Paris

Paris is second only to London in the total number of engineers in Europe and accordingly has the second-highest absolute share of talent for nearly every speciality. Among that pool, the city has a notable per-capita density of talent in data science, AI, systems, security, finance and application development. Paris is home to highly qualified and experienced technology workers, with 43% of engineers and developers in the city holding master’s degrees and 64% having more than a decade of experience. But this does not mean the city’s talent pool is static: 15% of technology workers in Paris are open to new roles, which is higher than the European average.

Paris is a surprisingly good source of senior candidates, and it also has high numbers of strong companies and founders

—Technology founder in Paris

Paris has produced more than 27 unicorns, including Alan, Meero, Qonto, Ledger and Shift Technology. Worth €185.2 billion, the city’s tech ecosystem has attracted €34.3 billion in venture capital funding since 2015, with the most-funded technologies including AI and deep tech. The city is home to 8,000 startups and 71 accelerators including Station F, Antler France and PlugAndPlay. Station F, which bills itself as the world’s largest startup campus, houses over 1,000 startups, including incubator programs from Microsoft and Meta, and boasts co-working and even co-living spaces for early-stage startups.

Paris’ biggest employer of technology workers is electrical systems and aerospace company Thales, followed by software-development firm Steria, and CAD software maker Dassault Systèmes. The abundance of data science and systems engineers is clearly an asset for these companies. The local concentration of AI talent is powering established AI-backed companies like Meero, an on-demand photography company, and Shift, which helps insurers automate and improve decision-making.

University education in Paris is outstanding on an international scale. Because of this, technology graduates in Paris are spread relatively evenly across 25 universities. The two biggest producers of technology graduates are Ecole Centrale Paris and the UPMC (Paris VI).

• Paris’ tech talent is keen on change, with 15% saying they’re open to new roles, a higher proportion than most other cities in Europe.
• Employers must give employees one month’s notice if the employee has worked for six months to two years, while two months’ notice is required for employment over two years.
• There is no legally stipulated notice period in France for employees to give their employers should they wish to resign. The notice period is defined in the employment contract.
• Equity is usually structured at a standard 4-year duration with a 1-year cliff and the vesting interval after the cliff averages once every 2.6 months.
• The cost of living in Paris is more expensive than most European cities, 40 percentage points above the European average.

• Employers must pay up to 31.3% of gross salary towards employee insurance and benefits, higher than Europe’s average total contribution of 20%.
• France has the third highest corporate tax income rate in Europe at 28.4%.
• Employees with equity in companies where they have worked for more than three years are taxed at 19% on gains, and 30% if less than three years.
• The average monthly rental for office space in Paris is €80 per square metre, more than double the Europe average of €38.

Do you work in Paris and have insight about what makes this a dynamic hub for tech talent?