Hire Female Aerospace Executives | Aviation & Defence Leadership

In Aviation, the Organisation's Approval Depends on the People You Name

An aviation maintenance organisation, an airline or a continuing airworthiness organisation does not simply hire its senior managers. It names them to the aviation authority. Under the EU's aviation safety rules, the organisation's approval is built around an accountable manager and a small group of nominated persons, and the authority reviews their credentials before it accepts them. Replacing one of those people is a change to the approval itself.

That makes leadership hiring in aerospace different from most sectors in two ways. The candidate has to bring a record the authority will accept, so the pool for each named post is defined by regulation before it is defined by the company. And a vacancy in one of those posts is an operational risk, not just a gap in the organisation chart. At the same time, defence demand is pulling experienced leaders towards programmes where security clearance and export controls narrow the pool further.

Aerospace leadership in 2026: the facts that shape a search

Women hold 31.3% of senior positions at reporting airlines, and 34.6% in Europe (IATA 25by2025 final industry report, 102 airlines, data as at 31 December 2025). These are airlines that signed a voluntary diversity pledge, and each defines its own senior roles.
Manufacturing is far behind the airline figure. Among IATA signatories, manufacturers report just 13.8% women in senior leadership and 21.1% of the total workforce, against 36.7% senior leadership at airports (IATA, 2025 data; non-airline samples are small and should be read with care).
The technical pipeline is much narrower. At the same airlines, women make up 7.0% of the flight deck and about one in five technical roles (IATA, 2025 data).
Around three-quarters of organisations report less than 25% women in senior leadership among organisations taking part in the UK's Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter (Charter report with ADS and Oliver Wyman, July 2026).
Defence demand is rising. At the 2025 Hague summit, NATO allies committed to invest 5% of GDP in defence and security by 2035, at least 3.5% of it in core defence.

Female Executive Search searches for women in board, executive and nominated roles across aerospace and aviation, from accountable managers and compliance monitoring and safety managers to programme, engineering and operations leadership at manufacturers, maintenance organisations and airlines. We deliver a shortlist within 7 to 10 days of engagement, on a fee of 25% of gross annual salary paid in three milestone-based instalments, and back every placement with a six-month replacement guarantee.

Explore the profiles of aerospace executives from our network below, or tell us what the role requires and we will come back with a shortlist.

What the Rules Actually Require: Named Posts, Prior Approval and Clearance

The approval rests on named people

Under Part-145, the EU rules for aircraft maintenance organisations in Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014, the organisation must appoint an accountable manager with corporate authority to ensure that all maintenance can be financed and carried out to the required standard. The accountable manager in turn nominates the persons who represent the maintenance management structure and the persons who manage the compliance monitoring function and the safety management processes. Each nominated person must demonstrate relevant knowledge, background and satisfactory experience related to aircraft or component maintenance, and a working knowledge of the regulation.

The authority does not simply take the organisation's word for it. Under Part-145, a change of the accountable manager or of a nominated person is a change that requires the competent authority's prior approval, and authorities review the candidate's résumé and may interview them before accepting the appointment. Air operators, continuing airworthiness management organisations and design and production organisations work to the same model: an accountable manager, nominated postholders and an authority that reviews who they are. The same individual vetting runs through every sector where regulators vet individuals, but in aviation the named people are part of the approval itself.

Two practical implications follow. A candidate's file has to show the right experience in the right domain, so a strong general manager from outside aviation is rarely appointable to a nominated post. And succession matters more than in most sectors: the organisation's procedures have to cover who deputises for each nominated person, and a post that stays vacant puts pressure on the approval the business depends on.

Part-IS adds information security to the same structure

The EU's information security rules for aviation, known as Part-IS, set out in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1645 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/203, began to apply in October 2025 under the delegated regulation and on 22 February 2026 for maintenance organisations, continuing airworthiness organisations, air operators, training organisations and air navigation service providers. They require defined governance, roles and responsibilities for information security, with accountability resting with the accountable manager. For many organisations that has meant new or redefined management responsibilities in 2026, and candidates who combine aviation regulatory experience with information security are scarce.

Defence adds clearance and export controls

Defence aerospace brings a further filter. Roles with access to classified programme information require national security clearance, which takes time and in practice favours candidates who already hold it. Businesses that handle controlled US-origin defence technology must also manage which foreign nationals may access it under US export control rules. Both narrow the pool for programme and engineering leadership, and both need to be confirmed at the start of a search, not at offer stage.

Demand is moving in the same direction. At the 2025 Hague summit, NATO allies committed to invest 5% of GDP in defence and security by 2035, with at least 3.5% for core defence requirements and annual plans showing the path. That demand competes for the same programme, supply chain and operations leaders that civil aerospace needs.

The pool, and where it is growing

IATA's 25by2025 final industry report, covering 102 airlines at the end of 2025, records women in 31.3% of senior positions, and 34.6% in Europe. Among airlines that reported consistently, the share rose from 29.3% in 2021. The figure should be read with care: these are airlines that signed a voluntary diversity pledge, and each defines its own senior roles. The airline figure also flatters the wider sector. Among the same signatories, manufacturers report 13.8% women in senior leadership and 21.1% of the total workforce, the lowest of any organisation type, while airports report 36.7%. IATA notes the non-airline samples are small, but the direction is consistent with everything else known about aerospace manufacturing. One number did move sharply. Women chief executives at IATA member airlines rose from 3% in 2019 to nearly 9% by 2026 — from 8 individuals to 33 — over a period when membership grew from around 280 airlines to more than 360. That is far beyond what new members alone would produce.

As in every sector we have analysed, the headline hides the useful detail. Women are 7.0% of the flight deck across all 2025 respondents. Among the organisations that reported consistently from 2021 to 2025 — a narrower and more comparable group — they hold 20.8% of technical roles, up from 18.0% in 2021, and flight deck representation rose from 4.8% to 6.6%. On the manufacturing and wider aerospace side, around three-quarters of the organisations taking part in the UK's Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter report less than 25% women in senior leadership.

The hiring consequence is that the women who can be named to an aviation authority are fewer than the airline headline suggests, and they are concentrated in a handful of functions and organisations. A search for a nominated post or an accountable manager has to map maintenance organisations, continuing airworthiness organisations, manufacturers' quality and safety functions and military airworthiness organisations together, because no single one of them holds enough candidates on its own.

The Charter’s 2026 survey adds a detail that changes how a search should be scoped: women in participating organisations are less likely than men to leave their employers, so the constraint is progression rather than retention. It also found women make up less than 20% of employees in the highest-paid 10% of roles. The candidates are often already inside the sector, one level below the post being filled.

How Female Executive Search helps

Nominated post searches. We search for accountable managers, maintenance, compliance monitoring and safety managers, and continuing airworthiness and flight operations postholders, and review each candidate's career history against the experience the regulation requires.
Authority-ready files. We provide the documented career history your compliance team needs for the submission to the authority, and plan the timeline around its review and any interview. The authority makes the acceptance decision.
Clearance and export control scoping. For defence programmes we confirm clearance and nationality requirements at the start, so the longlist only contains candidates who can take the role.
Cross-segment sourcing. We draw on the CEO Worldwide network of over 28,000 vetted executives across 183 countries, including more than 5,000 vetted women executives, and source across airlines, maintenance and airworthiness organisations, manufacturers and defence rather than within the segment you already recruit from.
Shortlist in 7–10 days, transparent fee. A shortlist of qualified, interested candidates within 7 to 10 days of engagement — which matters when a nominated post is vacant and the approval depends on filling it. Our fee is 25% of gross annual salary, paid in three milestone-based instalments, and every placement carries a six-month replacement guarantee.

You may not be able to name your company yet. A search for a new accountable manager or quality manager tells customers, lessors and competitors that the leadership of the approval is about to change. A search for a programme director can reveal a contract win or a bid before it is announced, and on a defence programme that information may be restricted. Our executive job posting service exists for exactly this: the role is published to our pool of vetted female executives without your company name attached, and your identity is disclosed to a candidate only at the point you decide to take her to interview. It is a lighter commitment than a retained mandate and a faster way to test the market, and our note on when to post a role anonymously and when to run a search sets out which of the two fits which situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a gender quota for aerospace company boards in Europe?

There is no aerospace-specific quota. Listed aerospace and defence companies are covered by Directive (EU) 2022/2381 on women on boards, which sets an objective of 40% of non-executive director posts or 33% of all director posts for the under-represented sex, and by the national quota law of their member state. Unlisted suppliers, maintenance organisations and many airlines fall outside these rules unless a national law reaches large unlisted companies, as France's Rixain law does for executive committees of companies with at least 1,000 employees.

Does aviation law require approval of senior appointments?

For certain posts, yes. Under Part-145, the EU rules for aircraft maintenance organisations in Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014, the organisation must appoint an accountable manager and nominate the persons who run the maintenance management structure, compliance monitoring and safety management. Each nominated person must demonstrate relevant knowledge, background and satisfactory experience related to aircraft or component maintenance. A change of the accountable manager or of a nominated person requires the competent authority's prior approval, and the authority reviews the candidate's credentials and may interview them. Air operators, continuing airworthiness management organisations and design and production organisations follow a similar model.

What happens when a nominated post becomes vacant?

The organisation's procedures have to cover who deputises for each nominated person, and the replacement has to be accepted by the authority before taking the post. A post that stays vacant puts pressure on the approval the business depends on, so succession planning for nominated posts carries more weight in aviation than in most sectors. A search for a replacement should start as soon as a departure is known.

What is Part-IS and does it affect management roles?

Part-IS is the EU's information security framework for aviation, set out in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1645 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/203. It began to apply in October 2025 under the delegated regulation and on 22 February 2026 for maintenance organisations, continuing airworthiness organisations, air operators, training organisations and air navigation service providers. It requires defined governance, roles and responsibilities for information security, with accountability resting with the accountable manager, which has created new or redefined management responsibilities in many organisations.

How many women hold senior roles in aviation and aerospace?

Among the 102 airlines reporting to IATA's 25by2025 initiative, women held 31.3% of senior positions at the end of 2025, and 34.6% in Europe. These airlines signed a voluntary diversity pledge and define their own senior roles, so the figure is not representative of the whole sector. At the same airlines, women were 7.0% of the flight deck and about one in five technical roles. Around three-quarters of the organisations taking part in the UK's Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter report less than 25% women in senior leadership.

Do defence aerospace roles have additional requirements?

Often, yes. Roles with access to classified programme information require national security clearance, which takes time to obtain and in practice favours candidates who already hold it. Businesses that handle controlled US-origin defence technology must also manage which foreign nationals may access it under US export control rules. Both requirements should be confirmed at the start of a search, because they decide who can be on the longlist.

When do pay transparency rules start to affect aerospace employers?

Directive (EU) 2023/970 requires the first employer gender pay gap reports in June 2027, starting with employers of 150 or more workers. Where the gap in any category of workers reaches 5% and cannot be justified by objective, gender-neutral criteria, the employer must carry out a joint pay assessment with worker representatives. Transposition into national law is still incomplete across the EU, so the exact national rules are worth confirming for each country you employ in; this guide to publishing the pay range covers the recruitment side.

Can we search for an aerospace executive without naming our company?

Yes. Every role published through our executive job posting service is anonymous by default: candidates see the role, the sector, the scope and the location, but not your company name. Your identity is disclosed only when you decide to advance a candidate to interview. This matters where the search itself would signal a change, such as replacing an accountable manager or quality manager, or hiring a programme director ahead of an announced contract. The anonymity applies to the market, not to the aviation authority: the appointment is submitted for acceptance in the usual way once you have chosen your candidate.

How does Female Executive Search work with aerospace companies?

We search for accountable managers, nominated postholders and programme, engineering and operations leaders, and review each candidate's career history against the experience the regulation requires. We provide the documented career history your compliance team needs for the submission to the authority, confirm clearance and nationality requirements at the start of defence searches, and source across airlines, maintenance and airworthiness organisations, manufacturers and defence. We deliver a shortlist within 7 to 10 days of engagement, on a fee of 25% of gross annual salary paid in three milestone-based instalments, and back every placement with a six-month replacement guarantee.

Sources: Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014, Annex II (Part-145), points 145.A.30 and 145.A.85, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2021/1963; EASA, Guide for Compliance with Part-145 upon Regulation (EU) 2021/1963 (June 2022); Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1645 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/203 (Part-IS); IATA, 25by2025 Final Industry Report: From Commitment to Measurable Progress (217 signatories, data as at 31 December 2025); Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter, ADS and Oliver Wyman, From ambition to action: Closing the gap for women in aviation and aerospace (July 2026); NATO, Defence investment and the 5% commitment (2025 Hague summit); Directive (EU) 2022/2381 on improving the gender balance among directors of listed companies; Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency. Last verified October 2026.

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