Director of Technology and Digital Operations
Philippe Kubik is an engineer who graduated from the École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace (SUPAERO) in 1993 and holds a DEA in applied mathematics.
He joined CNES in 1994 within the Space Imagery Quality and Processing Division as the SPOT-4 satellite image quality manager. In March 1998, he defined and coordinated the in-flight acceptance testing activities for image quality and led the first in-flight technological experiments to improve the resolution of SPOT-1 using piloted modes.
From 1998 to 2000, he was responsible for image quality for the SPOT system’s successor, which would become Pléiades, France’s first agile, dual-purpose, high-resolution satellite. In 2006, he joined the Pléiades project team as head of performance and system/satellite engineering, and coordinated the in-flight acceptance testing of the system for the launch of Pléiades 1A until the in-flight acceptance review in March 2012.
From 2012 to 2018, he joined the Instrumental Systems Sub-Directorate as Head of the Image Quality Department, responsible for the performance of high-resolution civil and military space imagery, for national programmes and in cooperation with our international partners.
From 2019 to 2022, he held the post of Deputy Director of Instrumentation Systems within the Orbital Systems Directorate, with responsibility for all optical and microwave instrumentation and processing chains deployed in Earth observation and space science missions.
From 2022 to 2025, he was Deputy Director for Instrument Technology and Performance within the Technical and Digital Directorate. He coordinated the technologies, systems and mission performance of space payloads in the fields of optical and microwave Earth observation, space science, space surveillance, communication links, data collection and navigation.
In December 2025, he became Deputy Director of the Orbital Systems and Applications Directorate. In September 2026, he was appointed Technical and Digital Director.
Philippe Kubik is also a participant in the 71st national ‘Defence Policy’ session at the IHEDN, and a Knight of the National Order of Merit.