The Lift, episode 4: from Engineer to Head of Microsoft Security with Sébastien De Lattin
TLTR
- Sébastien De Lattin joined Orange Cyberdefense in 2021 as a production engineer. He then became Head of Microsoft Security after creating and developing the Microsoft activity within the Orange cybersecurity subsidiary ;
- His career progression was built on a strong skills development, the trust of his mentor Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz, and a great freedom to innovate ;
- Together, they launched a new offering, grew a team from 3 to 30 members, and made Microsoft a strategic axis for Orange Cyberdefense. A pinch of audacity, plenty of innovation, and a slid taste of our very own Hacking spirit, discover how an initiative led by two employees became a real growth lever.
"The Lift": how two enthusiasts made Microsoft a key part of Orange Cyberdefense's perimeter?
How to go from security engineer to Head of Microsoft Security in record time? In this new episode of "The Lift: the floor is yours," Sébastien De Lattin shares his career evolution within Orange Cyberdefense. Thanks to a stimulating environment, the trust of his mentor, and a strong culture of innovation, he transformed a conviction - developing a Microsoft offering - into a strategic activity, embodying the full Hacking spirit of Orange Cyberdefense's ethics and culture.
The Lift: The floor is yours
The "Microsoft case", driven by the "two Lyonnais," gradually became a thing and gained traction among our ranks. I was propelled to defend our offering, and Sylvain, who has more experience with executive committees, guided me on the communication approach, shares Sébastien.
When did your paths cross? In what context?
Sébastien De Lattin, Head of Microsoft Security at Orange Cyberdefense: "I started my career with a fairly generalist background in IT services. I was very hands-on before joining Orange Cyberdefense. I had an interest in Microsoft broadly, especially cloud issues. With my 'nerd' side, I was very focused on cutting-edge innovations. I had a plan to start a digital services company entirely dedicated to Microsoft, but that wasn’t possible in my previous company. So when Orange Cyberdefense came along to recruit me, I said yes immediately because I needed a to put my career in the right direction. That’s when I met Sylvain, who supported me from the start."
Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz, Technical Director of the Eastern Region, Orange Cyberdefense: "For the little story, Sébastien isn’t in my operational scope. Gérald Vallet, my sales director advised me to recruit an expert in Microsoft topics and forwarded his CV. At that time, despite its size, Orange Cyberdefense didn’t work with Microsoft at all, considering it a competitor. We weren’t promoting the solution to our clients. I had just arrived in the company and realized we were too weak on this subject: we needed at least one Microsoft expert who could give honest and objective answers to clients."
When you joined Orange Cyberdefense, what what your skillset, and what did you learn?
Sébastien De Lattin: "Though I was tech savvy, I didn’t understand every other word during my first three weeks onboarding time. I discovered the world of integration, multi-vendor partnerships, cybersecurity software, and also an organization to navigate. The biggest challenge was to build a team in record time, facing strong growth: when the first orders came in, we had only three people in the team. We recruited a Project manager, a Team leader, and set up an organization... The other major challenge was to make two opposing worlds coexist - Orange Cyberdefense and Microsoft—without initial internal sponsorship."
Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz: "We did have a 'go' from our hierarchical superior on the Microsoft topic. In the first year, Sébastien worked with very limited means because this business didn’t exist yet. We sent him everywhere the topic emerged, to handle crises at clients. Meanwhile, we worked together on building and pushing the offer. It was a post-Covid period with a lot of internal freedom. I was aware of Orange Cyberdefense’s strength and feared that if the topic took off too quickly, we might be overwhelmed. So our strategy was to stay low initially, deploying the offer locally, then coming with concrete results. Sébastien was impatient and passionate, and I told him to wait before raising the subject higher."
What has been your career evolution at Orange Cyberdefense?
Sébastien De Lattin: "When I joined in 2021 in Lyon, I started as a production engineer, then quickly moved to a Security Presales Engineer role. Two years later, in 2023, I became Head of the Microsoft Security division, and today, I have 30 people under my responsibility. My professional evolution has been quite rapid and intense."
Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz: "You flourished with the team you built."
Have you benefited from internal mobility within Orange Cyberdefense?
Sébastien De Lattin: "Rather than mobility, I would say I benefited from the freedom to carry out this Microsoft project. Freedom, in a way, is the ability to move."
What technical skills or certifications have you gained to hone your senior expertise at Orange Cyberdefense?
Sébastien De Lattin: "I trained myself in management through one of the many training programs offered by Orange Cyberdefense, but I believe my biggest skill growth came from working closely with Sylvain. We spent the first year brainstorming in an office. I worked on the Microsoft offer and was challenged on the team’s immediate profitability, pricing, and business model. Every word mattered! Sylvain pushed me in my thinking. I appreciated this intellectual rigor."
What role did Hervé play in your professional development?
Sébastien De Lattin: "He was transparent from the start, telling me we would try, but he wasn’t sure the Microsoft offer would succeed. The "Microsoft case", driven by the "two Lyonnais," gradually became a thing and gained traction among our ranks. I was propelled to defend our offering, and Sylvain, who has more experience with executive committees, guided me on the communication approach. We even had a meeting with the French CEO of Microsoft: we had an hour to pitch our strategy and profitability model. At the end, he was convinced and asked us: 'What do you expect from me?' That meeting was decisive and opened all doors."
How do you breathe Orange Cyberdefense's Hacking spirit?
The evolutions and initiatives are encouraged. We are allowed to take on topics as long as there is a profitability at stake, pounders Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz.
What hard skills and soft skills immediately standed out with Sébastien?
Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz: "Sébastien has vision, perseverance, and assertiveness. With his technico-commercial profile, he can sell externally and convince internally. The challenge was to demonstrate that we weren’t replacing an existing business but adding to it, proving it to regional directors. Five years ago, the CEOs of Orange Cyberdefense and Microsoft in France didn’t even speak to each other. Today, they shake hands. Sébastien managed to reconcile these two worlds, with my help to understand integration."
What is your shared vision regarding career development opportunities at Orange Cyberdefense?
Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz: "Evolutions and initiatives are encouraged; we are allowed to take on topics as long as there is a profitability. We are responsible for our successes and failures."
Sébastien De Lattin: "Exactly, you have to prove the value of the topic you carry and move forward. Career opportunities at Orange Cyberdefense are numerous, and I am proof of that."
And what is your view of our company culture, the famous "Hacking spirit"?
Sébastien De Lattin: "I don’t know if it’s naivety, boldness, or both, but I dared to go where my conviction led me. I was sure it would work. This company's culture allowed me to realize what I had in mind. I also like to say that at Orange Cyberdefense, we don’t leave clients on the side of the road. This mindset guides our actions. We start from clients’ needs, not our own constraints. We did push the rules a bit by directly approaching sales directors to involve them in the project. But the result is there."
Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz: "It took audacity and leadership to establish a Microsoft security offering within a team that wasn’t doing it, in a scope that wasn’t ours, and that no one had taken up. We were in a strong startup spirit, with convictions and tenacity to remove all obstacles we encountered. We didn’t set limits for ourselves. That’s the essence of the Hacking spirit."
An anecdote to share? A piece of advice that left an impression? Something you’ve never dared to say before?
Sébastien De Lattin: "I feel nostalgic when I think of my first years, which very enriching on both intellectual and human level. My professional growth was rapid - I gained expertise quickly. People told us: 'You’re crazy!' Anyway, we were both convinced it had to be done, and I believe we were convincing."
Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz: "The first year was the best! The team grew from 10 to 30 people in a very short time. We see each other less than when we were alone building our project. But we can say: well done, we did it."
Artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing in cybersecurity: is it already impacting your work?
Sébastien De Lattin: "We are already in it! My driver is innovation. Far from being a threat, AI is an opportunity - a turn we’ve already started to take."
Sylvain Cretin Maitenaz: "If we don’t get on the AI train, others will. Change is an opportunity, and we shouldn’t fear it. It’s better to adopt it than to suffer from it."
Explore the other episodes of our series "The Lift: the floor is yours" at Orange Cyberdefense, by clicking below.
