From 1981 to 2001 he was a scientist of the CNRS at the
Center for Theoretical Physics of École Polytechnique.
Since 2001 he is professor of physics at the University of Paris-Sud in Orsay.
Rivasseau's research deals with constructive quantum field theory and renormalization theory with applications to many-body theory, such as quantum interacting fermions in solid state physics.
Since 2004 he has studied quantum field theories on noncommutative space-time,
then group field theory.