How to Apply to Eutelsat

11 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 3 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • Eutelsat Group is the post-2023 merger of Paris-based Eutelsat (a 1977 intergovernmental organization, privatized in 2001 and listed on Euronext Paris) and UK-based OneWeb, creating the first vertically integrated GEO/LEO satellite operator in the world.
  • The combined group employs roughly 1,800 people, with the largest concentrations in Paris (Issy-les-Moulineaux HQ) and West London (the former OneWeb engineering and operations site), plus regional sales and operations offices.
  • Major shareholders post-merger include the French state via Bpifrance, Bharti Global (anchor of OneWeb's 2020 rescue), the UK government (which retains a special share from the OneWeb era), and a free float on Euronext Paris and the LSE under ticker ETL.
  • Apply through careers.eutelsat.com; expect an ATS-driven process with a recruiter screen, hiring manager interview, technical or panel round, and HR/comp conversation, typically over four to eight weeks.
  • French language ability at B2 or above is a meaningful advantage for Paris roles even when not formally required; London ex-OneWeb roles are English-first and culturally more like a tech company.
  • Compensation in Paris generally lands in the €50,000 to €100,000+ band for individual contributor and senior IC roles, with director and VP bands above that and a meaningful variable component plus French statutory benefits.
  • The competitive context is honest and difficult: SpaceX Starlink has scaled aggressively, Amazon Kuiper is coming, GEO video revenues are declining, and Eutelsat is simultaneously integrating a large merger and renewing its fleet; candidates who can see this clearly and still want in are exactly who the company wants to hire.
  • Common reasons offers get declined include base salary gaps versus US-headquartered competitors (SpaceX, Iridium), London versus Paris cost-of-living mismatches, and concerns about post-merger role stability; these are addressable with honest conversation during the offer stage.
  • Eutelsat is unionized in France with active works-council traditions and strong governance ties to the French state; comfort operating in that environment is a quiet but real selection criterion.

About Eutelsat

Eutelsat Group is a Paris-headquartered satellite operator with a rare lineage in the global space industry: it began life in 1977 as a European intergovernmental organization, modeled on Intelsat, with the explicit mandate of giving European nations sovereign access to satellite communications. For its first quarter-century, Eutelsat operated as a treaty-based body whose members were national telecommunications administrations, building out a fleet of geostationary (GEO) satellites that became the backbone of European broadcast television, including the highly valued 13 degrees East orbital position serving HOTBIRD. In 2001, the organization was privatized, transforming into Eutelsat S.A. (later Eutelsat Communications), and in 2005 it listed on Euronext Paris. The French government, through Bpifrance and other vehicles, retained a strategic stake reflecting the company's status as a piece of national and European space infrastructure. In September 2023, Eutelsat completed a defining transaction: the all-share merger with UK-based OneWeb, creating Eutelsat Group, the first vertically integrated GEO/LEO satellite operator in the world. Pre-merger, standalone Eutelsat employed roughly 1,300 people; post-merger the combined group is in the order of 1,800 employees, distributed primarily between the historic Paris campus at Issy-les-Moulineaux and the former OneWeb engineering and operations base in West London. The merger brought together Eutelsat's mature GEO fleet (around 35 satellites at the time of closing) and OneWeb's Low Earth Orbit constellation of more than 630 satellites delivering low-latency broadband. Bharti Global, OneWeb's anchor investor through its rescue from administration in 2020, became one of the largest shareholders in the combined group alongside the French state and the UK government, which kept its OneWeb-era special share. Recent fleet investments include EUTELSAT 36D, launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in March 2024 to replace EUTELSAT 36B at the strategically important 36 degrees East slot serving Africa and Russia, and continued LEO replenishment to keep the OneWeb constellation operational while the company plans a next-generation IRIS-aligned constellation. Commercially the group sells under unified Eutelsat branding, with consumer broadband under Konnect+ and enterprise, government, mobility, and connectivity-on-the-move offerings drawing on the integrated GEO/LEO fleet. The strategic context is unforgiving: SpaceX's Starlink has scaled past 6,000 LEO satellites and several million subscribers, Amazon's Project Kuiper is in early deployment, and traditional GEO video revenues are in secular decline. Eutelsat's pitch to investors, governments, and employees alike is that as Europe's only homegrown integrated GEO/LEO operator, it occupies a strategically irreplaceable position for European sovereignty, defense communications, and the EU's planned IRIS-squared secure connectivity constellation. Joining Eutelsat today means joining a company in the middle of an integration, a fleet renewal, and a competitive war for the future of satellite connectivity, all at once.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Browse open roles at careers

    Browse open roles at careers.eutelsat.com (the unified Eutelsat Group careers portal post-merger). Filter by location (Paris HQ at Issy-les-Moulineaux, West London ex-OneWeb site, Washington D.C., Mexico City, regional sales offices) and by family (Engineering, Operations, Commercial, Corporate). Read the role's language requirement carefully: many Paris-based roles list French as required or strongly preferred, while London and ex-OneWeb engineering roles are predominantly English-only.

  2. 2
    Create an account and submit your CV, cover letter, and the standard application

    Create an account and submit your CV, cover letter, and the standard application form. Eutelsat uses an applicant tracking system to manage submissions; expect to receive an automated acknowledgement within a few days. Tailor your CV to the satellite/space sector vocabulary in the job description (RF, payload, ground segment, SATCOM, LEO/GEO, NOC, TT&C) rather than generic telecoms language.

  3. 3
    First screen: a 30 to 45 minute call with a Talent Acquisition partner, conducte

    First screen: a 30 to 45 minute call with a Talent Acquisition partner, conducted in English by default and switching to French for roles where French is the working language. Expect questions on motivation, language abilities, salary expectations in euros (Paris) or pounds (London), notice period, and right-to-work status. EU/EEA citizens have a clear path in Paris; non-EU candidates will be asked early about visa sponsorship, which Eutelsat does sponsor for hard-to-fill engineering roles but not routinely for commercial or corporate roles.

  4. 4
    Hiring manager interview: usually 45 to 60 minutes, focused on technical fit and

    Hiring manager interview: usually 45 to 60 minutes, focused on technical fit and prior experience. For engineering roles this is a deep dive on satellite systems, RF link budgets, ground segment, software stacks, or whatever specialty the role demands. For commercial roles it covers your sector knowledge (broadcast, government, mobility, fixed data) and customer relationships. Expect the interviewer to probe your understanding of the post-merger integration and your view on Starlink and the LEO competitive landscape.

  5. 5
    Technical or panel round: for senior engineering and product roles, a panel with

    Technical or panel round: for senior engineering and product roles, a panel with two to four interviewers covering systems engineering, software, operations, and a peer engineer. Some roles include a take-home exercise (link budget calculation, system design, customer pitch deck). For mission operations and TT&C roles expect specific scenario-based questions about anomaly response and constellation management.

  6. 6
    HR and compensation conversation: a structured discussion of grade, base salary,

    HR and compensation conversation: a structured discussion of grade, base salary, variable pay (typically a target bonus of 10 to 25 percent depending on level), benefits (French statutory benefits plus mutuelle, retraite, profit-sharing for French entities; UK pension and private medical for the London entity), and start date. Eutelsat is unionized in France; collective bargaining agreements set minimum conditions and a transparent grade structure.

  7. 7
    Final approval and offer: senior roles often require sign-off from a director or

    Final approval and offer: senior roles often require sign-off from a director or executive committee member, especially for cross-border roles or roles touching defense and government accounts. Background checks for security-cleared roles (defense, government services) can extend the timeline by several weeks; French Confidentiel Defense or UK SC clearance may be required and is typically sponsored after offer.

Resume Tips for Eutelsat

recommended

Lead with satellite or adjacent space-industry experience and use the sector's v

Lead with satellite or adjacent space-industry experience and use the sector's vocabulary. If you have worked on payload, ground segment, NOC, TT&C, link budgets, beam planning, frequency coordination, or constellation operations, name those things explicitly. Recruiters at Eutelsat are insiders who recognize SES, Intelsat, Inmarsat, Hughes, Viasat, Telesat, Iridium, Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space, OHB, MDA, and Kratos as serious adjacent employers.

recommended

If you are applying to a Paris role, submit a French CV in addition to English

If you are applying to a Paris role, submit a French CV in addition to English. The standard French CV is one to two pages with a clear photo (still common in France), a one-line headline, structured education and experience sections, and a 'Langues' block stating CEFR levels. Even bilingual managers expect to see that you can present yourself in French if the role requires it.

recommended

For RF engineering, antenna, payload, and link budget roles, quantify your work

For RF engineering, antenna, payload, and link budget roles, quantify your work in the units the industry uses: G/T in dB/K, EIRP in dBW, C/N or C/(N+I) in dB, throughput in Mbps or Gbps per beam, frequency bands (C, Ku, Ka, Q/V), and orbital mechanics where relevant. Generic 'designed RF systems' bullets get filtered out; 'designed Ka-band user terminal RF chain achieving G/T of X dB/K at Y elevation' gets read.

recommended

For software, networking, and platform engineering roles supporting OneWeb and K

For software, networking, and platform engineering roles supporting OneWeb and Konnect+, surface modern stack experience: Python, Go, Kubernetes, AWS or Azure, Kafka, Terraform, observability stacks, and any SDN or NFV background relevant to virtualized ground networks. The ex-OneWeb engineering culture in London is more recognizably 'tech company' than legacy GEO operators.

recommended

For commercial, sales, and account management roles, show sector verticals (broa

For commercial, sales, and account management roles, show sector verticals (broadcast, government, defense, maritime, aero, fixed broadband, cellular backhaul) and named customer relationships. Quote book of business in euros, deal sizes, and renewal rates. Knowledge of African, Middle Eastern, and Latin American distribution partners is highly valued because those geographies remain core revenue regions.

recommended

For corporate functions (finance, legal, HR, procurement, regulatory), highlight

For corporate functions (finance, legal, HR, procurement, regulatory), highlight any listed-company, French CAC, or cross-border M&A experience. The OneWeb merger created a complex post-acquisition integration agenda, so PMI, carve-out, ERP harmonization, and cross-jurisdiction governance experience translates directly into interview signal.

recommended

List language proficiency honestly with CEFR levels (A2, B1, B2, C1, C2)

List language proficiency honestly with CEFR levels (A2, B1, B2, C1, C2). French at B2 or above is a meaningful differentiator for any Paris-based role even when not strictly required, because day-to-day collaboration, works-council communications, and HR documents are bilingual at best. Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic are bonuses for commercial roles covering LATAM, Brazil, and MENA.

recommended

Mention security clearances cleanly and accurately

Mention security clearances cleanly and accurately. French Confidentiel Defense or Secret Defense, UK SC or DV, NATO Secret, and US Secret are all relevant for defense and government services roles. Do not overstate the level or status of any clearance; the satellite industry is small and verifications happen.

ATS System: Custom (verify live)

Eutelsat Group's careers portal at careers.eutelsat.com runs on a standard enterprise SaaS applicant tracking system (publicly observed to use a SmartRecruiters-style flow; verify the host pattern at the time of application as ATS vendors do change). Applications are submitted through a structured form with CV upload, cover letter field, and standard EEO and right-to-work questions adjusted for French and UK regulations. Communications are sent from a no-reply Eutelsat domain; recruiters reach o

Complete Custom (verify live) Resume Guide →

Interview Culture

Interviewing at Eutelsat sits at a cultural crossroads that is unusual even by European standards: a French listed-company HQ shaped by decades as an intergovernmental organization, fused with an ex-startup LEO operator in West London that itself was rescued from US Chapter 11 and rebuilt under Indian and British ownership. The dominant tone in Paris is courteous, formal, and structured. Interviews start on time, follow the planned agenda, address you as 'Monsieur' or 'Madame' until invited otherwise, and usually open with a presentation of the role and the team before moving to your background. Demonstrating that you have actually read about the company (the OneWeb merger, EUTELSAT 36D, Konnect+, the IRIS-squared programme, the French state's stake) is table stakes. French interviewers tend to value precise, well-structured answers; rambling or visibly improvised responses land badly. Expect at least one interviewer to test the depth of your technical or commercial reasoning by pushing back politely on something you said, in a way that can feel adversarial to candidates from US or Northern European cultures but is meant as a serious engagement with your idea. In London, the ex-OneWeb culture is faster-paced, less formal, and more recognizably tech-industry: stand-ups, modern collaboration tools, more diverse accents and backgrounds in the room, and engineers comfortable whiteboarding system architecture on the spot. Both sides are working through the integration of Workday, Confluence, and shared engineering tooling, and candidates who can talk fluently about cross-site collaboration challenges score well. The post-merger integration culture itself is a real interview topic: be prepared to discuss how you would operate in a matrix where your manager, your skip-level, and your delivery counterparts may sit in different countries, on different employment contracts, with different bank holidays, and occasionally with different views on priorities. Eutelsat is a unionized French employer with strong works-council traditions; senior leaders are accustomed to engaging with employee representatives, and candidates who treat that as a feature rather than a bug come across better. Across both Paris and London, a clear-eyed and honest perspective on the competitive landscape (Starlink, Kuiper, the SES-Intelsat combination, China's Guowang and Qianfan) is appreciated more than corporate cheerleading. The company's leadership knows the strategic situation is hard; what they want to see in candidates is people who understand the situation and still want to come and help solve it.

What Eutelsat Looks For

  • Demonstrable satellite or space-industry experience, or directly transferable experience from telecoms, defense, RF, or large-scale infrastructure operators. Pure consumer-internet backgrounds rarely land senior roles without a credible bridge story.
  • Bilingual French and English fluency for Paris-based roles, with at least working French (B1 or above) acceptable for many engineering roles but B2 or above expected for management, commercial, and corporate roles. London roles are English-first.
  • Comfort operating in a regulated, unionized, listed-company environment with strong governance, formal processes, and works-council engagement. Candidates who chafe at process tend to leave within 18 months.
  • Strategic literacy about the integrated GEO/LEO thesis, the role of LEO constellations in the next decade, and the European sovereignty angle including IRIS-squared. The board and executive team are pitching this story constantly and want it understood internally.
  • For engineering: depth in at least one of payload, ground segment, RF, satellite operations, network engineering, software platforms, or systems engineering, plus an ability to collaborate across the legacy Paris and ex-OneWeb London teams without taking sides.
  • For commercial: a real network in at least one vertical (broadcast, government, defense, mobility, telecom backhaul, consumer broadband distribution) and one geographic region (EMEA, Americas, APAC), and a credible track record of hitting quota in long-cycle B2B sales.
  • Cultural maturity around the post-merger reality: the willingness to bridge two organizations rather than pick a side, and the patience to operate while integration decisions about systems, locations, and roles continue to be worked through.
  • Personal alignment with a public-interest framing of the work. Eutelsat sells itself, internally and externally, as European critical infrastructure; people who genuinely care about that frame outperform people who treat it as marketing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the typical salary range at Eutelsat in Paris?
For Paris-based roles, individual contributor engineering and commercial salaries generally fall in the €45,000 to €75,000 range for early-to-mid career, €75,000 to €110,000 for senior individual contributors, and €110,000 to €160,000+ for managers and directors, plus a target variable typically between 10 and 25 percent and French statutory benefits (mutuelle, retraite, intéressement). London salaries for comparable roles tend to be 10 to 20 percent lower in pound terms once converted, but include UK pension and private medical. Senior executive bands sit above this and are negotiated individually.
Is the OneWeb merger integration still ongoing, and should I be worried about role stability?
Yes, integration is still actively being worked through across systems, processes, governance, and product portfolios, and that will continue for several years given the scale and the cross-border complexity. Some role consolidation has already happened and more is likely in functions where Paris and London had duplicate teams. The honest answer is to ask directly during interviews about the future of your specific function and team, get a clear answer, and weigh it. Engineering roles tied to the LEO constellation, IRIS-squared, and fleet renewal are structurally well-positioned; corporate and back-office roles are higher-risk.
Why do candidates sometimes turn down Eutelsat offers in favor of SES, Iridium, or Starlink?
The most common reasons are base salary gaps versus US-headquartered employers (Starlink and Iridium can pay materially more in cash for engineering talent), perceived growth trajectory (Starlink's deployment pace and SES's scale via the Intelsat merger create different career narratives), and uncertainty about the post-merger integration. Counter-arguments candidates weigh in Eutelsat's favor include a unique integrated GEO/LEO mandate, European sovereignty mission, French statutory benefits and work-life balance, and exposure to a strategically irreplaceable European space asset. There is no one right answer; honest conversations about all of this during the offer stage tend to land better outcomes.
Do I need to speak French to work at Eutelsat in Paris?
Strictly required for many roles, strongly preferred for almost all of them. The working language at Issy-les-Moulineaux is bilingual French and English; many meetings, especially with operations, HR, and works-council touchpoints, default to French. Engineering individual contributor roles often accept English-only with a commitment to learn French (Eutelsat sponsors language training), but management, commercial, legal, HR, and finance roles in Paris generally require professional French (CEFR B2 or above). London roles are English-first.
What is the difference between the Paris and London offices culturally?
Paris is the historic Eutelsat headquarters: French listed-company culture, structured and process-driven, unionized with active works councils, formal in tone, with deep institutional memory going back to the 1977 intergovernmental founding. London is the ex-OneWeb engineering and operations base: faster-paced, more startup-flavored, English-only, more diverse in nationality and background, and more recognizably a tech company in its day-to-day. Both are part of the same group now, both report into the same executive committee, and successful careers increasingly involve collaborating across both sites; candidates who can bridge the two cultures are explicitly valued.
How does Eutelsat compete with Starlink given Starlink's scale advantage?
Eutelsat's position is that it competes on different terrain rather than head-to-head on consumer broadband scale. Its differentiators are integrated GEO plus LEO (Starlink is LEO-only, SES will be GEO plus MEO), European sovereignty and regulatory standing (IRIS-squared, defense and government accounts that prefer non-US providers), broadcast and video distribution where GEO is still dominant, and partnerships with mobile network operators and enterprises that need managed, SLA-backed connectivity rather than best-effort consumer service. The company is honest internally that Starlink will continue to take consumer broadband share; the strategy is to win the segments where Starlink is the wrong tool.
What is the role of the French government as a shareholder, and does it affect day-to-day work?
The French state, primarily through Bpifrance, holds a meaningful stake reflecting Eutelsat's status as strategic European space infrastructure. Practically this means board representation, government interest in major strategic decisions (mergers, fleet investments, defense contracts), and a degree of political attention to executive appointments and major restructurings. For most employees the day-to-day impact is limited to standard governance hygiene and occasional internal communications around major strategic milestones; for legal, regulatory, government affairs, and senior commercial roles serving defense and sovereign customers, the relationship with the French state and with EU institutions in Brussels is a constant work item.
What ATS does Eutelsat use and how should I optimize my application?
Eutelsat's careers portal at careers.eutelsat.com is built on a standard enterprise applicant tracking system (commonly understood to be SmartRecruiters or a similar SaaS platform; verify the URL pattern at application time). Practical optimization: use the same vocabulary as the job description in your CV, attach both an English and a French CV for Paris roles where French is required, list certifications and clearances in a dedicated section, and follow the prompts in the application form completely rather than skipping optional fields, which improves recruiter visibility.
Are remote and hybrid arrangements available?
Hybrid is standard for most office-based roles, with typical arrangements of two to three days on-site per week in Paris and London. Fully remote roles are uncommon and usually reserved for specific regional sales and partner-management positions. Mission operations, NOC, network operations, and any role involving secure or classified work are generally on-site by necessity. France's regulatory framework around teletravail is well-established and Eutelsat operates within it; specific policies vary by team and manager and are worth clarifying during interviews.
What does the LEO constellation team in London actually work on day-to-day?
The ex-OneWeb engineering organization in West London operates and continues to evolve the LEO constellation that delivers Eutelsat's low-latency broadband product. Work spans satellite operations and TT&C, ground network and gateway engineering, user terminal hardware and firmware partnerships, Kubernetes-based service platforms, network management software, capacity planning, and the engineering inputs into the next-generation constellation roadmap that aligns with IRIS-squared. The team is recognizably a modern engineering organization with cloud-native tooling, and it works closely with Paris-based teams responsible for GEO operations, regulatory affairs, and commercial integration of the GEO and LEO products.

Open Positions

Eutelsat currently has 3 open positions.

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Sources

  1. Eutelsat Group corporate website —
  2. Eutelsat Group careers portal —
  3. Eutelsat and OneWeb completion of combination announcement (Eutelsat investor relations, September 2023) —
  4. Bpifrance shareholder profile of Eutelsat —
  5. EUTELSAT 36D launch coverage —
  6. European Union IRIS-squared (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) programme —
  7. Eutelsat Communications financial filings on Euronext Paris (ticker ETL) —
  8. Bharti Global ownership of OneWeb pre-merger and post-merger Eutelsat Group stake —