I don't work there anymore.. but
It's a good company. It's funny reading all the posts on here, most of which are a little creative about the truth.
AD is the boss. You can't speak to him directly, he's like some character in a James Bond film, he exists behind a white paper screen where you only see a silhouette of himself a cat on his knee. You talk to him through the Chief Pilot. You do actually meet him at interview. He is precisely an hour late for First Officers and generally more for Captains. It's all part of the process, don't be upset, it works out well generally.
The Chief Pilot is a thoroughly nice guy. He ends up doing the dirty work (occasionally an owner will sell up and the crew need to be waved goodbye). I know of one 4 man crew and an individual who were laid off but were eventually offered something when it came up in the months afterwards.
The office staff in Luxembourg and Geneva are generally very good indeed. You need to send two emails for everything, separated by 24hrs. Phone call always works. They don't do 'irony', it's culturally not good. Engineering support by phone is very good. If you're ex airlines/raf you need to get used to fixing what you can, where you are, with your phone on speakaphone.
There is no general preference for French folk there. It doesn't seem to make a difference overall. Everyone speaks good English, but it would look good if you could speak a little French. I think if you are English, German or in-between, it is assumed you will be working hard for a living and not going on strike every 6 months. If you are Italian or Spanish, you need to be aware that donning your sunglasses, licking your hand and gelling your hair will not do! just kidding.
They are expanding in that they never say no to a new plane. There was 60+ planes last time I looked with 767/A319, a few Globals, Challengers etc. London bases -maybe about 20 pilot UK based. Usually 2on/2off. They tend to contract to 20/10 to cover themselves if something goes wrong. All crew changes paid for by company. Used to fly you business class for flights over 4 hours. This was appreciated. Try Tel Aviv to London in the back of easyjet..ouch. Hotels generally very good. The days of the Hilton have long gone (for most, not all), but mostly the stays are good.
The money is generally pretty good, like TAG, but in Euros. Every man is paid differently. You have to argue smartly at your interview, not a year later. It pisses them off. Pension is fantastic, IF you stay long enough to get it. Phone allowance is 200 euros. Per-diems 90euros/day. Captains on Global £100k+, FOs up to £60k. Expect to find your flight attendant getting paid close to or more than the FOs. Yes this causes all sorts of light-hearted utter confusion, and occasionally, the worst situation - the f/a gets close to the principal passenger and there is a bizarre authority imbalance on the plane. Doesn't happen often, but when it does, you don't want to hang around.
The uniform is a drawback. I understand it was designed by a raving fairy male flight attendant, the pilots had no design input into it. Think UPS. It's dark brown. Was cut by some outrageously expensive design house in Paris..and when I went to replace my Hermes tie myself, the nearest one (brown) was 140euros. I liked mine, I could walk around the supermarket in full kit and it was assumed I was a geography teacher at a private school, or a concierge at a boutique hotel. I didn't look like a pilot. But when your passenger is a billionaire who wears florescent green trainers, I think the point gets a little lost. *But, I hear a new uniform is on it's way, next year!*
I don't think there are more than a couple of lady pilots in the company (I could be wrong) but the "two blokes and a hostie" formula is one we all preferred and since positive discrimination was not really forced on us, we stuck with what we were happiest with.
I haven't come across a single 5 Sqn/RAF or military pilot in the ranks as yet. There was one or two euro guys, not sure now. I have liked all 5 Sqn guys I have met at Burgess Hill so far (even if you all do that weird thing about introducing yourselves as being in the RAF..and then pausing for two seconds as if waiting for some sort of expected nod/salute/fanfair/high-five etc, it's not good for that olde rapport thing), but all have been real nice guys. I think you need about 3500hours to skipper the bd700, so do another tour until you've got it.. 200 hours a year is normal on this thing, faster to stay in the mob and look for that 100k command when you get out.
It's 'generally' a very good company with big ambitions. Yes there are some bad things that happen, but mostly good if you keep your head down, don't asked to be rebased every ten minutes and just get on with it.
Best of luck