Inspector General and Director of Quality

After completing his engineering studies at SUPELEC, Philippe Guay worked as a subcontractor for CNES on the POLDER project in cooperation with JAXA from 1991 onwards. He joined CNES in Toulouse in 1992, in the Aerospace Technical Department, where he was involved in a variety of activities: R&T activities, technical support for projects such as IASI, development of an active structure experiment in the MIR station, and responsibility for the development and procurement of equipment used successfully on the MYRIADE and PROTEUS programs, through to the PLEIADES and CSO programs.

Appointed head of the SCAO Mechanisms and Equipment department in the Vehicle Technology sub-division in early 2004, he began his career as a manager, particularly committed to the ongoing development of the technical expertise of his team and that of the equipment manufacturers within his scope (Codechamp, Comat, Cedrat, Ixsea, Sodern, etc.).

In 2014, he joined the Telecommunications and Navigation Projects sub-division as deputy sub-director and advisor to the French delegation to the ESA's JCB, working within a team whose strong technical and systems skills enabled them to support the national space ecosystem through major developments, notably “all-electric” telecommunications satellites.

At the end of 2017, he was appointed Deputy Director of Programming Synthesis and Control. In addition to his duties related to internal business commitments and the synthesis of CNES's overall programming, he coordinates the development of the 2022-2025 State-CNES Objectives and Performance Contract under the guidance of CNES's General Management. He also managed the Space PIA (Investment Plan for Growth) at the SGPI and drafted the France 2030 agreement enabling CNES to operate the Space component with Bpifrance, before revitalizing CoSpace, a forum for consultation between the State and the national space ecosystem.

He was appointed Inspector General and Director of Quality in December 2025.