Accelerator Agile Coach - Performance & Flow Coach

Job title: Agile Coach - Performance & Flow Coach

• Location: Lyon
• Hybrid: 60% office / 40% remote
• Permanent: Fulltime

Mission

This role exists to help a manufacturing accelerator become a learning system — one that improves faster than its constraints. That means building Lean and Kata habits into how teams, product owners, and leaders actually work. Not running workshops at them.

You’ll be operating inside a GxP-regulated, compliance-heavy environment. Governance is real here. The job isn’t to work around it — it’s to help the system flow better within it. That requires patience, credibility at the Gemba, and a coach who understands that training is not change.

Main Responsibilities

• Coach product owners toward genuine ownership — strategic thinking, outcome framing, and decision‑making. Not backlog management
• Bring Lean flow thinking to the teams: value stream mapping, constraint removal, flow metrics — as a daily habit, not a toolkit exercise
• Run Kata coaching cycles with teams and leaders. Current condition to target condition to experiment to learn. Rinse and repeat until it’s instinct
• Go to the Gemba. Observe real work. Build interventions from what you see, not from what people report in standups
• Help leadership adopt a go‑see, ask‑why, show‑respect posture — not just attend retrospectives
• Navigate the GxP compliance environment intelligently. Change control and validation processes are the operating context — work within them, not against them
• Build coaching capability in others. The goal is a system of coaches, not dependency on one
• Foster continuous discovery habits: assumption testing, outcome framing, and evidence‑based decisions across product teams

Experience

• 7+ years coaching at team, leadership, and organisational level — not just teams
• Hands‑on Lean and Kata experience: VSM, A3 thinking, PDCA as a lived practice, not a training slide
• Track record coaching product owners to develop strategic thinking and decision‑making capability
• Experience operating at the Gemba — not from a Centre of Excellence
• Exposure to regulated industries (GxP, pharma, medical device, or similar) is a strong plus

Desired traits

• Framework‑agnostic. Not a SAFe evangelist. Not locked into any single method
• Sports coaching posture: skin in the game, deliberate practice, tape review. Willing to get operational if the team needs it
• Comfort with flow metrics: cycle time, throughput, WIP. If you still measure progress in story points, this isn’t the right fit
• Proven change agent: you know the difference between a workshop and a system change. Training is not change
• Excellent communicator across all levels — engineers, data scientists, POs, plant directors, leadership
• Fluent English required. French helpful for crucial conversations

Technical Skills

• Solid expertise in Lean & Agile practices applied to real product and delivery work
• Hands‑on experience with Value Stream Mapping, A3 Thinking, Toyota Kata, and process optimisation techniques
• Understanding of regulatory requirements and compliance frameworks in highly regulated industries
• Ability to guide teams on tool selection and integration without being tool‑driven

Hard filters

• You think running a workshop is the same as changing a system
• You measure progress in certifications rather than outcomes
• Your primary instinct is to add a ceremony, not remove a constraint
• You’ve spent the last 5 years in a CoE with no sustained team contact

Lyon — worth knowing

Lyon is a genuinely good place to live. TGV access to Paris (2h) and Marseille. Two rivers. An old city and a new one. Fabulous food at prices that don’t require a second mortgage. 90 minutes from Grenoble and the Alps. Beaujolais next door. Milan and Barcelona are each a five‑hour train ride away.

The office is at Part‑Dieu — Lyon’s main transport hub. You’ll be in the city centre three days a week (Mon‑Wed), remote Thursday‑Friday.

Benefits

• We provide a highly collaborative environment, with an opportunity to work with a world class team
• Contribute to a company that is not only a leader in healthcare but also a pioneer in digital transformation, shaping the future of global health
• Bring the miracles of science to life alongside a supportive, future‑focused team
• Discover endless opportunities to grow your talent and drive your career, whether it’s through a promotion or lateral move, at home or internationally
• Enjoy a thoughtful, well‑crafted rewards package that recognizes your contribution and amplifies your impact
• Take good care of yourself and your family, with a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits including high‑quality healthcare, prevention and wellness programs and at least 14 weeks’ gender‑neutral parental leave
• Play an instrumental part in creating best practice within our manufacturing facility

At Sanofi, we provide equal opportunities to all regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.