What does SAB mean in 2025?
Core SAB is a core banking system: an integrated software suite that allows banks and financial institutions to manage most of their operations and financial services: account management, transaction processing, accounting, loan management, regulatory compliance, and reporting. SAB is also a Business Unit, developing around a few key pillars: a “main version” towards which we’re gradually migrating all our clients, a business strategy focused on up-selling and cross-selling, and a move from on-premise installations to Managed Services. Most of our clients are based in France, where the product has a strong presence.
How has your role evolved over time?
I joined SAB in 2018 as a Support Analyst in the Engagements domain: basically everything related to loans and unpaid debts.
Since then, SAB became part of SBS, and in January 2024, I became a Team Leader. That’s when I joined the International Payments team.
Then, in January 2025, I took on another challenge and became Team Leader for the Accounting and Regulatory support team as well.
What do your two roles within the support organization involve?
The first is my Support Analyst role. I analyze incidents reported by clients.
Sometimes, the issue is functional. For example, we explain that the client’s configuration isn’t correct and guide them on what needs adjusting.
Other times, it’s a genuine product bug, and we find a temporary workaround so they can move forward while we work on the fix. If it requires deeper investigation, we perform an initial technical analysis and then forward it to the Engineering team, who develop and deliver the corrective patch.
The second part of my role is operational management. I manage two teams: one dedicated to International Payments, and another to Accounting and Regulatory topics. That means I handle team coordination, daily operations, workload planning, and of course, HR follow-up.
So what exactly is an “incident”?
We deal with two main types of incidents. First, production or run incidents. These are real issues affecting clients’ accounts or operations: a batch job that crashes, transfers that fail to process, or a blocking error message. Sometimes it’s due to misconfiguration or incorrect data. Then, there are project or build incidents. For example, when a new regulatory requirement comes into effect and we need to adapt the software to comply. It’s the same when a client activates a new feature or upgrades to a new version.
Cases vary widely: accounts, loans, finance, technology, domestic and international payments, accounting, regulatory topics, and more.
When a client encounters a problem, they open a ticket in our tool, and it’s routed directly to the right support team based on the topic.
Is there a particular incident you really enjoyed working on?
Not one in particular, but I really like critical or “hot” incidents: the ones that block everything and need to be fixed right away. For example, when a bank can’t issue transfers anymore, the pressure rises fast! Finding the root cause in those moments is incredibly rewarding. I enjoy that rush of adrenaline when everything has to move quickly.
What are some of the challenges you face in your role?
You have to be very reactive. Priorities can shift quickly, so you need to switch from one topic to another – sometimes drop what you’re doing to handle an emergency.
The hardest part is probably ending the day realizing you didn’t get through everything you’d planned.
Any memorable moments since you started here?
Yes, early 2024, when I became Team Leader. That was a real turning point. I joined a new team, in a new domain, with a completely different role. Even though I already knew incident analysis and the Core SAB product well, it still felt like starting fresh. It was both a challenge and a big step forward in my career. It helped me discover new ways of working, better understand how other teams operate, and get a broader view of our business.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career so far?
I’ve learned to take a step back. At first, I took every situation very personally, and over time, I realized that wasn’t the best approach. In this job, you really need to keep perspective, stay calm even in urgent situations. Taking a breath makes all the difference.
And outside of work, how do you relax?
I try to work out once a week, whenever I can. I used to do twirling for a long time — I even worked as a judge in that discipline! And beyond that, I simply enjoy spending time with my family and taking a bit of time for myself.
Would you like to join the SBS (ex-Sopra Banking Software) adventure? Discover all our job offers on our Careers page by clicking on this link.