Hospices Civils de Lyon Careers, Salaries & Jobs

The Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL) are the university hospital trust (CHU) of Lyon.

They describe themselves as the second CHU in France, with 13 public hospitals in the Lyon metropolitan area and the Var covering all medical and surgical disciplines, and a mission to treat, innovate and teach.

HCL say they are a community of 24,000 professionals. They train future medical and paramedical staff in 11 schools and training institutes, in close partnership with Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, and run their own research department.

The group is organised into hospital groupings (Centre, Est, Nord and Sud). Its job board lists sites such as Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Hôpital Lyon Sud, Hôpital de la Croix-Rousse, Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant, Hôpital Louis Pradel and Hôpital Pierre Wertheimer, plus Hôpital Renée Sabran in Hyères.

For an internationally trained professional, HCL are a large public employer with a single online job board that includes medical, pharmacy, dental, nursing and other posts. HCL do not publish an international recruitment programme. Non-EU doctors normally arrive through the national EVC exam and an assigned post; nurses need a French authorisation or diploma, and midwives, pharmacists and allied health professionals likewise need the right to practise in France first. Work is in French.

Founded

1802

Run by

Autonomous public health establishment (établissement public de santé) under the supervision of the regional health agency (ARS)

Leadership

• Raymond Le Moign, Directeur Général
• Pr. Vincent Piriou, Président de la Commission Médicale d'Établissement

Switchboard

+33 4 72 11 80 88

• Organ and tissue transplantation

  HCL list firsts including France's first heart transplant at Hôpital Louis Pradel in 1968, Europe's first pancreas transplant in 1976 and the world's first hand transplant in 1998 at Hôpital Edouard Herriot.

• Paediatric kidney transplantation

  Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant celebrated its 500th kidney transplant on a child in 2023.

• Cancer and radiotherapy

  Cancer care and radiotherapy are listed among HCL's specialties, alongside a dedicated rapid breast clinic (urgence sein).

• Neurosurgery and neurodevelopment

  HCL list neurosurgery and neurodevelopmental disorders among their specialties; the Fédération Interdisciplinaire des Pathologies Neurocognitives de l'Adulte won a national innovation prize in October 2026.

• Rare diseases

  Rare diseases are a listed specialty and a focus of HCL research.

• Paediatrics and maternity

  Paediatrics and care for couples and newborns are listed specialties, with Hôpital Femme Mère Enfant in the Est grouping.

• Emergency care

  HCL have modernised their three adult emergency departments, at Edouard Herriot in 2023, Lyon Sud in 2024 and Croix-Rousse in 2026.

• HCL's careers pages do not describe a programme for recruiting internationally trained doctors or nurses, and we found no page on relocation or visa support for international hires. Recruitment runs through their job board, chu-lyon.nous-recrutons.fr, which also accepts spontaneous applications.
• Non-EU doctors who want a permanent career in France normally pass the national EVC knowledge test run by the Centre national de gestion (CNG), choose an assigned post nationally and complete two years as praticien associé before applying for authorisation to practise. University hospitals such as HCL can receive these doctors, but the assignment is made through the CNG.
• For staff, HCL list benefits including hospital nurseries open from 6am to 10pm, reduced-rent housing (20% below market), 50% reimbursement of public transport passes, staff restaurants and continuing training, with more than 20,000 training sessions a year.
• HCL take part in recruitment events, such as a spring employment campaign (Printemps de l'emploi) from May to June 2026, and run the public hospital civil service competitions (concours) for permanent posts.

• Doctors with a non-EU diploma: pass the CNG's EVC, complete the two-year consolidation period as praticien associé, obtain authorisation to practise and register with the Ordre des médecins.

• French at B2. The CNG requires a TCF, TEF or DELF at B2 or above (or an accepted equivalent) with EVC registration. HCL work in French.

• Nurses with a non-EU diploma: Service-Public says the diploma does not in principle allow practice in France. Authorisation through the regional DREETS is possible only in set cases, such as recognition by an EU state with three years' full-time practice there; otherwise you take the French nursing diploma at a nursing school (IFSI), with French at B2 needed for admission. Nurses register with the Ordre national des infirmiers.

• EU and EEA nurses and doctors with qualifications covered by Directive 2005/36/EC register with their order without the EVC.

• Residence permit: the talent card for medical and pharmacy professions for doctors on the authorisation route, with minimum gross pay of €41,386.48 a year according to Service-Public, or the salaried worker permit requested by the employer for other staff.

1. 1

   Confirm your route to practise in France

   Non-EU doctors start with the CNG's EVC. Nurses check the Service-Public page on nursing access to see if authorisation is possible or if the French diploma is needed.
2. 2

   Reach French B2

   Book a TCF, TEF or DELF. B2 is required for the EVC and for nursing school admission, and HCL services work in French.
3. 3

   Search the HCL job board

   Use chu-lyon.nous-recrutons.fr to filter by contract type, profession (including medical, pharmacy and dental posts) and hospital.
4. 4

   Apply online or send a spontaneous application

   Apply to a vacancy or use the spontaneous application form on the same site. HCL say you can consult vacancies and leave a CV at any time.
5. 5

   Consider the civil service competitions

   Permanent public hospital posts are filled through civil service competitions (concours); HCL list them on their recruitment pages.
6. 6

   Arrange your residence permit

   Non-EU doctors on the authorisation route apply for the talent card for medical professions; other staff need an employer-requested work authorisation before the visa.