintain a structured watch process (sources, cadence, internal distribution) rather than ad hoc monitoring
Regularly map and assess the company's technical capabilities (skills, tools, infrastructure, external dependencies)
Identify areas of risk, over-investment, under-investment, or critical dependency
Benchmark our capabilities against the market and competitors
Contribute to defining the company's technology strategy alongside the Strategy & Operations Director
Assess build, buy, partner, or acquisition opportunities on technology topics
Inform R&D resource allocation decisions with a strategic and financial lens
Produce syntheses and recommendations for COMEX on tech-strategy topics
Set up tracking indicators on technical execution vs. commitments made
Participate in R&D/Innovation committees as an independent strategic voice

Requirements

5-6 years of overall experience, engineering background (degree in engineering or equivalent)
Ideal trajectory: 2-3 years of hands-on technical execution, followed by 2-3 years in a hybrid technical/business role e.g. Engineer → Technical Product Manager, Engineer → tech-focused strategy consulting, or Engineer → Chief of Staff to a CTO/VP Engineering
Profiles with only pure execution experience (no exposure to business trade-offs) or only early technical experience followed by years of generalist consulting (no longer technically credible) are not a fit for this role
Given the seniority level, the candidate should compensate for limited years of experience with either deep, recognized expertise in a specific technical domain (enough to be seen as a peer by R&D on that topic) or a strong, proven track record of challenging senior stakeholders from a strategy/consulting background.
Hands-on experience in a technical environment (dev, data, tech product, architecture, not consulting-only exposure)
Demonstrated ability to understand architecture choices and technical trade-offs, and to assess their relevance
Comfortable engaging as a peer with CTOs, tech leads, and senior engineers
Able to speak in concrete, specific terms about a real technical decision they challenged or questioned
Ability to translate technical issues into business implications, and vice versa
Strong critical thinking and independence of judgment
Able to distinguish a genuine technical risk from a mere communication gap
Natural credibility: earns legitimacy through the rigor of the analysis, not through hierarchy

Technical Strategy Manager H/F

Responsibilities

Requirements