
← The Field Engineer7 okt · 46 min
Putting People First in Field Service A Conversation with Arnaud Billard
<p><strong>Putting People First in Field Service A Conversation with Arnaud Billard is our first interview in French. </strong>Our French title is 'Placer l'humain au cœur du service sur le terrain, une conversation avec Arnaud Billard'.</p><p>With over 17 years leading large-scale service organizations across Europe and EMEA, Arnaud Billard specializes in service transformation, customer experience (CX) and the design of operating models that turn service functions into genuine value creators.His career spans medical devices, diagnostics, pharmaceutical and broader life sciences with roots in the automotive sector where he built his foundation in operational excellence and lean methodologies. Rigorous process discipline in service of human outcomes not as an end in itself.Arnaud has led post-acquisition integrations, digitalization programmes, field service optimization and the evolution of multicultural service organizations across Europe, with P/L accountability and a focus on sustainable growth.One conviction has sharpened over time: how people feel, customer, patients, frontline teams, directly shapes business outcomes: patient experience, listening and psychological safety are performance levers. Attention, presence and trust within a team are among the most underestimated drivers of operational excellence and resilience. This is not peripheral to leadership, it is central to it.Arnaud explores these dimensions at the intersection of healthcare, wellbeing and leadership effectiveness across generations: professionals feeling overwhelmed, children with fragmented attention and elderly people losing connection.What he has built and led:- Service strategy & operating model design, Europe and EMEA- CX and patient experience transformation- Post-merger integration and change management- P/L management, growth and scaling service organizations- Human-centred leadership and psychological safetyHis leadership style is grounded in clarity, empathy and rigour. Sustainable excellence emerges when people are supported, trusted and heard, not only measured.Outside of work: philosophy, pastels, classical flute, rollerblading, snowboarding.Excellence through balance, the right movement at the right moment.Keywords: Service Leadership / Medical Devices / Diagnostics / Life Sciences / Pharmaceutical / EMEA / Europe / CX / Patient Experience / Service Transformation / Operating Model / Operational Excellence / P/L / Post-Acquisition Integration / Chang