How to Apply to Longchamp

9 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 1 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • Longchamp is a private, family-controlled French luxury house, so offers will not include stock or equity, and compensation is built on base salary plus modest bonus.
  • Le Pliage is the commercial anchor of the company and shows up in nearly every interview, so you should understand its history, price architecture, and recent collaborations.
  • The careers portal runs on a custom French ATS, which means cleaner formatting and language matching matter more than on mainstream platforms.
  • Roles split sharply between Paris HQ corporate, French workshop atelier, international retail, and supply chain in Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritius, and Madagascar, each with different hiring norms.
  • Accessible luxury positioning makes Longchamp more resilient than ultra-luxury peers in the 2024 to 2025 slowdown, but it is not immune, and hiring tempo reflects that.
  • French language fluency is effectively required for HQ and workshop roles, and strongly preferred even for some international corporate positions.
  • Interview culture is more formal and brand-loyalty oriented than tech, with fewer rounds but heavier weight on category fit and cultural alignment.
  • Compared to LVMH, Kering, and Richemont brands, Longchamp offers less internal mobility across maisons but more direct exposure to a single brand and family ownership.

About Longchamp

Longchamp SAS is a French luxury leather goods house founded in 1948 by Jean Cassegrain in Paris. The company began making leather-covered smoking pipes in a small workshop and grew through three generations of the Cassegrain family into one of the last major French luxury brands that remains independent and family-controlled. Headquartered on Avenue Hoche in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, Longchamp is led by CEO Jean Cassegrain, the founder's grandson, who has run the company since 2002, and Artistic Director Sophie Delafontaine, his sister. The company employs roughly 3,500 people worldwide across its Paris head office, French manufacturing workshops, international subsidiaries, and around 300 standalone boutiques in addition to department store concessions. The brand is best known for Le Pliage, the foldable nylon tote launched in 1993 by Philippe Cassegrain, which became one of the most recognizable accessible-luxury bags in the world. Estimates put cumulative Le Pliage sales above 30 million units, and the line has anchored decades of collaborations including the 2024 Longchamp x Pokemon collection, which went viral. Beyond Le Pliage, the catalogue covers leather handbags, small leather goods, ready-to-wear, footwear, men's collections, accessories, and the Longchamp fragrance line. Production is split between French workshops in Mayenne, Sarthe, Lozere, and Maine-et-Loire, where artisans maroquiniers handcraft leather pieces, and facilities in Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritius, and Madagascar that produce Le Pliage and other lines at scale. Longchamp sits in the accessible luxury tier rather than ultra-luxury, which has shaped its 2024 to 2025 trajectory. The broader luxury market slowdown, driven by Chinese consumer weakness and US aspirational shopper retreat, has hit LVMH, Kering, and Richemont brands harder than Longchamp, whose lower price points and durable Le Pliage demand have been comparatively resilient. The company has leaned into sustainability with Le Pliage Green made from recycled nylon, and it continues to expand its ready-to-wear and footwear categories. Competition cuts across two tiers: at the accessible luxury level, Longchamp competes with Coach, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Furla, Lacoste, Mulberry, Sandro and Maje under SMCP, and direct-to-consumer challengers such as Polene; at the premium tier above, the conglomerate-owned French houses including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Celine, Saint Laurent, and Chanel define the reference points that Longchamp candidates are repeatedly compared against during interviews. Because Longchamp is private and family-controlled, there is no public stock, no quarterly earnings pressure, and no equity compensation in offer letters. Decision-making horizons are long, governance is concentrated in the Cassegrain family, and culture leans traditional and discreet rather than tech-startup transparent. Candidates should expect a French luxury house environment with global retail and supply chain operations attached, not a flat or fast-moving organization. The Paris head office on Avenue Hoche is the gravitational center of corporate life, French manufacturing workshops carry deep heritage and union representation through CFDT and CGT, and international retail operates with country general managers who own commercial and people decisions in their markets, so candidates should weigh stability and brand prestige against capped compensation when evaluating offers.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Locate openings on the Longchamp careers portal, typically reachable via carrier

    Locate openings on the Longchamp careers portal, typically reachable via carrieres.longchamp.com or recrutement.longchamp.fr, which runs on a custom French ATS rather than Workday or SAP SuccessFactors.

  2. 2
    Create an account on the careers portal using a stable email address, since the

    Create an account on the careers portal using a stable email address, since the custom ATS does not always allow guest applications and password recovery flows can be slow.

  3. 3
    Submit a CV in French for any role based in France or in the workshops, and in E

    Submit a CV in French for any role based in France or in the workshops, and in English for international corporate, retail, or ready-to-wear roles based outside France.

  4. 4
    Tailor your CV to the specific job family: maroquinerie and atelier roles emphas

    Tailor your CV to the specific job family: maroquinerie and atelier roles emphasize craft, retail roles emphasize boutique sales numbers, and corporate roles emphasize luxury or fashion industry experience.

  5. 5
    Expect an initial screen by the Longchamp talent acquisition team or, for retail

    Expect an initial screen by the Longchamp talent acquisition team or, for retail, by the regional or country HR partner, usually within two to four weeks of submission.

  6. 6
    Prepare for a competency interview that covers your motivation for Longchamp spe

    Prepare for a competency interview that covers your motivation for Longchamp specifically rather than luxury in general, since the family-owned positioning is a recurring theme.

  7. 7
    For retail roles, anticipate a boutique visit assessment where you may be asked

    For retail roles, anticipate a boutique visit assessment where you may be asked to comment on store presentation, customer flow, or product knowledge during the interview.

  8. 8
    For design, product development, and merchandising roles, expect a portfolio or

    For design, product development, and merchandising roles, expect a portfolio or case review with the relevant director, often Sophie Delafontaine's team for design positions.

  9. 9
    For workshop and atelier roles in Mayenne, Sarthe, or Lozere, expect a practical

    For workshop and atelier roles in Mayenne, Sarthe, or Lozere, expect a practical leather-handling test or trial period as part of the hiring process under the convention collective des industries du cuir.

  10. 10
    Final offers go through the Paris head office for corporate hires, and through t

    Final offers go through the Paris head office for corporate hires, and through the country general manager for retail and wholesale roles, with limited room for salary negotiation outside senior bands.

Resume Tips for Longchamp

recommended

Lead with luxury, fashion, or premium retail experience explicitly, since Longch

Lead with luxury, fashion, or premium retail experience explicitly, since Longchamp screens heavily for category fit and is unlikely to convert candidates from unrelated industries for client-facing roles.

recommended

For French applications, use a one-page CV in standard French format with a phot

For French applications, use a one-page CV in standard French format with a photo only if the role is retail or front-of-house, and avoid the longer US-style resume format.

recommended

Quantify retail performance with specific numbers: sales per square meter, conve

Quantify retail performance with specific numbers: sales per square meter, conversion rate, average transaction value, units per transaction, and clienteling book size if applicable.

recommended

Name the brands you have worked with, because Longchamp recruiters look for spec

Name the brands you have worked with, because Longchamp recruiters look for specific neighbors in the accessible luxury tier such as Coach, Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Furla, Lacoste, Sandro, Maje, Mulberry, and Polene.

recommended

For corporate roles, list languages with CEFR levels, since French is required f

For corporate roles, list languages with CEFR levels, since French is required for HQ and workshop roles, English is required for international roles, and Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, or Italian are meaningful pluses.

recommended

Highlight any exposure to French labor frameworks such as CDI contracts, CSE wor

Highlight any exposure to French labor frameworks such as CDI contracts, CSE works councils, or convention collective experience, which signals you can operate inside the French legal environment.

recommended

For artisan and atelier roles, name specific leather techniques, machines, and f

For artisan and atelier roles, name specific leather techniques, machines, and finishes you have handled, and reference any CAP Maroquinerie or equivalent French vocational qualification.

recommended

For design, product development, and merchandising roles, attach a focused portf

For design, product development, and merchandising roles, attach a focused portfolio link rather than a long PDF, and orient examples toward leather goods, accessories, or accessible luxury rather than streetwear or fast fashion.

recommended

Mention any experience with sustainability programs, recycled materials, or supp

Mention any experience with sustainability programs, recycled materials, or supply chain transparency, since Le Pliage Green and ESG reporting are active priorities.

recommended

Keep formatting plain enough for a custom ATS to parse cleanly: standard fonts,

Keep formatting plain enough for a custom ATS to parse cleanly: standard fonts, single-column layout, no text in images, and clear section headers in either French or English.

ATS System: Custom French ATS (carrieres.longchamp.com / recrutement.longchamp.fr)

Longchamp runs its careers portal on a custom French ATS rather than a standard global platform like Workday, SmartRecruiters, or Greenhouse. Job postings, applications, and candidate profiles live on Longchamp-branded subdomains, and parsing behavior is less predictable than mainstream ATS platforms. Expect a French-language interface for France-based roles and a partial English experience for international ones.

  • Submit your CV as a clean PDF with selectable text rather than a scanned image, since custom ATS parsers often handle images poorly.
  • Use a single-column layout with no tables, text boxes, or graphics in headers, which improves the chance that a custom ATS extracts your fields correctly.
  • Match the job title in the posting somewhere in your CV or cover letter, because custom ATS keyword matching is usually less forgiving than mainstream platforms.
  • Apply in the language of the job posting: French postings should receive a French CV, English postings should receive an English CV.
  • Save your portal account credentials, because password recovery on a custom ATS can be slow, and recreating a profile may push your application behind newer ones.

Interview Culture

Longchamp interviews follow a French luxury house cadence rather than a Silicon Valley tech loop.

Expect fewer rounds than a tech company but more weight on cultural fit, presentation, and category knowledge. The first conversation is typically a thirty to forty-five minute screen with a talent acquisition partner who will probe motivation for Longchamp specifically, language skills, and current notice period, since French CDI contracts often carry one to three months of notice that must be respected. Subsequent rounds depend on function. Corporate candidates at Avenue Hoche meet the hiring manager and a department head, often in person at the Paris office, and the interview style is direct, factual, and sometimes formal. Design and product development candidates meet teams under Sophie Delafontaine and should expect questions about the heritage of the house, the role of Le Pliage in the brand architecture, and how their own sensibility fits an accessible luxury rather than ultra-luxury positioning. Retail candidates should be prepared to walk into a Longchamp boutique before or after the interview and be ready to comment on visual merchandising, client experience, and product storytelling. Workshop and atelier candidates in the Mayenne, Sarthe, Lozere, and Maine-et-Loire facilities typically face a practical assessment, a meeting with the workshop director, and a probationary period that confirms craft skills. Compensation conversations happen late, salary bands are narrow, and base pay tends to track French luxury industry norms rather than tech benchmarks. There is no equity since Longchamp is a private family company, and bonus structures are modest outside senior leadership. Candidates who understand and accept the trade-off of stability, brand prestige, and craft over aggressive comp tend to perform best.

What Longchamp Looks For

  • Demonstrated affinity for Longchamp as a specific brand rather than generic interest in luxury or fashion.
  • Track record in accessible luxury, premium retail, or French heritage brands, with named employers that recruiters recognize.
  • Language fit for the role: French for HQ and workshops, English for international, plus market languages such as Mandarin, Japanese, or Korean for relevant geographies.
  • Comfort operating inside a private family-controlled company with long horizons, limited transparency, and no public equity story.
  • Craft credibility for atelier roles, including French vocational qualifications such as CAP Maroquinerie and hands-on leather technique.
  • Commercial discipline for retail and wholesale roles: clienteling, conversion, productivity per square meter, and respect for boutique standards.
  • Design sensibility aligned with the house: refined, wearable, accessible French chic rather than streetwear or trend-chasing aesthetics.
  • Operational experience with French labor frameworks, including CDI, CSE, and the convention collective des industries du cuir for manufacturing roles.
  • Awareness of the 2024 to 2025 luxury slowdown and how Longchamp's accessible price point and Le Pliage demand affect commercial planning.
  • Discretion and professionalism, since the Cassegrain family runs a low-key house and public personal branding is not part of the culture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Longchamp offer stock or equity as part of compensation?
No. Longchamp is a private company controlled by the Cassegrain family with no public listing and no employee equity program of the kind tech companies offer. Compensation is built on base salary, French statutory benefits, and modest bonus structures that vary by function and seniority.
Do I need to speak French to work at Longchamp?
For Paris HQ corporate roles and for any workshop or atelier role in Mayenne, Sarthe, Lozere, or Maine-et-Loire, French is effectively required. International retail and corporate roles outside France can often be filled in English, but French remains a meaningful advantage for any move toward HQ.
What ATS does Longchamp use, and how should I tailor my CV for it?
Longchamp uses a custom French ATS hosted on Longchamp-branded subdomains such as carrieres.longchamp.com or recrutement.longchamp.fr rather than Workday, SmartRecruiters, or Greenhouse. Submit a clean single-column PDF, match the job title language exactly, and apply in the language of the posting.
How does Longchamp compare to LVMH, Kering, and Richemont brands as an employer?
Longchamp is independent and family-controlled, while LVMH, Kering, and Richemont brands sit inside large luxury conglomerates. That means Longchamp offers less internal mobility across maisons, generally lower comp ceilings than top LVMH or Kering houses, but more direct exposure to a single brand and a more stable, less politicized environment.
What is the role of Le Pliage in interviews?
Le Pliage is the commercial and cultural anchor of the company, and most interviews touch on it. You should understand the 1993 launch by Philippe Cassegrain, the 30th anniversary in 2023, the recent Pokemon collaboration, the Le Pliage Green recycled nylon line, and how Le Pliage relates to the rest of the catalogue.
Are there technical or design tests during the hiring process?
Yes, depending on function. Atelier and workshop candidates often face a practical leather-handling test and a probationary period. Design, product development, and merchandising candidates typically present a portfolio or case study. Retail candidates may be asked to walk a boutique and comment on presentation.
How has the 2024 to 2025 luxury slowdown affected hiring at Longchamp?
The luxury slowdown has been driven by Chinese consumer weakness and US aspirational shopper retreat, and it has hit LVMH, Kering, and Richemont harder than accessible luxury players. Longchamp has been comparatively resilient, but hiring tempo is measured rather than aggressive, and leadership is conservative on headcount.
What kinds of roles does Longchamp hire for outside of Paris?
Outside of Paris HQ, Longchamp hires retail staff and store managers for its roughly 300 standalone boutiques and department store concessions globally, manufacturing staff for workshops in Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritius, and Madagascar, and country-level corporate teams in major markets such as the United States, Greater China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.
What background do candidates for atelier and workshop roles typically have?
French workshop roles typically require formal vocational training such as CAP Maroquinerie or equivalent, hands-on experience with leather techniques and machinery, and the ability to work under the convention collective des industries du cuir on a CDI contract with collective bargaining and CSE representation.
Is there room to negotiate salary at Longchamp?
Limited. Salary bands are narrow, especially below senior leadership, and the family-controlled governance keeps comp structures conservative. Negotiation tends to focus on title, scope, and benefits rather than large jumps in base, and there is no equity component to layer in.
Does Longchamp hire remote or hybrid workers?
Most retail and workshop roles are fully on-site by nature. Paris HQ corporate roles are typically hybrid with significant in-office presence at Avenue Hoche, in line with French luxury house norms, and fully remote roles are uncommon.
How long does the hiring process usually take?
Expect two to six weeks from application to first response, and another four to eight weeks through interviews and offer for corporate and design roles. Retail hiring can move faster, while workshop hiring may include a probation period that effectively extends the timeline.

Open Positions

Longchamp currently has 1 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 1 open positions at Longchamp

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Sources

  1. Longchamp - Official Website —
  2. Longchamp - Our House —
  3. Longchamp Careers Portal —
  4. Longchamp - Wikipedia —
  5. Le Pliage - Wikipedia —
  6. Jean Cassegrain - Longchamp CEO Profile, Business of Fashion —
  7. Sophie Delafontaine - Artistic Director, Longchamp —
  8. Longchamp x Pokemon Collaboration Coverage, Vogue —
  9. Le Pliage Green - Recycled Nylon Line —
  10. Convention Collective des Industries du Cuir - Legifrance —
  11. French Luxury Sector Outlook 2024-2025, Bain & Company —
  12. Luxury Slowdown Coverage, Financial Times —
  13. Longchamp Manufacturing Workshops, Forbes —
  14. Longchamp 75 Years - Heritage Coverage, WWD —