Born on 10 May 1974, married and the father of three children, Rear Admiral Sébastien Goinère is a graduate of the École Centrale de Nantes. Following one year of national service, during which he served as Officer of the Watch aboard a patrol vessel, he joined the French Navy in September 1999 through a direct recruitment scheme based on his academic qualifications.
He joined the Jeanne d’Arc with the 1997 class of the École Navale for a six-month deployment. He was then assigned for two years to the frigate Aconit as part of the ship’s crew. During this period, he took part in a seven-month circumnavigation deployment with a British naval task group, NTG 2000, as well as a deployment in the Gulf of Guinea as part of Operation Corymbe.
In 2002, he became Deputy Ship’s Commander aboard the patrol vessel Commandant Blaison. He took part in Operation Enduring Freedom and in a deployment in the Caribbean as part of efforts to combat illicit trafficking. In 2005, following a year at the École Supérieure des Cadres de la Marine (ESCAN), he was assigned for two years as an exchange officer within the Royal Canadian Navy’s support organizations in Halifax.
He returned to the Aconit in 2007 as Deputy Ship’s Commander. He took part twice in peacekeeping operations off Lebanon, in a multinational deployment to Brazil, and in a five-month deployment in the Indian Ocean as part of the European Union’s Operation Atalanta. He also participated in the operation to free the hostages aboard the sailing yacht Tanit.
From 22 July 2014 to 20 July 2016, he commanded Crew A of the Beautemps-Beaupré, deploying its full range of hydrographic and oceanographic systems in the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
From 2009 to 2011, he served on the faculty of the École Navale, supervising cadets in their second and fourth years. Following a year as a student at the École de Guerre, he joined the BEM Monge as Executive Officer in September 2012.
From July 2016 to July 2018, he commanded the Fort-de-France Naval Base, where he notably took part in coordinating the maritime resources deployed in response to the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.
From August 2023 to August 2025, he served as Head of the Space Affairs Office at the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN). In this capacity, he was notably responsible, on behalf of France, for the security of the European space programme.
Since 1 September 2025, he has served as Deputy Commander of the French Space Command.
