2016

AIRCRAFT LEASING
SALARY GUIDE
 01
WELCOME TO OUR INAUGURAL
2016 AIRCRAFT LEASING
SALARY GUIDE

To our knowledge, this is the first
dedicated salary guide that has
ever been produced exclusively
for the aviation finance industry,
and we hope that you find it both
interesting and informative.
A couple of key points to note:
• The primary market referred to in
Whilst we have already met and
worked with a great number of you,
we always welcome correspondence
from industry peers – so please do
feel free to get in touch with us if
you would like to discuss any of the
points raised within.
Best wishes,

Richard Pigott
the report is Dublin, however we
do try and provide comparisons to
other locations, where appropriate.
Richard Pigott
• All salaries are denominated in Director
Euro, although packages are
broadly comparable across most
major global leasing hubs. To contact Richard directly,
he is available on:
• Please note that this report is an Mobile: +353 86 608 9481
honest appraisal of the market as Email: rpigott@elginsearch.com
we see it, but it is important to
Tel: +353 1 443 3300
remember that all views and
Web: www.elginsearch.com
thoughts are our own.

ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH

 WE ARE A BOUTIQUE HOW TO CONTACT US
EXECUTIVE SEARCH Office Location:
COMPANY, SERVING 64 Dame Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
THE GLOBAL AVIATION
General Enquiries:
FINANCE COMMUNITY. info@elginsearch.com
BASED IN DUBLIN, WE
Telephone:
WORK WITH LEASING
+353 1 443 3300
COMPANIES ACROSS
THE WORLD TO ASSIST Website:
www.elginsearch.com
THEM IN HIRING THE
BEST TALENT TO THEIR Twitter:
BUSINESS. @elginsearch

HOW TO MEET US
If you are based in or visiting Dublin, please feel free to get in touch
anytime – we would be delighted to meet you. Alternatively, we
frequently attend major industry conferences and will be present at
the following events globally in next 12 months:

ISTAT Asia Airline Economics

17-19 May 2016 Growth Frontiers – Asia
Tokyo, Japan 1-3 November 2016
Hong Kong
AirFinance China
2-3 June 2016 ISTAT Holiday Receptions
Shanghai, China 7 December 2016
London & Dublin
ISTAT Reception & Chalet at

02 Farnborough International Airshow

11-17 July 2016
Airline Economics
Growth Frontiers – Dublin
Farnborough, England 15-18 January 2017
ABOUT Dublin

ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH

ISTAT Europe
25-27 September 2016
Barcelona, Spain

ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH


‘Competition remains intense
for high performers’
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH
03
MARKET OVERVIEW
2015 WAS A STRONG YEAR FOR GROWTH WITHIN THE
AIRCRAFT LEASING SECTOR, AND IN IRELAND IN PARTICULAR.
During the course of the year,
Goshawk, Accipiter, Aviation
Finance Company (AFC) and Bank of
Communications Financial Leasing
all grew significantly their footprint
in Ireland. AerCap moved their
executive team from Amsterdam
and also relocated a significant
portion of the legacy ILFC staff from
Los Angeles to their Dublin office.
Even long established lessors like
GECAS have relocated a number of
their senior team from Stamford,
no doubt due to the recent changes
in company legislation which
requires a greater leadership
footprint to take advantage of
Ireland’s 12.5% corporate tax rate.
This activity, coupled with the
organic growth of the numerous
existing leasing platforms in Dublin,
has ensured that there is a wide
range of opportunity available
to aircraft leasing professionals
in Ireland, and that competition
remains intense for high performers.
Looking ahead to 2016, we are
aware of at least three additional
leasing companies who are going
to establish a presence in Dublin
within the next 6-12 months, a fact
which will place further strain on an
already tight labour market. It will
be very interesting to see what the
long-term impact of low oil prices
will be, particularly on lessors who
have significant orders for NEOs and
MAXs in the coming years. Will they
slash rates on these new aircraft as
fuel efficiency becomes less of an
issue and, if so, what effect will this
have on lease rates for older aircraft?
This is likely have an impact on
leasing company revenues and thus,
the dynamics of hiring demand.
Overall, our expectation is that
hiring demand will remain strong
for the foreseeable future. It is
probable that leasing companies
based here will have to work harder
to retain key talent, and they
will increasingly have to attract
more global talent to Dublin in
order to meet their own people
requirements if they are to maintain
current levels of growth.
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH
 04
‘Everyone feels the OUR ADVICE
stresses of changing FOR CANDIDATES
organisation...’
Searching for a new role can be
a demanding process and it is
important to always remember
that everyone feels the stresses of
changing organisation, especially
if you have been in your current
role for a significant period of
time. Whilst your ideal role may
not present itself immediately, it
is important to maintain a positive
attitude in your job search.
Remember to do your
homework on the company in
terms of researching their current
asset portfolio, recent company
announcements and other
publically available information.
Try to deduce what the company
strategy is and how you would fit
into that equation – determine
why you should be hired above
other candidates for the role that
you are applying for.
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH
RÉSUMÉ TIPS
• Cover letters are, in our opinion,
essentially useless and are generally
not read. The most important
content is what is written on the
first page of your CV.
• Make sure that key
accomplishments in each of your
previous roles are clearly stated so
they are impactful to the reader.
• Keep the length to a maximum of
2-3 pages – people will get bored
reading an overly long CV.
• If you are in a commercially
orientated role, a transaction list
is a very valuable tool to include
as it will clearly highlight your
previous successes. Depending on
confidentiality, you may not be able
to mention specific companies,
however it is important that you
adequately convey the types of
deals you have worked on. Further
to this point, do not include deals
that did not go through – it actually
has a negative effect!
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH

OUR ADVICE
05
FOR CLIENTS
i) Think clearly about your staffing
requirements – what kind of functions
will you base in which location? What
specific type of expertise will you need
in each role? We cannot stress how
important it is to have a very definite
idea about the exact skillset that you will
need as this will make the subsequent
candidate search much easier.
For example, if you are seeking to hire
a VP Legal, it is useful to know exactly
what kind of expertise is a priority – will
this candidate be performing mainly
Corporate Counsel duties or will they
be transaction focused and part of a
customer facing, deal team? These
are two very different skillsets and
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH
ii)
profiles, so it is vital to have a good
understanding of the criteria you are
looking for before starting out on a
hiring process.
In an ideal world, it is preferable to
hire the leadership team first as their
experience will assist you in deciding
whether to base an entire function in-
house, or to outsource. It is also useful
to remember that sometimes it is a very
different type of candidate that fits well
iii)
into a startup environment. Often we
have seen candidates coming from long
established companies struggle in this
type of situation, as they will likely have
fewer local operational resources to
call upon.
Get the ‘story’ correct. It is vital that
you have thought through exactly
what message you want to give both
the market and potential candidates
about your brand and company. This is
particularly true for new entrants to the
market. It is important to emphasise
these to your target candidate pool
as it will give them comfort that they
are joining a fiscally strong, reputable
business. It will also boost your
profile in the market and create a
favourable impression amongst your
peers in the industry.
Choose carefully one recruitment
partner to work with and try to build
a deep partnership with them. It is
important to remember that it is
practically impossible to manage how
the message of your business is being
communicated to the market if you
use multiple headhunters for your
hiring. Secondly, using this approach it
is virtually impossible to know which
candidates have been targeted, and
importantly, which have not – it is
highly unlikely that your full potential
candidate audience will be reached
by using such a strategy. The more you
build up a strong relationship with
your preferred recruitment partner,
the better they will understand your
business, and the easier it will be
for them to represent you in the
correct way.
At Elgin Executive Search, we only take
on work on an exclusive basis for these
reasons – as a result, we can ensure
that the entire candidate pool is fully
advised about the opportunities at our
client companies and we can totally
control the message that our clients
want them to receive about their
business. In our experience, this is the
only way to manage a recruitment
process effectively and is why we insist
on such exclusivity.
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH

06
AIRCRAFT LEASING SALARIES
‘As a general rule, the
closer you are to the
commercial decision
making functions
within a leasing
company, the higher
your salary will be.’
Dublin is an expensive city in which
to hire aircraft leasing talent, and the
gross compensation packages on offer
are among the highest in the world.
One of the primary reasons for this is
the onerous personal taxation regime
in Ireland, which necessitates that high
gross salaries are paid to ensure that net
personal remuneration is on a par with
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH
other locations.
The responsibilities for each role may
vary somewhat among different lessors
and this will impact on the salary paid for
that particular position. As in any labour
market, some leasing companies will pay
more than others for various reasons, so
we have tried to give as broad a range as
possible to account for these differences.
A) EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
Probably the widest variations of salaries exist for Executives), and indeed at some larger lessors, they
the Boards of aircraft leasing companies, and for can be significantly higher. In many cases, the Chief
very good reason. Ultimately they are responsible Commercial Officer is the second most highly paid
for the strategic direction of the business and
shareholder profitability, and their compensation
person on the Board of many lessors, though this is
not surprising given their overall responsibility for
scheme reflects this. marketing and trading. Other C-Suite roles such as
Total compensation packages in excess of the CFO and COO do tend to be paid slightly less,
€1million are not uncommon (particularly for Chief though not in all cases.
SALARY RANGE – EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT
CORPORATE TITLE BASIC BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION
Chief Executive Officer €250,000 - €1,000,000 50 - 300% 20 - 25%
Chief Financial Officer €200,000 - €400,000 50 - 100% 20 - 25%
Chief Commercial Officer €200,000 - €400,000 50 - 150% 20 - 25%
Chief Operating Officer €200,000 - €400,000 50 - 100% 20 - 25%
B) LEGAL & TRANSACTION MANAGEMENT
There is currently a major shortage of available observation that practically every major law firm
talent within the industry for candidates with in Dublin is currently recruiting into their aviation
significant legal and / or transaction management finance practice.
expertise. The recent trend is to increasingly In a leasing context, there is particular shortage of
bring more legal functions in-house and this fact, commercially focused transaction Lawyers available
coupled with the amount of new leasing companies on the market. It is becoming typical for candidates
establishing in Ireland, is accounting for a severe with this type of expertise to move across into
skills shortage in this area. The Irish law firms in marketing functions which is adding further dilution
particular are feeling the biggest strain, as salaries to the available talent pool – as a result, legal
in these firms tend to be lower than what is on candidates with a significant transaction history are
offer within aircraft lessors. It is an interesting at a premium in the Dublin market.
SALARY RANGE – LEGAL & TRANSACTION MGT
CORPORATE TITLE BASIC BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION
General Counsel €250,000 - €300,000 50 - 80% 15 - 25%
SVP Legal €180,000 - €250,000 35 - 60% 10 - 15%
VP Legal €120,000 - €180,000 25 - 50% 8 - 15%
Legal Counsel €60,000 - €120,000 20 - 45% 6 - 10%
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH
 AIRCRAFT LEASING SALARIES CONTINUED

E) TECHNICAL
In 2015, there was strong demand in the Irish Asset Management duties fall under the remit of
market for technical candidates, particularly the Technical department in smaller lessors.
at a senior level. Technical expertise is In 2015 we noted a specific demand for technical
vitally important from a fleet and portfolio candidates with repossession experience among
management perspective, and this type of the newer lessors as many of them lack this type
C) CONTRACTS function is found is all leasing companies. Often of expertise internally.
Contracts teams are also expanding in many of this organisation, and we expect demand for
the larger lessors, as again they move to build contracts staff in 2016 to remain strong. SALARY RANGE – TECHNICAL
these functions internally. The transformational It is often a good route of entry for professionals CORPORATE TITLE BASIC BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION
ILFC / AerCap deal has created huge into the industry and an opportunity to ‘learn Head of Technical €180,000 - €240,000 35 - 70% 15 - 25%
opportunity for contracts candidates within the ropes’ so to speak.
SVP Technical €130,000 - €180,000 35 - 50% 10 - 15%
SALARY RANGE – CONTRACTS VP Technical €80,000 - €130,000 20 - 45% 8 - 15%
CORPORATE TITLE BASIC BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION Technical Manager €50,000 - €80,000 0 - 20% 6 - 10%
VP, Head of Contracts €80,000 - €140,000 30 - 40% 6 - 10%
Contracts Manager €45,000 - €80,000 20 - 30% 0 - 6%
F) MARKETING
Contracts Staff €35,000 - €45,000 0 - 20% 0 - 6%
Competition is intense for highly experienced backgrounds who have steadily moved into
marketers as it is obviously a major source more commercially orientated roles, but
of revenue generation for every lessor. recently we have noted a trend that many of the
D) RISK & PRICING High performers tend to be exceptionally new generation of marketers are increasingly
In smaller lessors, risk and pricing can be accurate guidance on an ‘average’ salary in this well remunerated and if you are to hire at the coming from the legal or investment banking
the sole responsibility of one person or, area. Generally, these types of roles are open to top end of the market, you may even have to professions. Regardless of the level marketing
alternatively, the larger lessors will have specific candidates from outside the industry and again, exceed some of the figures outlined below candidates are always in demand, particularly
teams looking after both of these functions provide an ideal opportunity to acquire a solid to attract quality talent. Traditionally, many those with a significant track record and
individually. It is therefore is difficult to give industry foundation. marketers came from avionic engineering relationship network with the airlines.

SALARY RANGE – RISK SALARY RANGE – MARKETING

CORPORATE TITLE BASIC BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION CORPORATE TITLE BASIC BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION
SVP / Head of Risk €160,000 - €220,000 35 - 70% 10 - 15% Head of Marketing €250,000 - €350,000 50 - 200% 15 - 25%
VP Risk €100,000 - €160,000 35 - 50% 8 - 15% SVP Marketing €200,000 - €250,000 50 - 100% 15 - 25%
Risk Manager €60,000 - €100,000 20 - 45% 6 - 10% VP Marketing €120,000 - €200,000 30 - 70% 10 - 20%
Risk Analyst €35,000 - €60,000 0 - 20% 0 - 6% Marketing Manager €80,000 - €120,000 20 - 45% 10 - 15%

ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH

 AIRCRAFT LEASING SALARIES CONTINUED

G) TRADING I) CORPORATE FINANCE / FUNDING

Akin to Marketing, the trading team tend to be
exceptionally well remunerated due to their role as
a profit centre for the lessor. Such teams do tend to
be smaller than other departments and are
typically staffed by experienced leasing veterans
SALARY RANGE – TRADING
CORPORATE TITLE BASIC
who have significant industry relationships.
We anticipate that this function will become much
more high profile in the coming years as OEM
orders are fulfilled and lessors increasingly get
rid of older aircraft.
BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION
This team is responsible for ensuring that the cost
of debt is kept within manageable levels. Typically,
a strong capital markets background is desirable.
Hiring demand in this area has reduced since 2013
when it appeared that everyone wanted to source
capital from the EETC markets. Today, funding is
SALARY RANGE – CORPORATE FINANCE / FUNDING
increasingly coming from private or institutional
sources as opposed to the traditional capital
markets. Regardless of where this new money
comes from, the Corporate Finance team will be
responsible for managing the relationships with
these new investors (along with the CFO).

Head of Trading €250,000 - €350,000 50 - 200% 15 - 25% CORPORATE TITLE BASIC BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION
SVP Trading €200,000 - €250,000 50 - 100% 15 - 25% Head of Corporate Finance €200,000 - €250,000 40 - 80% 15 - 25%
VP Trading €120,000 - €200,000 30 - 70% 10 - 20% SVP Corporate Finance €160,000 - €200,000 30 - 60% 10 - 15%
Trading Manager €80,000 - €120,000 20 - 45% 10 - 15% VP Corporate Finance €120,000 - €160,000 25 - 50% 8 - 15%

H) FINANCE J) OPERATIONS & CASH MANAGEMENT

Many lessors have outsourced their finance leasing companies, we are seeing growth in Again this is another function that is management. Typically positions in this area
functions, and aside from the CFO and a Finance their in-house accounting teams so it is creating outsourced in many cases, although the larger are relatively administrative in nature, and
Manager, these teams tend not to be large in opportunity for external finance professionals lessors have individual teams specifically particularly ideal for graduates who want to
most lessors. Interestingly, in some of the largest to enter the industry. responsible for general operations and cash get started in the industry.

SALARY RANGE – FINANCE

SALARY RANGE – OPERATIONS & CASH MANAGEMENT
CORPORATE TITLE BASIC BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION
CORPORATE TITLE BASIC BONUS PENSION CONTRIBUTION
Head of Finance €160,000 - €220,000 25 - 50% 10 - 15%
VP, Head of Operations / €80,000 - €120,000 30 - 50% 10 - 15%
VP Finance €100,000 - €160,000 20 - 40% 8 - 15% Cash Management
Finance Manager €60,000 - €100,000 15 - 35% 6 - 10% Operations Manager €45,000 - €80,000 20 - 30% 6 - 10%
Accounting staff €35,000 - €60,000 0 - 20% 0 - 6% Operations Staff €35,000 - €45,000 0 - 20% 0 - 6%

ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH

 07
STANDARD TERMS
AND BENEFITS
A. PENSIONS
Most leasing companies operate some type of third
party pension scheme, although the bespoke (and
high paying) schemes of the past are less common
these days. Typically a junior in the industry will
get a 6% employer contribution to their pension,
VPs and SVPs a 10-20% contribution, and senior
management up to 25%. Depending on the
location, there are very significant tax savings to
be made by utilising these schemes to their full
potential, particularly in high personal tax locations
such as Ireland.
B. RELOCATIONS AND
EXPATRIATE ALLOWANCES
The days of full expatriate entitlements are
becoming less common, particularly in Europe,
although we are aware that in Singapore and
Hong Kong, housing allowance is often expected
due to the high local rents. Interestingly, with the
cost of accommodation soaring in Ireland, we are
seeing this becoming more of a consideration when
candidates are choosing whether or not to relocate.
School fees are sometimes paid in Singapore and
Hong Kong (again due to the high cost of private
Western education in these locations).
Finally, we are aware of at least one company
that has offered significant numbers of their key
staff a very generous tax equalisation scheme
to relocate to their Irish hub. Given the financial
implications of running such a scheme, we do not
anticipate many other firms offering similar type
arrangements in the near future.
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH
C. SHARE OPTIONS AND INCENTIVES
Obviously within the lessors who are listed, most
of the senior management are heavily incentivised
by the provision of generous stock programs.
Interestingly, further down the corporate structure
in many of these organisations, we have not seen
significant stock schemes for staff, which in our
opinion is a mistake – this can be a very tax efficient
way to remunerate all levels of employees, and
also gives them increased interest in the company
performance.
D. NOTICE PERIODS
Typically at more junior levels, a one month notice
period is quite standard in the industry, however
when candidates reach VP level, three months
notice is the norm. We have seen pressure to
increase this to four months in some instances,
particularly at SVP level. At Executive level, it is
typical to have a minimum of six months notice
and often Boards of leasing companies are centrally
bound for up to one year. In most cases, this is
negotiable, depending on the circumstances.
E. HOLIDAY ALLOWANCES
The standard holiday entitlement in Dublin and
London is between 20-25 days, although we are
aware of some companies offering more for long
serving employees. In the US, this entitlement
can be as low as 12 days, though most staff are
awarded 20 days leave. Singapore, Hong Kong and
Tokyo offer similar holiday allowances to the US.
ELGIN EXECUTIVE SEARCH