Product Development Project Manager
Théophane Verescence North America (New York, USA)
A TRANSATLANTIC ASCENT FROM MERS-LES-BAINS TO NEW YORK
« I first heard of Verescence in 2016 during my final internship at the end of my studies at engineering school (ESI Reims). It was in the Development Department, as an Assistant Development Project Manager in Mers-les-Bains, after which I was hired on a fixed-term contract as a Junior Project Manager. I worked on projects for L'Oréal, then Shiseido under the wing of a wonderfully mentoring manager who helped me progress enormously. In September 2017, a one-year incursion into another department, Quality, allowed me to deepen my knowledge of the Verescence process from a very operational point of view, with problem solving as a key factor, and more “field-oriented" than in the Development Department where we have to be quite conceptual. As a Customer Quality Officer, I was responsible for quality for the customer and was called upon to set up action plans and share them with the teams, mainly for the Coty & Clarins brands.
Our customer’s expectations are high, but are paid back when a product launch project is successful. It's very motivating!
This was followed by a return to "my first love" thanks to a transfer to the position of Product Development Project Manager: based in New York, with a local contract (US permanent contract) from September 2018, I am in contact with all manufacturing plants. Even though I’m based abroad, I still have strong connections with teams in other countries and am in regular contact with them. My clients are American (Estée Lauder, MAST, among others), and I have more daily contact with them here than in France. What a challenge! Their expectations are high, but are paid back when a product launch project is successful. It's very motivating! The luxury sector didn’t use to hold any particular attraction for me, but that has all changed: the passion of the men and women working at Verescence is contagious...
Moving towards higher responsibilities within Verescence is a gradual process: at first I was given simple tasks and then more and more complex projects. All Junior Project Managers go through this “chaperon” process, rather than just being thrown in at the deep end. Before I left, my training in English was consolidated, so I could be completely at ease once on the continent. When you get right down to it, my job is to find solutions that meet the most daring briefs!
There’s no success without teamwork: development, quality, commercial, all facets of Verescence are mobilized to win a project and successfully execute it. During my career, I have had the opportunity to collaborate with all the global sites of Verescence due to the scope of my customer accounts. Relying more on communication with teams and prioritizing tasks makes it possible to move faster, which is a guarantee of success for the emblematic Light Blue bottle from Dolce&Gabbana, for example. »
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