Born in 1965 in Perm, Russia, Sergey Saveliev graduated as radioelectronic systems engineer from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1989. He began his career as an engineer in the Automation Design Bureau (Dolgoprudny city, Moscow region) before becoming senior specialist of the International Science and Technology Cooperation Directorate of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation. Between 1995 and 2001, he was secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation at UNESCO in Paris. Saveliev then moved to the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Industry, Science and Trade of the Russian Federation, where he was senior manager until 2004. In 2004, he became secretary of the Russian Embassy in the UK. He became senior manager at CJSC “Sukhoi Civil Aviation” (2007-2008), before moving onto his current post as Deputy Director General of the Russian State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS.