Thierry Levoir

Born in 1970, Thierry Levoir graduated in 1993 from ENSEEIHT, the French national electrical engineering, electronics, computer science, hydraulics and telecommunications school in Toulouse.

He began his career with CNES in 1994, working for more than 10 years on development of ground segments, notably in satellite data management, processing and distribution on a range of projects, and on development of data centres and applications.

He joined ESA’s GAIA project in 2005, working within the 12-nation European Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) as systems engineer on the CNES project team and deputy manager of the consortium’s system team.

When the unit in charge of Data Exploitation projects (DCT/ME-Mission and Exploitation) was formed in 2008, he was appointed to head the Universe Studies and Exploration department. During this time, the department set up and operated instruments and exploited data for CoRoT (exoplanets and stellar seismology), T2L2 (Time Transfer by Laser Link, on Jason-2), the Philae lander on Rosetta, ChemCam on NASA’s Curiosity rover, and Picard (Sun), as well as continuing to develop data centres like CDPP for plasma physics and MEDOC (Multi-Experiment Data and Operation Centre) for solar physics.

In 2011, he became the unit’s deputy assistant director and senior mission centre expert for universe science and Earth-observation projects, in charge of technical policy, technical coordination between data centres and the mission extension process.

He was appointed Deputy Head of the Information Systems Directorate (DSI) in 2015, with responsibility for the Information System Master Plan (SDSI), cross-functional interfacing and project planning and processes (PMO).

In 2016, he was involved in setting up CNES’s Directorate of Digital Technologies and Operations (DNO), designed to address the new challenges posed by satellite data, development of downstream applications and agile development. On the new directorate’s inception on 1 January 2017, he was appointed its Deputy Director in charge of technical policy, operational coordination of IS and management of the cross-functional Quality and Cyber teams.

He was appointed Director of DNO and Director of the Toulouse Space Centre in September 2021.