The Lift, episode 7: from consultant to Head of Governance, Risk and Security with Violaine Guichard

TLTR

The essentials from “The Lift”: building your career at Orange Cyberdefense 

• From consultant to Head of Governance, Risk and Security: Violaine Guichard joined in 2016 as a Consultant Manager and today leads the Governance, Risk and Security practice for Consulting in France. 
• Career progression built on opportunities: GDPR, management and strategic topics have gradually broadened her expertise and responsibilities, supported by nine months of communication coaching. 
• Be bold if you want to develop your career: for Violaine and her manager, Anne Burkhardt, you need to voice your ambitions and demonstrate what you can do. 
• An environment that opens up possibilities: varied roles, geographical mobility, cross-functional career paths and a community of 3,500 experts all create opportunities for professional development. 

“The Lift”: career progression in cybersecurity consulting, shaped by boldness and opportunity

Can you build an ambitious career without compromising your convictions or your personal balance? In this new episode of “The Lift”, Violaine Guichard talks about her progression from consultant to Head of Governance, Risk and Security at Orange Cyberdefense. Together with Anne Burkhardt, she shares the factors behind her professional development: standing by her convictions, seizing opportunities, developing her expertise and being willing to take on responsibility.

The Lift: The floor is yours

At Orange Cyberdefense, boldness pays off. With capability and motivation, growth is possible.
Violaine Guichard, Head of Governance, Risks and Compliance, Orange Cyberdefense.

When did your paths cross? In what context?

Violaine Guichard, Head of Governance, Risk and Compliance: “I first met Anne at a large event dedicated to internal initiatives. She was Operations Director at the time and spoke about her ambition to create greater synergy between people from very different backgrounds. I had followed a fairly traditional path as a cybersecurity consultant. I admired the fact that Anne had built a successful career without giving up her personal life, and had sustained that balance over time. I had never seen that anywhere else. In my previous consulting roles, women were mainly represented in support functions. Here, I was seeing a woman in a senior leadership position. Role models matter.” 

Anne Burkhardt, Consulting and Audit Director: “It’s worth remembering that in the early days of Orange Cyberdefense, there were relatively few women overall, and particularly in the consulting team. I remember Violaine in the open-plan office: she had a strong character and a real presence. She already had the energy, enthusiasm and tenacity that immediately made her stand out.” 

When you joined Orange Cyberdefense, what skills did you already have, and what did you learn?

Violaine: “I knew how to carry out risk analysis audits. At Orange Cyberdefense, I discovered large-scale, multi-million-euro projects, demanding clients and genuine project leadership. Working with every type of client, from Non-Governemental organizations to major international companies, is fantastic. I don’t know any other company with such a broad client base. I also discovered what it meant to work for the Orange brand. When I worked at a start-up, there were thirteen of us and we had to work hard just to get clients interested. Here, we can work with organisations of every kind, in an intellectually stimulating environment.” 

What has been your career evolution at Orange Cyberdefense?

Violaine: “After graduating from engineering school in 2008, I joined EY, one of the Big Four, working in IT audit before specialising in security at the consulting firms Beijaflore and Formind. I joined Orange Cyberdefense in 2016 as a Consultant Manager in governance and regulatory compliance, where I worked in particular on GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation. I’ve had strong opportunities to progress, and since the beginning of 2025 I have been Head of Governance, Risk and Security for Consulting in France.” 

Anne: “Career progression is encouraged here. I started at Orange Group, then moved to Orange Business before joining Orange Cyberdefense at the end of 2015. It was still a small company then, and I was one of the early employees. My role was multidisciplinary, covering part of the Business Units as well as all cross-functional activities and support functions. In mid-2016, following the acquisition of another company, I created the Business Unit dedicated to consulting, bringing together teams from three different units. Like Violaine, I’m also proof that there are many possibilities within the Group.” 

What learning and development opportunities have helped you strengthen your senior-level expertise at Orange Cyberdefense?

Violaine: “New managers receive two weeks of training, so we are very well supported. I also benefited from communication coaching to develop that skill. When the coaching was first suggested, I was a little offended! I didn’t think I needed it. But over the course of those nine months, I saw how much progress I was making and how fortunate I was: at Orange Cyberdefense, when management sees that someone is struggling with a particular area, support is offered, backed by a very extensive training catalogue. I was given the opportunity to improve. As an example, I took a module on managing difficult personalities because I was managing some challenging consultants. The training was a real wake-up call: I realised how much I needed it.” 

What role has Anne played in your professional development?

Violaine: “Anne has been a role model for me. She holds senior positions that require her to make decisions, stand her ground and defend her teams. Being able to sustain that level of responsibility over time is genuinely inspiring to me. With Anne, I can progress with complete confidence: I know I can think outside the box and push boundaries, as long as I can show that the business case is there. That’s a very positive environment to work in. I’m also fortunate to take part in some strategic committees. It’s fascinating to see how senior management asks the right questions and approaches decisions without preconceptions. The experience is very stimulating.” 

What strengths, in terms of skills and interpersonal qualities, did you quickly notice in Violaine?

Anne: “I really noticed Violaine’s strengths when GDPR came in. She put her hand up to take ownership of the topic. This was in 2018. She approached it with a great deal of enthusiasm, rigour and professionalism. It was still a relatively new subject and, for a highly technical company like ours, looking at the impact of regulation on deployment helped us stand out. Law firms and the Big Four consultancies were all moving into GDPR; thanks to Violaine, we made the move at the right time. I saw that she took ownership of innovative topics, challenged us, recruited new profiles and trained colleagues. I also noticed that clients came back and specifically asked to work with Violaine. My first impressions have never been disproved: I know she will dig deeply into a subject and, if she doesn’t have the expertise, she will go and find it. I also appreciate her direct, honest, sometimes blunt style: if Violaine has something to say, she’ll say it clearly! I’ve seen her mature by changing the way she positions herself.” 

Violaine: “I have made an effort on the bluntness, to be fair!” 

How do you breathe Orange Cyberdefense's Hacking spirit?

The ‘Hacking Spirit’ is a balance between conviction and intuition, says Violaine

What is your shared vision regarding career development opportunities at Orange Cyberdefense?

Violaine: “A manager can’t read our minds. You have to be willing to say what you want to do. That doesn’t necessarily mean asking for a specific role; it can mean saying you want to work on particular themes or topics. My own role was tailor-made for me! At Orange Cyberdefense, there are a lot of possibilities when it comes to career paths. But you have to get moving, take action and prove yourself. Managers aren’t there to hold your hand!” 

Anne: “When we recruit, we set out development paths for our people. Someone joining the consulting team knows clearly which skills are expected to progress from junior to experienced consultant. Beyond that progression over time, we also have cross-functional topics. As part of our company strategy, we give time and resources to people who want to develop high-impact subjects. That means many experts within the consulting community wear several hats. You can be a consultant in Lyon, own an offering and work on a biomedicine topic because it interests you. And consulting isn’t the only option: several people from our team have moved into other parts of Orange Cyberdefense. The bridges and career paths exist. There is also geographical mobility. After Covid, many employees wanted to live in other parts of France. In response, we created teams in a number of cities. Younger generations often want to progress quickly and can feel that staying more than three years in one company means stagnating. But professional growth takes time. If you feel good in a company that gives you resources, trust and cross-functional opportunities, why move simply for the sake of moving? As managers, it’s our responsibility to make sure younger colleagues don’t get bored, that they can see the possibilities ahead and continue to grow.” 

And how do you see our company culture, the well-known “Hacking Spirit”? How do you experience it day to day?

Anne: “I would say you need boldness and curiosity, you need to enjoy challenges and be willing to try. Orange Cyberdefense’s DNA is about testing the resilience of clients’ systems. It is also a broader mindset: never standing still, constantly questioning yourself, investigating and trying new ways to solve problems. And we are a community of 3,300 multidisciplinary experts. That is a real strength because you are never alone when you face a subject.” 

Violaine: “In consulting, the ‘Hacking Spirit’ means being quick to spot opportunities around emerging topics, particularly regulatory ones, adapting constantly and demonstrating our expertise. We work in a very stimulating environment. It is a balance between conviction and intuition. Listening to clients is also part of that mindset.” 

An anecdote to share? A piece of advice that left an impression? Something you’ve never dared to say before?

Violaine: “I stand by what I said: Anne is my role model! For someone who didn’t come from cybersecurity, I’ve been really impressed by her ability to get to grips with highly complex topics.” 

Anne: “I’ve been at Orange Cyberdefense for ten years, and I graduated from business school. When I speak to younger people and women in our company, I tell them that we have every kind of role here. The point isn’t to master everything yourself, but to know how to surround yourself with the right people.” 

Artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing in cybersecurity: is it already impacting your work?

Violaine: “AI is revolutionising the way attackers work, and we are adapting to it. It is also changing the way we produce our work. Clients expect prices to come down as a result of artificial intelligence. At our level, it is a small revolution.” 

Anne: “We are investing seriously in the subject. Our competitors are making promises around artificial intelligence, and I see it as an opportunity. Tasks we used to handle manually, such as the early stages of risk analysis, can now be carried out more efficiently and quickly with AI. That shifts where the value lies. Our clients expect us to provide context, interpretation and conclusions. Artificial intelligence will make us more efficient, for example when retrieving lessons learned or sources from previous tenders. We also use it with our clients, for example around Shadow AI — employees using AI without approval or supervision — so that companies can adapt their security policies. Recruitment will evolve too: we will be interested in profiles with an aptitude for technical tooling and who understand that AI is becoming part of the way we work collaboratively.” 

Explore the other episodes of our series "The Lift: the floor is yours" at Orange Cyberdefense, by clicking below.