What eighteen years at BESIX taught me

It was July. The heat hit me the moment I stepped off the plane. I still remember crossing the tarmac and seeing the air shimmer above the asphalt. Not long afterwards, a taxi took me from the airport towards the city centre along Sheikh Zayed Road. I remember staring out of the window at six lanes of traffic and skyscrapers rising in every direction, wondering how a city could be built on such a scale.

When I arrived in Dubai in 2008, I was not thinking about the next eighteen years of my career. I was an engineering student, I had an internship with BESIX, and I was trying to understand how things worked on a construction site.

This site happened to be the construction of the Burj Khalifa tower. That sounds impressive now, but at the time I wasn't walking around thinking, this will define my career. I was young, slightly overwhelmed, and surrounded by people who knew far more than I did...

I did not have a master plan. I know people like to tell career stories afterwards as if every move was logical and carefully designed, but that is rarely how it feels when you are living it. One assignment led to another. Dubai led to Qatar, then Abu Dhabi, then Morocco, and Morocco became home for seven years.

Some moves were exciting. Others pushed me far outside my comfort zone. People often see the professional side of an international career. But there is also a personal side, since every move affects your family. Today, after seven years in Morocco, Sébastien is back in Dubai.

Looking back, I can say these experiences shaped me just as much as my career did. With experience, I now try to help younger colleagues deal with that reality as well. Project work requires flexibility in place, time and mindset. Learning to embrace that taught me a lot about growing as a professional and as a person.

Over time, I moved from technical roles into project leadership, and now into business development back in the Middle East. On paper, that may seem like a major shift, but I don't see it that way. Delivering a project and developing a future opportunity are not the same job. Yet both rely on the same principle: bringing people together around a common objective.

Along the way, I also got the chance to step outside the project environment and broaden my perspective. Completing an MBA at INSEAD while pursuing my career exposed me to different ways of looking at business, leadership and decision-making.

Throughout my MBA, I was constantly pushed by business cases, and no two problems were ever the same. The first step was always to break a complex issue into smaller pieces, structure it and analyse it.

Why I stayed at BESIX? Because great projects matter, of course they do. We all take pride in building things that shape cities and become part of people’s daily lives. If I look back, the projects are not the only reason I stayed. I stayed because people gave me opportunities. Over time I’ve learned that construction is never just about construction. It is about relationships, timing, judgement, and seizing opportunities.

I think many careers at BESIX are built like that. Not through a perfectly planned ladder, but through moments when someone says, "Hey, we think you can do this", and you decide to believe them, even if you're not completely sure yourself. That kind of trust can change the direction of a career, and once you receive, you also feel a responsibility to pass it on.

That is probably the part I think about most as I start this next chapter. After years spent delivering projects, I now move into a role focused on creating future opportunities and partnerships across the region. It feels new, but it also feels connected to everything that came before. The work will be different, but the foundation is the same: understand the context, build trust, listen carefully, and help make something possible.

Eighteen years ago, I joined BESIX as a student on a site in Dubai. I could not have predicted where it would lead, and I am glad I could not. The best parts of the journey were the ones I never would have planned myself.

Are you looking for a place where opportunities can take you further than you ever planned? Join BESIX.