Emilie, Engineering Manager at Rockwell Collins

This summer, we have decided to present you aviation and aerospace jobs through testimonies of professionals.

This week, Emilie HATCHONDO, Engineering Manager at Rockwell Collins, tells us about her daily life.

Can you describe the daily life of your job ?

I am an Engineering Manager in the Certification and Operations Safety Department at Rockwell Collins France. My daily work is to ensure that my team members achieve their goals while ensuring their professional development. Being a manager is also about managing emergencies and making decisions that are not always easy.

What skills and qualities are required for this job?

In my opinion, in order to be able to do this job, you must have technical skills to be able to understand the problems encountered by the team, be organized, but the most important is to be listening, motivated and optimistic. I think "saying what you do, do what you say" is the essence of a good manager.

What are the positive and negative aspects of your job?

The positives are teamwork, the ability to work on innovative issues and the satisfaction of seeing our systems certified and licensed to be installed in an airplane, helicopter. The main difficulty of my job is to manage to step back from the stressful situations that are, nevertheless, frequent. This is where my optimistic temperament helps a lot.

What income can be expected as a beginner and after 10 years experience in this job ? 

A beginner Engineering Manager can expect a salary of 54K € per year. After 10 years of experience and according to its progress, he or she can hope to reach 100K € annual.

What are the possible evolutions, in your opinion?

When you are a manager within a technical department, you have the opportunity to develop by broadening your skills and managing teams in various fields (Electronics, Software, System, Certification, Safety of Operation, Cyber Security ...) But also by becoming « Manager of Manager ».

What training did you take?

After obtaining a DUT* Electrical Engineering and Industrial Informatics (IUT Tarbes), I did a training of Electronics Engineer (CESI Labège) in work/study training program.

How long have you had this job?

I started at Rockwell Collins France (RCF) on work-study contract for my engineering degree. That was 18 years ago and I'm still at RCF! I graduated in 2002 and held various positions on multiple projects (Project Engineer, Project Manager, Team Leader) and even spent one year in our parent company in the United States.

For 4 years, I have been working as an Engineering Manager and for now, 1 year, in a new field for myself since I took over the Certification and Safety of Operations team.

How do you like your job?

My professional activity appeals to me because if we are motivated and curious, there are always new things to learn, new challenges to face.

Why did you choose the Aerospace sector?

At the beginning, it's pure coincidence! But I was lucky to be hired by Rockwell Collins France where I met fascinating people and passionated by the aerospace sector who gave me the virus.

One last advice to give for those who want to become an Engineering Manager ?

My advice is always try to do his best and be kind to his team and colleagues.

* Technological University Degree

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