Sylvie Kauffmann began her journalism career with Agence France Presse, the national wire agency. For AFP, she worked in London, Warsaw, and Moscow. Le Monde hired her in 1988 and for five years was their correspondent for Eastern Europe. In 1993, Le Monde sent her to the US, first to cover Washington and then to New York. She became part of the editorial team in Paris in 2003, serving as one of four deputy editors from 2004–2006.