Recruited just a few weeks ago, Yoann Kieffer is already playing a key role in Seawards’ development. He is contributing to the mechanical design and industrial architecture of the company’s future demonstrator.
Now in his forties, this trained mechanic with an unconventional career path describes himself as largely self-taught.
After graduating in motorcycle mechanics, he spent twelve years first as a team leader and then as a workshop manager before moving into the nuclear industry near Marcoule, in southern France. “I’ve always learned by doing. Nothing is impossible if you’re willing to put in the effort.”
Over the next twelve years in nuclear engineering, he worked extensively with Japanese clients and became a dedicated point of contact within his company. He was also deployed to the Fukushima site following the 2011 nuclear disaster. The mission: to develop specialized machines capable of operating in complex and hostile environments for emergency response and maintenance operations, while also training future operators to use them.
It is precisely this ability to combine technical expertise, intuition, and pragmatism that attracted Seawards. “The startup mindset fits my profile perfectly. You always have to push boundaries,” he explains.
His role at Seawards is to structure the mechanical and architectural foundations of the demonstrator, helping turn the technology into an industrial and commercially viable solution.
Today, Yoann Kieffer is working to bring together multiple engineering disciplines to transform innovation into an operational machine. A challenge being tackled from Seawards’ offices in L’Estaque, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, as the company prepares for its first industrial phase by 2027.
