Working at Kytom, method and field experience

At Kytom, the vast majority of projects are delivered on the contractual date because the project manager carries the file from start to finish, with no intermediate handover. It is this model of complete autonomy, running counter to the specialisation by trade lot that dominates the profession, that shapes our recruitment. Kytom recruits for its 11 agencies in France and Spain, across 4 professions: site management, architecture, design, business development. Since 2006, the company has delivered more than 1200 projects through its agencies in France and Spain. Applications are reviewed locally, with 2 to 3 interviews and a paired onboarding from day one. Joining Kytom means joining an organisation built around real commercial projects, on floor areas typically ranging from a few hundred to several thousand square metres. Recruitment responds to operational needs identified by each agency director, never to communication plans. The teams manage occupied sites, liaise with inspection offices, negotiate technical lots (CFO, CFA, HVAC, BMS) and meet the deadlines announced to the client. Kytom provides in-house training on 4 demanding subjects: obligations to reduce energy consumption in the commercial building stock, carbon calculation, ERP standards, accessibility for persons with reduced mobility.

4 professions structure the teams of the 11 agencies

Kytom recruits across four professions, aligned with the cycle of an end-to-end commercial project:

Project managers and site managers: site management, procurement, coordination of technical lots (CFO, CFA, HVAC, BMS, partitioning, flooring, suspended ceilings), schedule and budget monitoring.
Architects and interior architects: assessment of the existing premises, design, tender documents, regulatory decisions on ERP, high-rise buildings and accessibility for persons with reduced mobility according to the applicable regulatory framework.
Designers and decorators: working with materials, light, furniture (Vitra, Herman Miller, Knoll), ensuring the atmosphere is consistent with the client's identity.
Sales and account managers: development, client brief, budget framing, follow-up through to delivery.

Our agencies, spread between France and Barcelona, operate with management autonomy. Each project manager remains the single point of contact from the first brief to the handover of keys, which requires staff capable of taking on a complete file without passing the baton. The recruitment currently open primarily concerns the recent agencies (Dijon, Lille, Aix-en-Provence), where the teams are being structured.

Kytom's position, counter to the profession. Contrary to the sector's received wisdom, which pushes towards specialisation by lot (a CFO lead, an HVAC lead, a fit-out lead), we maintain a single lead on the entire file. Candidates coming from highly segmented structures sometimes show hesitation when faced with the cross-functional scope we require, which becomes apparent as early as the second interview. Conversely, profiles accustomed to end-to-end autonomy integrate quickly and operate fully autonomously from the first weeks. This approach accepts a higher entry cost in sourcing, but it determines our ability to meet the deadlines announced to the client.

3 non-negotiable expectations: technical skill, rigour, autonomy

The selected profiles share three operational fundamentals:

Technical mastery: reading a plan, challenging a quote line by line, keeping a schedule on an occupied site, liaising with an inspection office, drafting a safety notice compliant with ERP regulations. These skills are verified in interviews using real files.
Rigour: an announced deadline is met, a validated budget is held. Across our recent portfolio, the vast majority of projects are delivered on the contractual date, with initial discrepancies absorbed by client adjustments during the tender process.
Autonomy: staff manage their files without micro-management, with a lightened weekly report and team support within 2 hours when an unforeseen event arises at 7 am on site.

For the CFO and asset manager reading this: what these expectations produce. A Kytom project manager challenging a quote line by line and meeting the contractual date means a transition rent avoided on the tenant side, and reduced commercial vacancy on the landlord side. On a commercial operation in the Paris CBD, each week of delivery delay represents several thousand euros of rent that cannot be invoiced to the next occupant, a direct cost that meeting the contractual date helps to avoid. The staff profile we recruit is designed to close this window, not to stack skills on a CV.

Kytom relies on written and shared reference frameworks: handover checklists, tender templates, occupied-site protocols, monitoring of applicable environmental requirements, acoustic control according to the normative framework applicable to offices. New arrivals join a documented system that is enriched by their field feedback.

Limits of the autonomy model. Kytom autonomy is not justified on projects under 200 m² with a deadline of less than 6 weeks: the loaded cost of a senior project manager then exceeds the file's room for manoeuvre. For these formats, we pool resources in a junior-senior pairing. Likewise, candidates with less than 3 years of site experience are not given full autonomy before 9 months on average.

Internal progression and training on 5 technical areas of expertise

Kytom provides in-house training on 5 structuring technical areas of expertise:

Circular economy and reuse of existing furniture or partitions.
Carbon calculation and EPDs, in connection with the requirements of the tertiary decree (ADEME platform).
ERP standards, in particular the fifth category and high-rise buildings (Construction and Housing Code, articles R.143-1 and following).
Accessibility for persons with reduced mobility and coordination with safety commissions.
Environmental certifications: BREEAM new for construction and renovation, BREEAM in use for operation, HQE Residential which requires, for 2-3 points, compliance with class B or A of the ISO/TS 19488:2021 standard at building level, WELL Building Standard structured into Silver, Gold and Platinum levels and covering 7 themes (air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, mind).