How to Apply to Naval Group

16 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 2 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • Naval Group is a French state-owned strategic prime contractor. Treat the application as a process governed by sovereignty, not by Silicon Valley conventions.
  • The ATS is Cegid TalentSoft at dcns.talent-soft.com, embedded in the Naval Group Drupal site at naval-group.com/en/join-us. Apply in French through the official portal.
  • Defense clearance is a hard gate. Confidentiel Défense takes two to four months, Secret Défense six to twelve. EU citizenship is the floor; French (or dual-French) nationality is strongly preferred for sensitive roles.
  • French-language fluency at C1 is the realistic minimum for engineering positions. The company runs in French and the regulator is French.
  • The major sites are Cherbourg (submarines), Lorient (frigates), Toulon (Mediterranean MCO), Brest (Atlantic MCO and SNLE), Nantes-Indret (naval propulsion and reactors), Ruelle-sur-Touvre (combat systems). Mobility is expected.
  • Compensation is competitive within French metallurgy norms, with a 13e mois, intéressement and participation, but well below US tech cash. The currency is mission, security, and engineering depth.
  • Interviews are formal, structured, four to five rounds, conducted in French, with a deep technical core and a final cultural-fit conversation for senior roles.
  • Pierre Éric Pommellet is CEO since March 2020. The major active programs are the Barracuda and SNLE 3G submarines, the FREMM and FDI frigates (including export to Greece and Argentina), the next-generation aircraft carrier (PA-Ng), and a growing in-service support portfolio.
  • Alternance and stage are the dominant pipelines for junior engineers. If you are a student, route through your school's partnership with Naval Group or the company's stage offers rather than the public CDI board.
  • Discretion and security awareness are evaluated continuously. Treat every conversation, every CV line, and every social media post as if a security officer will read it, because eventually one will.

About Naval Group

Naval Group is the prime contractor of the French Navy and one of Europe's flagship naval defense industrials, designing, building, and supporting submarines, frigates, aircraft carriers, and the combat systems that turn those hulls into warfighting platforms. The company traces its lineage back to 1631 and the royal arsenals of Richelieu, was reorganized as DCN, then DCNS in 2007, and finally rebranded as Naval Group in 2017 to signal a more open, internationally oriented identity. Headquartered at 40-42 rue du Bac in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, Naval Group employs roughly 16,000 people and reported approximately 4.3 billion euros in 2023 revenue, with a backlog stretching well beyond a decade thanks to multi-year French Navy programs and a growing export book. Ownership tells you almost everything you need to know about the culture: the French State holds 62.49 percent through the Agence des participations de l'État, Thales holds 35 percent, and the remainder is split between an employee fund and the heirs of the original DCN civil servants. This is, in the truest sense, a strategic national asset. Decisions about what to build, whom to sell to, and whom to hire flow through a permanent dialogue with the Direction générale de l'armement (DGA), the Élysée, and the Ministry of the Armed Forces. If you do not understand or appreciate that political dimension, you will misread the company at every turn. Naval Group's industrial footprint is concentrated on the French coast, with each site specializing in a distinct competence. Cherbourg in Normandy is the submarine yard, where the Barracuda-class nuclear attack submarines (Suffren, Duguay-Trouin, Tourville, De Grasse, Rubis, Casabianca) are assembled and where the next-generation SNLE 3G ballistic-missile submarines for the French nuclear deterrent are now being prepared. Lorient in Brittany builds surface combatants: the Aquitaine-class FREMM frigates and the FDI Belharra-class frigates ordered by France, Greece, and most recently Argentina. Toulon, the Mediterranean naval base, is the heart of in-service support (MCO) for the fleet. Brest mirrors that role on the Atlantic coast and supports the SNLE submarines based at Île Longue. Nantes-Indret designs and manufactures naval propulsion systems, including the compact reactors for French submarines and the next-generation aircraft carrier (PA-Ng). Ruelle-sur-Touvre in the Charente delivers combat systems, weapons handling, and equipment. Pierre Éric Pommellet has been Chairman and CEO since March 2020, succeeding Hervé Guillou. Pommellet is a Polytechnique and Mines Paris graduate who spent most of his career at Thales, including a period as Chief Operating Officer, before crossing over to Naval Group. His mandate has been threefold: deliver the French naval programs on schedule, recover the export pipeline after the abrupt 2021 cancellation of the Australian Attack-class submarine contract under AUKUS, and accelerate decarbonization and digital transformation. The export rebound is real. The FDI export to the Hellenic Navy (three frigates plus an option) signed in 2022 is now in build at Lorient. Argentina selected the FDI Belharra in 2025 for its naval renewal. France-India industrial cooperation around the Rafale Marine and submarine programs deepened in 2025. The AUKUS settlement with Australia closed in 2022 with a financial agreement, but the strategic loss of the A$90 billion Attack-class program left a scar that informed the company's pivot to NATO and Indo-Pacific markets. For a candidate, the practical takeaways are these. Naval Group is not a tech startup, and it is not a generalist defense conglomerate. It is a deeply specialized prime contractor whose work is regulated, classified, and tied to French sovereignty. Compensation is competitive but not Silicon Valley competitive. Job security, mission, and the chance to work on engineering problems that have no commercial analog (compact pressurized water reactors at sea, multi-decade ship lifecycles, sonar arrays operating in the deep ocean) are the real currency. The recruitment policy page states the company has hired more than 4,500 new employees over the past three years and intends to continue at that pace, with a stated target of 35 percent women in new hires by the end of 2025.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Start at the official careers portal at naval-group

    Start at the official careers portal at naval-group.com/en/careers (English) or naval-group.com/fr/carrieres (French). The French version is canonical and almost always lists more roles. Click through to the 'Job offers' page (naval-group.com/en/join-us) where the live opening list is rendered server-side from the underlying TalentSoft applicant tracking system. At any given moment you will typically see between five and a few dozen externally posted offers; most volume hiring at Naval Group flows through alternance contracts, school partnerships, internal mobility, and Pôle Emploi referrals rather than the public board.

  2. 2
    Filter the listing by Job type (Naval Architecture, Nuclear, Embedded Systems, W

    Filter the listing by Job type (Naval Architecture, Nuclear, Embedded Systems, Welding, Pyrotechnics, Boilermaking, Quality, Programs, etc.), Contract type (CDI permanent, CDD fixed-term, Casual, Part-Time, VIE, Interim), Country, and City. Permanent CDI roles dominate engineering. The VIE (Volontariat International en Entreprise) option is the standard channel for non-French EU nationals under 28 to work abroad for Naval Group on French government-subsidized contracts, typically out of the Belgian, Australian, or Indian subsidiaries.

  3. 3
    Click 'See' on a posting to open the full description on the embedded TalentSoft

    Click 'See' on a posting to open the full description on the embedded TalentSoft offer page (naval-group.com/en/talents/offer/{year}-{requisition-id}). Read the entire description, including the 'Profil recherché' (profile sought) and any explicit clearance requirements such as 'Habilitation Confidentiel Défense' or 'Habilitation Secret Défense.' If the role requires habilitation and you do not currently hold one, treat that as a gating constraint, not a nice-to-have.

  4. 4
    Create your TalentSoft candidate space at the 'Candidate space' link (naval-grou

    Create your TalentSoft candidate space at the 'Candidate space' link (naval-group.com/en/talents/login). This account belongs to you across all current and future Naval Group applications. Upload a French-format CV (one to two pages, no photo if applying from outside France, formal sections, clear chronology) and a lettre de motivation in French unless the offer is explicitly in English. The Candidate space supports CV submission for spontaneous applications, application tracking, and search alerts.

  5. 5
    Submit your application through the TalentSoft form attached to the offer

    Submit your application through the TalentSoft form attached to the offer. You will be asked for civil status, nationality, current authorization to work in the EU, language proficiencies, education (with grandes écoles and engineering school distinctions weighted heavily), professional experience, and any defense clearance you currently hold. Be accurate. The security screening that follows any offer will surface every inconsistency.

  6. 6
    Expect an initial response within two to four weeks for engineering roles in act

    Expect an initial response within two to four weeks for engineering roles in active programs. The first contact is almost always a phone or Teams screen with a recruiter from the relevant site (Cherbourg, Lorient, Nantes-Indret, Brest, Toulon, Ruelle, or the Paris HQ). The screen confirms language ability, motivation for defense, mobility willingness, and ability to obtain a clearance. Be ready to discuss why naval defense specifically and why Naval Group rather than Thales, MBDA, Dassault, or Airbus Defence.

  7. 7
    Pass the screen and you enter a structured interview loop of typically four to f

    Pass the screen and you enter a structured interview loop of typically four to five rounds: a technical interview with the hiring manager, a deep technical interview with a peer engineer or principal, an HR competency interview (often using the STAR-style behavioral format adapted to French formality), an interview with the program or site director for senior roles, and a final HR offer conversation. Engineering interviews at Cherbourg and Nantes-Indret often include a written technical exercise or a whiteboard problem rooted in the specific domain (thermal-hydraulics, acoustic signature reduction, electromagnetic compatibility, naval architecture).

  8. 8
    Receive a conditional offer letter (promesse d'embauche)

    Receive a conditional offer letter (promesse d'embauche). The offer is genuinely conditional. Onboarding cannot proceed until your security clearance file (Notice individuelle de sécurité, form 94A) is opened with the relevant security authority and a positive avis is returned. For Confidentiel Défense the process typically takes two to four months. For Secret Défense it can take six to twelve months. During this period you may be allowed to start on unclassified work, but access to programs, sites, and documents is gated by the clearance.

  9. 9
    Sign your CDI or CDD contract under French labor law, which means a 35-hour work

    Sign your CDI or CDD contract under French labor law, which means a 35-hour workweek baseline (engineers usually work under a forfait jours arrangement of around 218 days per year), a probationary period of typically four months renewable once for cadres, statutory paid leave plus RTT days, profit-sharing (intéressement and participation), a complementary health insurance plan, and a meal voucher or canteen plan. Annual gross compensation for a junior cadre engineer at Naval Group typically falls in the 38,000 to 45,000 euro range; experienced engineers in critical specialties can reach 70,000 to 90,000 euros; senior program managers and site leadership reach into the low six figures. These figures include the standard 13th-month or 13e mois practice common in the metallurgy collective agreement that covers most Naval Group employees.

Resume Tips for Naval Group

recommended

Use a French CV format

Use a French CV format. One to two pages, reverse chronological, formal section headers (État civil, Formation, Expérience professionnelle, Compétences techniques, Langues, Centres d'intérêt). Photo is conventional in France for in-country applications but can be omitted if you are applying from abroad. The CV should be a PDF, named with your last name and first name, and uploaded to the TalentSoft Candidate space.

recommended

Lead with your formation

Lead with your formation. Naval Group is exquisitely sensitive to the prestige hierarchy of French engineering education. List your school, diploma, specialization, and year of graduation prominently. Polytechnique, Centrale, Mines, Ponts et Chaussées, ENSTA Bretagne, ENSTA Paris, ISAE, Arts et Métiers, INSA, ECN Nantes, IMT Atlantique, Centrale Nantes, ESIEA, ENSAM, Phelma, ENSEM, and the various ESPCI feeder schools all carry weight. International equivalents such as TU Delft naval architecture, Politecnico di Milano, Polytechnic of Turin, KTH Stockholm, or Imperial College London are recognized but require a clear explanation of the equivalency.

recommended

State your nationality and your current right to work in the European Union

State your nationality and your current right to work in the European Union. Naval Group will not say it on the website, but for any role with access to classified information the practical reality is that French or dual-French nationality is strongly preferred and EU nationality is the floor. A non-EU candidate without an existing French defense clearance and a long-term residence permit will face very long timelines or rejection. State your nationality cleanly and do not try to obscure it.

recommended

Quantify your engineering work in the language of the domain

Quantify your engineering work in the language of the domain. For naval architecture, cite displacement tonnages, speeds, sea states, and hull forms you have designed for. For nuclear, cite reactor types, thermal power, and the regulatory framework you have worked under (ASN in France, ONR in the UK, NRC in the US). For combat systems and embedded software, cite real-time constraints, MIL-STD or DO-178 levels, and the specific buses (MIL-STD-1553, ARINC, AFDX, Ethernet TSN) you have used. For welding and boilermaking, cite the welding processes (TIG, MIG, SAW, FCAW), the qualifications (ISO 9606, ASME IX), the materials (HY-80, HY-100, austenitic stainless, titanium), and the inspection standards.

recommended

Make your security clearance status explicit

Make your security clearance status explicit. If you currently hold a Confidentiel Défense or Secret Défense clearance, name it and give the issuing authority and the validity dates. If you held a clearance in the past, say so and give the dates. If you have a NATO Secret or a US Secret/TS clearance, state it plainly. A live clearance is a serious accelerant in the recruiter's screening.

recommended

Languages matter in a specific order

Languages matter in a specific order. List French first with a CEFR level (C1 minimum is realistic for engineering roles, B2 is sometimes accepted for very senior international hires). Then English with a CEFR level and any standardized score (TOEIC, TOEFL, Cambridge). For export programs, mention any working knowledge of Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Indonesian, or Arabic. Avoid the common mistake of overstating French ability; the recruiter will switch into French during the screen and the gap will be obvious.

recommended

Tailor your CV to the site, not just the title

Tailor your CV to the site, not just the title. A Cherbourg submarine role wants evidence of nuclear or pressure-vessel work and tolerance for highly classified environments. A Lorient surface combatant role wants ship integration, naval architecture, or combat system experience. A Nantes-Indret role wants thermal-hydraulics, primary-loop equipment, or naval propulsion. A Toulon or Brest MCO role wants in-service maintenance, reliability engineering, and obsolescence management experience. Naming the site in your motivation letter signals you have done your homework.

recommended

Acknowledge the alternance and stage pipeline if you are a student

Acknowledge the alternance and stage pipeline if you are a student. Naval Group recruits a very large fraction of its junior engineers through the alternance (apprenticeship) and stage de fin d'études (end-of-studies internship) channels. If you are applying through one of these contracts, your CV should foreground your school year, your apprenticeship rhythm (often three weeks at the company, one week at school), and any prior project work that touches naval, defense, nuclear, or maritime domains. Mention 'Elles bougent' if you have been a marraine or filleule of the program; Naval Group is a flagship sponsor.

recommended

Use achievements, not duties

Use achievements, not duties. The French CV tradition leans descriptive ('en charge de'), but in 2026 the strongest CVs cite measurable outcomes: 'Reduced sonar self-noise signature by 6 dB across the operational band on prototype hull section,' 'Led a five-person welding team that delivered 1,200 meters of HY-80 stiffener seams with zero rejected welds across the campaign.' Pair the metric with the program name only if it is unclassified; otherwise generalize to 'a Tier-1 surface combatant program' or similar.

recommended

Avoid disclosing classified information in a CV that lives on a public ATS

Avoid disclosing classified information in a CV that lives on a public ATS. Even unclassified-but-sensitive details (program timelines, supplier names, specific tonnage of an in-build hull) should be kept off the resume and discussed only in person under an NDA or in cleared environments. Naval Group security officers do read CVs, and a candidate who oversharesls will be treated as a counterintelligence risk.

ATS System: Cegid TalentSoft (dcns.talent-soft.com)

Naval Group runs its candidate intake on Cegid TalentSoft, a French enterprise talent management suite originally built by TalentSoft SA in Boulogne-Billancourt and acquired by Cegid in 2021. The TalentSoft instance is hosted at dcns.talent-soft.com (the legacy DCNS branding is still embedded in the URL) and is fronted by the federated authentication system fedauthsbg1.talent-soft.com. The public-facing offer board is rendered server-side and embedded into the Naval Group Drupal site at naval-group.com/en/join-us, which means search engines and screen readers can index every offer cleanly. The candidate space, application form, and document uploads are handled inside the TalentSoft tenant. As of mid-April 2026 the public board lists a small number of externally available offers (often single digits to low tens), filtered by job family, contract type, country, and city. The bulk of Naval Group hiring flows through internal mobility, alternance contracts negotiated directly with partner schools, and Pôle Emploi referrals for production roles.

  • Apply in French unless the offer is published in English. The TalentSoft form accepts both languages, but parsing of skills, education, and free-text fields is markedly better in French and the recruiter screening that follows the parsing is conducted in French by default.
  • Use a clean PDF for your CV and lettre de motivation. TalentSoft's CV parser handles PDF and DOCX; it does not handle scanned image PDFs, multi-column infographic resumes, or files with embedded fonts that fail to subset. Test by re-opening your PDF in a different reader and confirming the text is selectable.
  • Fill every structured field even if it duplicates your CV. The recruiter's first view of you is the structured TalentSoft profile, not your free-form CV. School, diploma, year, current employer, current title, mobility radius, languages with levels, and disability status (RQTH if applicable) are searchable fields used in shortlist queries.
  • Set search alerts. The Candidate space lets you save searches by job family, contract type, and location. Alerts are emailed when new offers match. Because Naval Group posts roles in batches tied to program milestones, alerts are how you catch a posting in the first 48 hours when recruiters are most attentive.
  • Reuse a single TalentSoft account across applications. Creating multiple accounts to apply to multiple roles will get you flagged as a duplicate and slow down review. One account, multiple applications, updated CV per application.
  • Do not rely on the LinkedIn 'Easy Apply' or third-party redirector. Some Naval Group postings are syndicated to LinkedIn, Indeed, APEC, and Pôle Emploi, but the canonical record lives in TalentSoft. Apply through naval-group.com so that your application enters the official funnel with full document attachments and structured fields populated correctly.
  • Expect a delay between submission and any human contact. TalentSoft sends an automated acknowledgment within minutes. The first human review typically arrives one to four weeks later depending on the urgency of the requisition. Following up by email through the recruiter contact named in the offer is acceptable after three weeks of silence.

Interview Culture

Naval Group interviews are formal, structured, and unmistakably French in their rhythm.

The first round is a recruiter screen of 30 to 45 minutes, conducted in French, focused on your motivation, your understanding of Naval Group's role in French sovereignty, your willingness to relocate to a coastal site (Cherbourg, Lorient, Toulon, Brest, Nantes-Indret, Ruelle), and your ability to obtain a defense clearance. Be ready for questions about your nationality, your military service status if applicable, any past or present residence in countries flagged by the French security services, and any close family members in such countries. These questions are not hostile. They are the recruiter pre-screening for the eventual security investigation so that no one wastes time on a candidate who cannot be cleared. The technical rounds follow. The hiring manager interview is one hour and tests fundamentals in your domain. Expect to be asked to walk through a project on a whiteboard or shared screen, to defend design decisions, and to demonstrate genuine ownership rather than coordination. The peer technical interview is one to two hours and goes deeper. For an embedded software engineer, this might mean walking through a real-time scheduling problem, discussing memory partitioning under DO-178C or EN 50128, or sketching a state machine for a weapon system interlock. For a naval architect, it might mean a conversation about resistance and propulsion calculations, intact and damaged stability per IMO and STANAG references, or hull form trade-offs against acoustic signature. For a nuclear engineer at Indret, it might mean a discussion of primary loop thermal-hydraulics, neutronics of compact cores, or the regulatory interface with the Autorité de sûreté nucléaire défense (ASND). The HR competency interview is one hour and uses a French-formal version of behavioral interviewing. You will be asked about a conflict you resolved, a deadline you missed, a time you disagreed with a hierarchical superior. Answer with structure (situation, action, result), be precise, and avoid the American habit of overclaiming. French interviewers respect engineers who say 'I do not know' when they do not know and who attribute team success to the team rather than to themselves. Modesty reads as competence. For senior or strategic roles, a final interview with the site director, the program director, or a member of the executive committee is normal. This conversation is less technical and more about fit with the institution: do you understand what it means to work for a state-owned strategic supplier, can you handle the long timescales of naval programs (a frigate is designed over five years, built over five years, and operated for forty), do you carry yourself with the discretion that the company's mission demands. Dress formally for in-person rounds. Suit and tie or equivalent business attire is standard at the Paris HQ, Lorient, and Toulon. The Cherbourg yard is more relaxed for technical rounds inside the site, but business casual is the floor. Be punctual to the minute. Bring a printed CV. Address interviewers as Monsieur or Madame plus surname unless they invite first names. Take notes. Ask substantive questions about the program, the team, and the technical roadmap; avoid asking about telework, RTT, or compensation in the early rounds. If the interview is conducted partially in English (common for international export programs or for hires from the Belgian, Australian, or Indian subsidiaries), you will still be expected to demonstrate functional French. Naval Group operates in French internally, technical documentation is in French, and ASND regulatory submissions are in French. English fluency is necessary but not sufficient.

What Naval Group Looks For

  • French-language fluency at C1 or above for the great majority of engineering and technical roles. The company operates in French, classified documentation is in French, and the regulator is French. B2 may be accepted for very senior international hires with a clear French-learning plan.
  • Eligibility for a French defense clearance, which in practice means EU citizenship, no recent residence in countries of concern, no disqualifying criminal record, and a willingness to undergo the Notice individuelle de sécurité 94A process. French nationality (including dual nationality) is strongly preferred for any role with access to nuclear, ballistic missile, or sensitive combat system information.
  • Genuine commitment to the defense mission. Naval Group is not a place to spend two years and rotate out. Long careers are the norm and the cultural reward structure favors loyalty, deep specialization, and patient program execution.
  • Strong fundamentals in the relevant engineering discipline, preferably from a recognized French grande école, an EU engineering school, or an equivalent international institution. Doctorates are welcomed in research, R&D, and the Direction Technique organization.
  • Hands-on industrial experience. Naval Group is a builder. Engineers who have spent time on a yard floor, walked a hull section, witnessed a weld, or attended a sea trial are valued more than pure paper engineers.
  • Discretion and security awareness. The company watches for candidates who overshare on social media, carry unsecured devices, or talk loosely about previous classified work. A clean digital footprint and demonstrated respect for the rules of classified work are taken as a leading indicator of fit.
  • Mobility. The major sites are coastal and outside Paris. A candidate who insists on Île-de-France will be channeled into the small set of HQ functions; everyone else needs to be ready to live in Cherbourg, Lorient, Brest, Toulon, Nantes, or Ruelle.
  • Diversity contribution. The company has publicly committed to 35 percent women in new hires by the end of 2025 and runs active programs for the recruitment and integration of people with disabilities (RQTH), career changers, and people from the Quartiers Politique de la Ville. These are not slogans; they show up in shortlist composition and in the questions recruiters ask hiring managers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be a French citizen to work at Naval Group?
Not for every role, but for any position with access to classified information French nationality (including dual nationality) is strongly preferred and EU citizenship is effectively the floor. Naval Group does hire non-EU nationals into specific roles in subsidiaries (Naval Group Pacific in Australia, Naval Group Belgium, Naval Group India) and into unclassified support functions, but the path to a Cherbourg, Indret, or program management role inside France for a non-EU candidate without an existing French defense clearance is very narrow. The company does not state this on its careers page; it is an operational reality enforced by the security clearance process.
What ATS does Naval Group use and where do I apply?
Naval Group uses Cegid TalentSoft, hosted at dcns.talent-soft.com. The public job board is embedded server-side into the corporate site at naval-group.com/en/join-us (or naval-group.com/fr/carrieres in French, which is canonical). Apply directly there rather than through LinkedIn or third-party redirectors so that your application enters the official funnel with all structured fields and document uploads correctly populated.
How long does the security clearance process take?
For a Confidentiel Défense clearance the process typically takes two to four months from the moment your file (Notice individuelle de sécurité, form 94A) is opened. For Secret Défense it can take six to twelve months. Naval Group will usually allow you to start on unclassified work during the wait, but access to classified programs, sites, and documents is gated until a positive avis is returned. Plan your career transition with this timeline in mind.
Do I have to speak French to work at Naval Group?
For nearly all engineering and technical roles in France, yes, at CEFR C1 or above. The company operates in French internally, technical documentation is in French, and the French defense regulator (ASND for nuclear, DGA for armament) submits and receives in French. B2 French may be accepted for very senior international hires or for specific roles in the international subsidiaries, but it will be a constraint on your career growth. Plan to invest seriously in French if you are not already fluent.
What is the salary range for an engineer at Naval Group?
A junior cadre engineer (recent grande école graduate, CDI) typically starts in the 38,000 to 45,000 euro gross annual range. Mid-career engineers in critical specialties (nuclear, naval architecture, combat systems) reach 55,000 to 70,000 euros. Senior engineers and lead architects can reach 70,000 to 90,000 euros. Program managers and site leadership reach into the low six figures. These figures include the 13th month and standard French benefits (intéressement, participation, complementary health insurance, meal vouchers or canteen, statutory paid leave plus RTT). Compensation is competitive within French metallurgy norms but well below US tech cash equivalents.
Can I work remotely at Naval Group?
Limited and conditional. The corporate accord on télétravail allows up to roughly two days per week of remote work for eligible roles, but engineering work tied to classified programs, secure rooms, or yard floor activities is not remote-eligible by definition. Production, testing, sea trials, MCO at Toulon and Brest, and any work on the SNLE 3G program in Cherbourg are on-site. HQ functions, some software engineering, and parts of program management can be partially remote. Do not raise telework as your first question in an interview.
What is the alternance path and is it worth it?
Alternance is a French apprenticeship contract that splits your time between a partner engineering school and the company, typically over a one to three year period. Naval Group is one of the largest alternance hosts in French naval defense and converts a high fraction of alternants into permanent CDI offers. If you are a student in an engineering school with a Naval Group partnership (ENSTA Bretagne is a particularly strong feeder, along with Centrale Nantes, Arts et Métiers, INSA, and the Brest IMT), the alternance path is the single highest-conversion pipeline into a Naval Group permanent role. The compensation during alternance is modest but the apprenticeship is fully paid for by the company.
How did the AUKUS cancellation affect hiring?
The September 2021 cancellation of the Australian Attack-class submarine program was a strategic shock for Naval Group, but the financial settlement reached in 2022 closed the immediate exposure and the company has since rebuilt its export pipeline through the FDI frigate sales to Greece and Argentina, the deepening France-India industrial cooperation, and continued domestic French Navy programs. Hiring volume has remained strong (more than 4,500 net new hires over the past three years per the company's own recruitment policy page). The lesson the company drew was to pivot more aggressively toward NATO and Indo-Pacific partners with whom France has long-standing strategic ties; this affects how export programs are framed in interviews but has not reduced the underlying demand for engineers.
Should I apply to multiple Naval Group sites at once?
Yes, but submit one application per role, do it through a single TalentSoft account, and tailor the lettre de motivation to the specific site and program. Submitting the same generic application to ten roles across all six sites will mark you as a low-effort candidate. Submitting two or three carefully targeted applications (for example, a Cherbourg submarine integration role and a Lorient frigate combat system role if you have relevant experience for both) is fine and signals genuine interest in naval defense engineering.
What is the difference between a CDI, a CDD, and a VIE at Naval Group?
A CDI (contrat à durée indéterminée) is a permanent French employment contract with full statutory protections, the standard for engineering and core technical roles. A CDD (contrat à durée déterminée) is a fixed-term contract used for specific projects, replacements, or surges; it is less common for engineers but appears for time-limited program work. A VIE (Volontariat International en Entreprise) is a French government-sponsored international assignment for EU nationals under 28, used by Naval Group to staff its overseas subsidiaries (Naval Group Pacific in Australia, Naval Group Belgium, Naval Group India). VIE assignments typically run 12 to 24 months and are an excellent foot-in-the-door for non-French EU candidates who want eventual conversion to a CDI inside France or in a subsidiary.

Open Positions

Naval Group currently has 2 open positions.

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Sources

  1. Naval Group — Careers (corporate pillar page) —
  2. Naval Group — Job offers (live TalentSoft-powered listing) —
  3. Naval Group — Discover our recruitment policy —
  4. Naval Group TalentSoft Candidate space (My TalentSoft) —
  5. Naval Group Candidate login (talents portal) —
  6. Cegid TalentSoft — Talent Management Suite (vendor page) —
  7. Agence des participations de l'État — Naval Group shareholding (62.49% French State, 35% Thales) —
  8. Naval Group worldwide presence (sites and subsidiaries) —
  9. Elles bougent — Naval Group corporate sponsorship —
  10. Service de l'information stratégique et de la sécurité économiques — habilitations de défense (Confidentiel/Secret Défense process) —