He is a graduate of Sciences Po and of the French National School of Oriental Languages, where he studied Chinese and Indonesian.

In 1988, he was designated to his first position as Ambassador and served as the French Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva from 1988 to 1990.

Between 1975 and 1981, he was the chargé de mission at the General Secretariat of President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

On May 16, 2007, Levitte was appointed as diplomatic advisor and sherpa to President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the head of a future American-style National Security Council.

[5] Levitte left office on May 15, 2012 following Sarkozy's defeat in the 2012 presidential election, and joined Rock Creek Global Advisors in Washington, DC.