Veltz holds an engineering degree from École Polytechnique and a PhD in social sciences from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales'.
After beginning his career as an urban planner, he went into academic life and consulting.
From 1981 to 1991, he was the Dean of Research at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, one of the leading French Grandes écoles.
He also chaired ParisTech, which is a group of ten foremost engineering schools in Paris.
His fields of research are: urban development and planning, economic geography, management and the transformations of organizational structures.