French social security contribution collector modernizing core infrastructure
Urssaf is a €16,000-person government agency managing France's social contribution system—collecting payroll deductions and routing them to benefit programs nationwide. The tech stack (Cloudera, Spark, Airflow, Kubernetes, dbt on AWS) reveals a data-heavy operation, and active hiring in engineering and data signals a sustained modernization effort. The project list exposes two concurrent infrastructure pressures: replacing VMware while maintaining continuity across 20,000 VMs, and automating a legacy data platform migration to OpenShift.
Urssaf collects social contributions from employers, self-employed workers, and employees across France, then distributes funds to Social Security and related benefit agencies covering healthcare, hospital funding, and public transit. The organization operates across 12 regional sites and serves as a compliance and advisory partner for French employers. Founded in 1960, Urssaf anchors France's social solidarity model through contribution collection, fund management, and employer support. Current operations span 1,001–5,000 staff with technical functions concentrated in data and infrastructure.
Urssaf runs Cloudera, Apache Spark, Airflow, dbt, Kubernetes, OpenShift, and AWS, alongside ServiceNow, Active Directory, and Microsoft 365. The stack indicates data-pipeline-first architecture with cloud and open-source infrastructure layers.
Replacing VMware while maintaining 20,000 VMs across 12 sites—addressed through virtualization alternative POCs and strategic infrastructure transformation projects leveraging OpenShift and Kubernetes.
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