Career
After his law studies, he worked as a general insurance broker from 1965.

Elective functions
Gilles de Robien has been MP for the 2nd district of the Somme since 1986. He is also a member of the finance committee and the investigations committee into causes, consequences and preventions of flooding at the Assemblée Nationale. He was also vice-president of the Assemblée Nationale from 1993 to 1998.
Gilles de Robien has been mayor of Amiens in the Somme since 1989. He is president of the Amiens-Métropole area community and was on the Picardie regional council in 1992.
He drafted the so-called "Robien law" of June 11th 1996 on reducing and re-organising working time.

Political functions
Gilles de Robien became a member of the executive bureau and the management committee of the republican party (Parti Républicain) in 1990. He has also sat on the national council and the political bureau of the UDF party since 1991.
He has been a member of the political bureau and vice-president of the UDF party since November 29th 1998. He was president of the UDF party group within the Assemblée Nationale from 1995 to 1997.