You’ve finally got budget approval for that VP role. The board’s on board. Everything’s lined up.
Then you start looking for candidates and realize… everyone else is looking for the exact same person.
Welcome to executive recruiting in North Texas defense and aviation, where the talent pool is both incredibly deep and frustratingly shallow at the same time. It’s one of those weird paradoxes that keeps people like me employed.
Look, North Texas has become an absolute powerhouse in aerospace and defense. Governor Abbott officially designated the Dallas-Fort Worth region as the Aviation Capital of Texas, and honestly? It’s not just political talk. The numbers back it up.
Texas employs over 148,000 workers in aerospace and aviation across more than 1,400 establishments. The state ranks first in the nation for air transportation employment. Just the six-county Fort Worth region alone has more than 23,500 people working in aerospace, pulling down an average wage over $100,000.
So yeah, the talent’s here. But finding the right executive? That’s where it gets complicated.
Everyone’s Fishing in the Same Pond
The aerospace and defense industry is growing at 4.8% year over year, according to McKinsey. That’s great news if you’re in the industry. Not so great if you’re trying to hire.
Because growth means demand. And demand means competition.
“The executive talent landscape in North Texas defense and aviation has become incredibly competitive,” says Jim Hickey, President Managing Partner at Perpetual Talent Solutions, Dallas-Fort Worth headhunters. “Companies are not just looking for operational expertise anymore. They need leaders who can bridge the gap between traditional aerospace manufacturing and cutting-edge digital transformation, all while maintaining the highest standards of security clearance and regulatory compliance.”
Think about who’s here. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. American Airlines. Southwest Airlines. Bell Helicopter. Plus hundreds of defense contractors and suppliers. All of them need executives. All of them are competing for the same people.
You know that awkward moment when you’re interviewing a candidate and realize your competitor interviewed them last week? Yeah, that’s basically every week in this market.
The Skills Gap Nobody Wants to Talk About
Here’s something that should keep you up at night: there are over 70,000 unfilled cleared roles across the United States right now, according to the Aerospace Industries Association. Seventy thousand. That’s not just technicians and engineers—that includes leadership positions too.
And the security clearance requirement? That alone creates a bottleneck that can take more than 12 months to clear.
But wait, it gets better. Or worse, depending on how you look at it.
Only 7% of aerospace and defense employees are under 25 years old. Meanwhile, 25% are 56 or older, according to PwC. Do the math. A quarter of your potential leadership pipeline is approaching retirement, and you’ve got almost nobody coming up behind them with the experience, clearances, and institutional knowledge to replace them.
“We’re seeing an urgent need for strategic workforce planning at the executive level,” Hickey explains. “Companies that wait until retirement announcements to begin succession planning are already behind. The most successful organizations are building leadership pipelines years in advance, identifying high-potential talent and providing them with the clearances, certifications, and cross-functional experience needed to step into senior roles.”
Years in advance. Not months. Years.
If you’re just starting to think about who’s going to replace your VP of Operations when she retires in 18 months, you’re already late to the game.
The Clearance Catch-22
Let’s talk about security clearances for a minute, because this is where things get really fun.
Only about 2 million people in the entire United States hold active security clearances. Two million. Out of a workforce of over 160 million. That’s roughly 1.25% of all workers.
For executive roles requiring Top Secret/SCI clearances? You’re talking about an even smaller subset. And those executives know exactly how valuable they are. Software engineers with these clearances average $135,000 to $160,000 annually. Executive-level? Add another zero.
“The clearance challenge fundamentally changes the executive recruitment equation,” Hickey notes. “You cannot simply recruit the best candidate from outside the defense sector and expect them to hit the ground running. Companies need to think creatively about developing clearance-eligible talent internally or recruiting from adjacent defense organizations where clearances can be transferred more efficiently.”
Here’s the catch: you find the perfect candidate. Brilliant strategist, proven track record, exactly what you need. But they don’t have a clearance. So now you’re looking at 12-18 months before they can actually do the job you’re hiring them for.
Can you wait that long? Can your business?
This is why so many companies end up poaching from each other. It’s not because they’re lazy or uncreative. It’s because clearance transfers are faster, and speed matters when you’ve got programs that can’t wait.
What “Qualified” Actually Means Now
The skill set for defense and aviation executives has changed dramatically. It’s not enough anymore to have 20 years of aerospace engineering experience and a solid understanding of program management.
Now you need that… plus AI fluency, sustainability expertise, global supply chain management, and the ability to navigate geopolitical complexity. Oh, and you need to understand how autonomous systems, predictive maintenance, and advanced manufacturing are reshaping everything.
No big deal, right?
Research from Odgers identifies the key competencies for today’s aerospace leaders: strong problem-solving, adaptability to emerging tech, strategic thinking with financial acumen, and the capacity to pivot in markets shaped by geopolitics and technological change.
Basically, you need someone who can speak two languages fluently: traditional aerospace engineering and modern digital innovation. Someone who’s equally comfortable reviewing a structural analysis as they are discussing machine learning algorithms.
“The executive profiles we’re recruiting today look dramatically different from five years ago,” Hickey observes. “Companies need leaders who can speak both languages—the traditional aerospace engineering and manufacturing expertise, plus fluency in digital technologies, data science, and software development. It is a rare combination, which is why these executives command such premium compensation packages.”
And by “rare combination,” he means unicorn-level rare.
The Retention Problem Everyone’s Dealing With
Okay, so let’s say you actually find someone. You recruit them, onboard them, get them cleared, and they’re crushing it in the role.
Now you’ve got to keep them.
Industry-wide attrition rates sit at nearly 15% annually. That’s after all the investment in recruitment, engagement initiatives, and retention programs. People are still leaving at alarming rates.
And it’s not always about money. Sure, compensation matters. But today’s executives are evaluating culture, flexibility, sustainability commitments, professional development opportunities. They want meaningful work. Clear career progression. Values alignment.
You can throw money at the problem all you want, but if your culture’s toxic or your mission feels empty, good luck keeping top talent.
There’s also this tension between security requirements and flexibility expectations. Defense work often requires on-site presence—classified facilities, secure computing environments, the whole deal. But executives increasingly expect flexibility for strategic planning, business development, stuff that doesn’t require being in a SCIF.
Finding that balance? It’s tricky. But companies that can’t figure it out are losing people to competitors who have.
How the Smart Companies Are Winning
So what do you actually do about all this?
The companies that are winning at executive recruitment aren’t just posting jobs when someone quits. They’re building continuous talent pipelines—identifying potential executives years before positions open, building relationships, watching career progression across the industry.
They’re also casting a wider net. Specialized executive search firms with deep aerospace networks. Military transition programs targeting retiring officers with clearances and leadership experience. Strategic partnerships with universities doing advanced aerospace research. Even looking at adjacent industries like automotive tech, commercial space, and advanced manufacturing for fresh perspectives.
“Speed has become a critical factor in executive recruitment,” Hickey emphasizes. “Top candidates are receiving multiple offers within 10 to 15 days. Companies that maintain lengthy interview processes or delay decisions find themselves losing out to more agile competitors. We are coaching our clients to streamline decision-making, pre-schedule executive interviews, and be prepared to move quickly when the right candidate emerges.”
Ten to fifteen days. That’s your window.
If you’ve got a six-week interview process with five rounds and committee approvals and all that bureaucracy, you’re going to lose every single time to the competitor who can make a decision in a week.
What’s Coming Next
The future looks busy. Military modernization programs, commercial aerospace recovery, emerging opportunities in space tech and unmanned systems—there’s work everywhere.
The global aerospace industry needs 416,000 new technicians by 2034. That workforce expansion means proportional growth in executive leadership. More people to manage, more complex organizations, more technological transformation to navigate.
But here’s the thing: executive talent is going to be the limiting factor. Not money. Not technology. Not market opportunity. Talent.
The companies that get this—that approach executive recruitment strategically, invest in succession planning, build competitive value propositions beyond just compensation, streamline their hiring processes, maintain relationships with potential candidates years before positions open—those are the ones that’ll win.
The ones that treat executive recruitment like a reactive transaction? They’ll keep struggling. Keep losing candidates to faster competitors. Keep wondering why they can’t fill critical roles.
Look, I’m not saying this is easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it well, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
But the talent’s out there. The opportunities are there. North Texas is absolutely loaded with aerospace and defense expertise.
The question is whether you’re set up to actually capture it.
