How to Apply to INSERM

10 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 217 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • INSERM is a French public scientific and technological institution (EPST) where permanent positions confer civil-servant status with effective lifetime employment, modest national-grid pay, and full French social protection.
  • Permanent researcher posts (CR, DR) and engineer/technician posts are filled through annual national concours, not rolling hiring — miss the calendar and you wait a year.
  • Concours competition is intense: typical ratios of 10:1 to 30:1, with success driven by scientific track record, host-laboratory support, and quality of the written project.
  • Non-permanent roles (postdocs, CDD, PhD contracts) are posted year-round on emploi.inserm.fr and follow international academic norms — apply directly to the PI in parallel.
  • French language is essential for permanent posts and the concours audition; English is accepted for science but not for the civil-service interface.
  • Funding is a constant hustle: ANR success rates hover near 10 to 15 percent and ERC grants are a major prestige and budget target for ambitious PIs.
  • Compared to the Pasteur Institute (a separate private foundation with international visibility), INSERM is broader, more distributed, more public-sector in feel, and offers stronger long-term security but less brand cachet outside France.
  • Plan a 3 to 6 month application timeline and identify your host unit before drafting the dossier — solo applications without a sponsor unit almost never succeed.

About INSERM

INSERM (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) is France's national public biomedical research institution, headquartered at 101 rue de Tolbiac in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Founded in 1964 to replace the older Institut National d'Hygiène (INH, established 1941), it operates as an EPST — Établissement public à caractère scientifique et technologique — a public scientific and technological research institution under the joint supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation and the Ministry of Health and Solidarity. Since 2023, the President-Director General is Didier Samuel, a hepatologist who succeeded Gilles Bloch (now PDG of INRAE). Yves Lévy held the role previously. The institute employs roughly 16,000 people, including approximately 5,000 permanent researchers (chargés de recherche and directeurs de recherche), around 3,000 research engineers and technicians, plus thousands of postdocs and PhD students on fixed-term contracts. Research is conducted across roughly 370 units distributed throughout France, almost all of which are joint units co-operated with universities, CHU teaching hospitals, INRAE, CNRS, or CEA. Major Paris/Île-de-France hubs include Cochin, Necker, Bichat, Pitié-Salpêtrière, Tenon, Trousseau, and Sainte-Anne, embedded within the AP-HP hospital network. Significant regional clusters operate in Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Montpellier, Nice, Grenoble, and Rennes. Research is organised through nine multi-organism thematic institutes (ITMOs) covering Cancer; Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics; Immunology, Inflammation, Infectiology and Microbiology; Neuroscience, Cognitive Sciences, Neurology and Psychiatry; Cardiovascular, Metabolism, Diabetology and Nutrition; Public Health; Molecular and Structural Biology and Cell Biology; Circulation, Metabolism and Nutrition; and Health Technologies. INSERM-affiliated work has shaped global biomedicine, most famously through the discovery of HIV by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier (2008 Nobel Prize, work conducted at the Pasteur Institute with strong INSERM ties), as well as foundational contributions to prion disease research, cancer immunotherapy, and the French response to COVID-19. Be honest about the trade-off: permanent INSERM positions confer French civil-servant status — effective lifetime employment and a defined-benefit pension — at the cost of rigid national pay grids that are modest by US or UK academic standards.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Identify the right competition: permanent researcher posts (CR, DR) are filled t

    Identify the right competition: permanent researcher posts (CR, DR) are filled through national concours announced annually in February or March via the dedicated INSERM concours portal, while engineer and technician posts (IR, IE, AI, TCH) follow a parallel concours calendar; non-permanent contracts (postdoc, CDD) are posted on emploi.inserm.fr year-round.

  2. 2
    Read the official concours notice carefully

    Read the official concours notice carefully — each section (CSS, Commission Scientifique Spécialisée) defines its scientific perimeter, eligibility criteria, age and diploma requirements, and the exact list of host laboratories that have requested a recruitment.

  3. 3
    Choose your host laboratory before applying: contact the unit director (directeu

    Choose your host laboratory before applying: contact the unit director (directeur d'unité) and the team leader you want to join, secure their explicit support, and align your project with their scientific programme — a CR application without a clearly identified host has near-zero chance.

  4. 4
    Build the dossier scientifique: a detailed CV with publications (highlight first

    Build the dossier scientifique: a detailed CV with publications (highlight first/last/corresponding author), a research project (typically 8 to 15 pages) tied to the host unit, a summary of past work, teaching and supervision experience, and grant history including ANR, ERC, Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Horizon Europe.

  5. 5
    Submit through the INSERM concours portal before the published deadline (usually

    Submit through the INSERM concours portal before the published deadline (usually early to mid-May); late submissions are not accepted under any circumstances and the system closes precisely at the stated time, Paris local.

  6. 6
    Prepare for the audition: shortlisted candidates present their work and project

    Prepare for the audition: shortlisted candidates present their work and project to the CSS jury in June or July, typically 10 to 15 minutes of presentation followed by 20 to 30 minutes of questions, in French for permanent posts (English may be tolerated for some sections but is risky).

  7. 7
    For postdoc and CDD roles, apply directly via emploi

    For postdoc and CDD roles, apply directly via emploi.inserm.fr or by emailing the PI; expect a CV, motivation letter in French or English, two or three reference letters, and one or two interviews (often video for international candidates).

  8. 8
    Negotiate the host laboratory carefully

    Negotiate the host laboratory carefully — concours results are published in August and successful candidates can sometimes choose between multiple supportive units, but movement after appointment is administratively heavy and politically sensitive.

  9. 9
    Plan for the probationary year: newly recruited CRs serve a one-year stage befor

    Plan for the probationary year: newly recruited CRs serve a one-year stage before tenure (titularisation) is confirmed by the scientific council; in practice failure is rare but not impossible if integration into the host unit goes badly.

  10. 10
    Track the secondary competitions: INSERM also runs targeted concours for specifi

    Track the secondary competitions: INSERM also runs targeted concours for specific scientific priorities (CR-HC, contrats d'interface hospitalo-universitaires, ATIP-Avenir starting investigator grants) which can offer parallel entry routes worth monitoring.

Resume Tips for INSERM

recommended

Use a French-style CV for permanent concours: chronological, comprehensive, no p

Use a French-style CV for permanent concours: chronological, comprehensive, no photo required but acceptable, and do not omit dates — French selection committees expect to see every year of activity accounted for, including parental and sick leave gaps if relevant.

recommended

Lead with publications grouped by category (peer-reviewed articles, reviews, boo

Lead with publications grouped by category (peer-reviewed articles, reviews, book chapters, conference proceedings); for each paper, state your authorship position explicitly and include impact factors or quartile rankings if your section values them.

recommended

Quantify research output: number of citations, h-index, ORCID ID, total grant fu

Quantify research output: number of citations, h-index, ORCID ID, total grant funding raised as PI or co-PI, students and postdocs supervised, invited talks given, and journals where you serve as reviewer or editor.

recommended

Highlight international mobility — postdoc abroad, sabbaticals, collaborations —

Highlight international mobility — postdoc abroad, sabbaticals, collaborations — because the CSS reads mobility as a proxy for scientific independence and openness, and stationary careers are often penalised.

recommended

Document teaching and outreach precisely: hours taught, courses designed, master

Document teaching and outreach precisely: hours taught, courses designed, master's or PhD juries, public engagement, science communication, and any responsibility within learned societies or doctoral schools.

recommended

Include a clear, fundable research project (projet de recherche) that builds on

Include a clear, fundable research project (projet de recherche) that builds on but does not merely replicate your postdoc work, and shows how the host laboratory's environment is necessary to its success.

recommended

Name your host unit, team leader, and host laboratory director on the cover shee

Name your host unit, team leader, and host laboratory director on the cover sheet and explain why you chose them — vague or generic project framing is a common reason for rejection at the dossier stage.

recommended

For engineer and technician posts, foreground concrete technical platforms maste

For engineer and technician posts, foreground concrete technical platforms mastered (cytometry, mass spectrometry, bioinformatics pipelines, animal facility certification, GLP/GMP experience) and any operational responsibilities held.

recommended

Translate or write the dossier in clear, professional French for permanent posts

Translate or write the dossier in clear, professional French for permanent posts; an awkwardly translated dossier signals weak language skills to a jury that conducts oral exams in French.

recommended

Have at least one current INSERM researcher review your dossier before submissio

Have at least one current INSERM researcher review your dossier before submission — internal norms about tone, structure, and what counts as 'an excellent project' are not written down anywhere and matter enormously.

ATS System: INSERM custom portal (emploi.inserm.fr) and dedicated concours platform

INSERM operates two distinct application channels. Non-permanent positions (postdocs, CDD engineers, technicians, PhD contracts) are posted and managed through emploi.inserm.fr, the institute's custom-built jobs portal. Permanent civil-servant positions (chargés de recherche, directeurs de recherche, and ingénieur/technicien concours) are filled through a separate national concours platform with its own annual calendar, dossier templates, and jury workflow. Neither system is a commercial ATS like Workday or Greenhouse — both are bespoke French public-sector tools with their own quirks.

  • Create your account on emploi.inserm.fr early and verify the email confirmation link arrives — public-sector portals are notorious for SMTP issues and last-minute account problems.
  • Upload PDFs in the requested format (often a single combined dossier); the concours portal frequently rejects files above 10 MB or with non-standard fonts, so flatten and compress before uploading.
  • Save your work frequently — the portal session can time out without warning, and partially filled forms are not always recovered.
  • Use a stable French keyboard or accent-aware input; the system stores accented characters but copy-paste from Word can introduce hidden characters that break form validation.
  • Submit at least 48 hours before the deadline because the portal traffic spike on the final day routinely causes outages, and INSERM does not extend deadlines for technical reasons on the user side.
  • For non-permanent posts, follow up by email with the recruiting PI even after applying through the portal — French academic hiring is relationship-driven and a portal-only application is often invisible.
  • Check the precise CSS or commission code for your discipline before applying; submitting to the wrong section is a procedural rejection that no amount of scientific quality can fix.

Interview Culture

Expect a formal, hierarchical, and intellectually exacting interview process that reflects French academic culture.

For permanent CR and DR concours, the centrepiece is the audition before the relevant Commission Scientifique Spécialisée (CSS), a jury of approximately 20 elected and appointed scientists drawn from the discipline. You will typically have 10 to 15 minutes to present your past work and research project, followed by 20 to 30 minutes of pointed questioning. The questions probe scientific depth, methodological rigour, originality, fit with the host laboratory, and the candidate's vision for an independent research programme over five to ten years. Vague answers, evasion, or unsupported claims are penalised severely. For postdoc and engineer interviews, the format is more familiar to international candidates: a meeting with the PI, often a chalk talk or seminar, lab visit, and informal discussions with team members. Decisions are made by the PI but heavily influenced by group consensus and the unit director's view. Plan to discuss not just your science but how you will fund yourself if a grant is involved, your medium-term career intentions, and your willingness to relocate within France. Language matters. Permanent concours auditions are conducted in French; candidates who insist on English send a strong negative signal about their willingness to integrate into the French civil service. For postdocs and short-term contracts, English is widely accepted, especially in international labs in Paris, Marseille, or Strasbourg, but a few sentences of effort in French are appreciated. Salary discussions are constrained — pay is set by national grid and not negotiable for permanent posts — so focus negotiation on start-up package, equipment, lab space, and PhD student allocations rather than base compensation.

What INSERM Looks For

  • Demonstrated scientific independence — typically a strong postdoc abroad, a track record of first or last author publications, and evidence of generating original ideas rather than executing someone else's programme.
  • A coherent, ambitious, and feasible research project that fits the host unit's strengths without duplicating its existing work, and that promises to attract external funding within two to three years.
  • International mobility and visible collaborations — French committees explicitly value time spent abroad and are sceptical of careers built entirely in one institution.
  • Grant-getting capacity, especially success or strong applications to ANR, ERC Starting/Consolidator/Advanced grants, Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships, and EU Horizon Europe programmes.
  • Publications in journals of record for the field, with a clear narrative of intellectual contribution rather than a long list of mid-author papers.
  • Teaching, supervision and service contributions — supervised PhD students and postdocs, doctoral school involvement, peer review, society roles — because INSERM researchers are expected to participate in the broader scientific community.
  • For engineer and technician roles: deep mastery of specific technical platforms, ability to train and support researchers, and operational reliability over flashy CV lines.
  • Working knowledge of French for permanent posts, and at minimum a credible plan to reach professional French within the probationary year for international hires.
  • Alignment with INSERM strategic priorities for the year, which are published by the direction générale and shape which CSS sections receive more recruitment slots.
  • Personal robustness — the concours is highly competitive, ratios of 10 to 1 or 30 to 1 are normal, and committees look for candidates who can withstand setbacks and keep producing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between INSERM and the Pasteur Institute?
INSERM is a public scientific and technological institution (EPST) under direct ministerial supervision, with about 16,000 staff across 370 units nationwide. The Pasteur Institute is a private non-profit foundation headquartered in Paris with strong international branding and its own funding model. They collaborate extensively — many Pasteur scientists hold INSERM affiliations — but the employment statuses, hiring processes, and pay structures are entirely separate.
Do I need to speak French to work at INSERM?
For permanent civil-servant positions filled by concours, yes — the audition is in French and the role involves participation in French committees, teaching, and administration. For postdocs, PhD contracts, and many CDD engineer roles, English is sufficient and many labs operate primarily in English, though basic conversational French makes daily life easier.
What does a chargé de recherche (CR) earn?
Entry-level CR salaries are set by the national civil-service grid and start around 2,500 to 2,800 euros gross per month (approximately 30,000 to 35,000 euros per year), rising with grade and seniority. Directeurs de recherche (DR) earn between 50,000 and 90,000 euros gross annually depending on grade. Pay is not negotiable but includes strong social benefits, pension, and job security.
How competitive is the CR concours?
Highly. Typical applicant-to-position ratios run from 10:1 to 30:1 depending on the section and year, with the most popular areas (cancer, neuroscience, immunology) at the higher end. Success usually requires a strong international postdoc, multiple first or last author publications, prior grant success, and a well-supported host laboratory.
What is the difference between an Ingénieur de Recherche (IR) and a Chargé de Recherche (CR)?
IRs are research engineers who run technical platforms, support scientific projects, and may lead methodological development, but are not principal investigators. CRs are independent researchers who define their own scientific programme, supervise students, and are evaluated on publications. Both are permanent civil-service posts filled by separate concours.
Can foreign citizens apply to INSERM permanent positions?
Yes. EU citizens have full access to all concours. Non-EU citizens can apply but may face restrictions on certain administrative roles; permanent researcher posts are generally open. Visa and residency arrangements are handled by INSERM HR after appointment, but candidates should verify eligibility for the specific concours before applying.
How does the postdoc system work at INSERM?
Postdocs at INSERM units are typically funded through external grants — ANR, ERC, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Horizon Europe, charity foundations, or the INSERM postdoctoral programme. Contracts run one to three years and are not a guaranteed pathway to permanent positions. Many postdocs cycle through multiple labs in France and abroad before attempting the CR concours.
What are the nine ITMOs and why do they matter?
The Instituts Thématiques Multi-Organismes (ITMOs) are coordination structures spanning Cancer; Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics; Immunology, Inflammation, Infectiology and Microbiology; Neuroscience, Cognitive Sciences, Neurology and Psychiatry; Cardiovascular, Metabolism, Diabetology and Nutrition; Public Health; Molecular and Structural Biology; Circulation, Metabolism and Nutrition; and Health Technologies. They set scientific priorities, coordinate national strategies, and influence which CSS sections receive recruitment slots each year.
Where are INSERM units located?
Paris and Île-de-France host the largest concentration, embedded in AP-HP hospitals (Cochin, Necker, Bichat, Pitié-Salpêtrière, Tenon, Trousseau, Sainte-Anne) and university campuses. Major regional clusters exist in Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Lille, Nantes, Montpellier, Nice, Grenoble, and Rennes. Almost all units are jointly operated with a university, CHU, INRAE, CNRS, or CEA partner.
What is the role of unions at INSERM?
Union activity is significant. SNCS-FSU represents researchers, SGEN-CFDT and FERC-Sup CGT cover broader academic staff, FO is also present, and the Confédération des Jeunes Chercheurs (CJC) advocates for PhD students. Unions are active in concours juries, working groups, and contestation of national reforms such as the LPPR 2020 law.
What is the ANR and why does it matter?
The Agence Nationale de la Recherche is France's main competitive grant agency. ANR success rates have hovered near 10 to 15 percent in recent years, making grant-getting a constant pressure for INSERM PIs. Successful ANR applications are often a prerequisite for promotion and for keeping a research team operationally funded.
How do I find the right host laboratory before applying?
Browse the INSERM unit directory on the institute website, identify units in your scientific area, contact the team leader and unit director by email with a focused proposal, and ideally visit in person. A supportive host with formal commitment to your project is the single strongest predictor of CR concours success.

Open Positions

INSERM currently has 217 open positions.

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Sources

  1. INSERM — Official institutional website —
  2. INSERM — Emplois et carrières (jobs portal) —
  3. INSERM — Concours chercheurs (researcher competitions) —
  4. INSERM — Concours ingénieurs et techniciens —
  5. INSERM — Présidence et direction générale —
  6. Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche — EPST status —
  7. ANR — Agence Nationale de la Recherche —
  8. European Research Council — Funding —
  9. SNCS-FSU — Syndicat National des Chercheurs Scientifiques —
  10. Confédération des Jeunes Chercheurs (CJC) —
  11. Nobel Prize 2008 — Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier (HIV) —
  12. INSERM — Instituts thématiques (ITMOs) —