Specialist Services

Talent Advisory for the Global Aircraft Leasing & Aviation Finance Industry

GKR Search & Selection partners exclusively with the global aircraft leasing and aviation finance community, supporting boards, executive leadership teams, and senior hiring managers as they build and sustain high-performing organisations.

We partner with established aircraft leasing platforms and aviation finance investors across Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East, including organisations backed by Japanese trading houses, US institutional capital, Middle Eastern investors, and leadership teams based in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Our work focuses on identifying talent that directly supports fleet growth, capital markets activity, asset performance, and the creation of long-term shareholder value.

Executive Search & Strategic Talent Advisory

Our Executive Search offering is designed for roles where experience, judgement and market credibility are critical to the leasing platform.

We are retained exclusively to identify and secure senior and specialist professionals across commercial origination, portfolio and risk management, technical asset management, finance, capital markets, legal, insurance, and executive leadership. These assignments typically require direct engagement with individuals who are not active in the open market but whose expertise has been proven in established aircraft leasing or aviation finance environments.

Our approach combines detailed role definition, global market mapping, discreet international outreach, and structured assessment. We have a strong track record of delivering successful hires for global lessors, banks, and investment platforms, with mandates built on repeat business, long-term relationships, and a reputation for precision, discretion, and execution at senior level.

Compensation Benchmarking

GKR produces an annual compensation and benchmarking report for the aircraft leasing and aviation finance industry.

The benchmarking provides boards, remuneration committees, and management teams with robust, data-driven insight into salary levels, incentive structures, benefits, and evolving employment practices across key global leasing hubs. The report supports informed decision-making around hiring, offer structuring, retention risk, and organisational design, while ensuring competitiveness in a market where experienced leasing professionals remain in limited supply.

Our benchmarking is widely used as a reference point when approving appointments at all levels, evaluating reward frameworks, and aligning compensation with long-term business and shareholder objectives.

Contingent Recruitment

For clearly defined hiring requirements, we offer a targeted and efficient recruitment solution, leveraging our proprietary global database of aviation and aircraft leasing professionals.

Using advanced search and screening methodologies, we identify and assess candidates across commercial, technical, finance, legal, and operational disciplines. Each candidate undergoes detailed screening and a first-round interview before we present a focused shortlist aligned with the client’s technical criteria, transaction experience, and cultural fit within the leasing platform.

We manage the full candidate process, including engagement, interview coordination, and offer negotiation, delivering a disciplined and responsive recruitment approach well suited to established organisations with ongoing or repeat hiring needs.

Contract & Interim Appointments for Leasing Platforms

We support aircraft leasing and aviation finance clients with contract and interim appointments across all functional disciplines.

This service is particularly valuable during periods of fleet expansion, portfolio acquisitions, refinancing activity, systems implementation, or organisational change. We source experienced contract professionals for both short and long-term assignments and, where required, can manage payroll and related administration through our own infrastructure.

Our contract and interim solutions enable leasing platforms to add specialist expertise and execution capacity while maintaining operational flexibility and cost discipline.

Leadership & Behavioural Assessment

For senior and client-facing roles within aircraft leasing, we offer structured behavioural and personality assessments to complement technical and commercial evaluations.

These assessments provide insight into an individual’s leadership style, decision-making approach, communication preferences, and ability to operate within a capital-intensive, relationship-driven leasing environment. Used selectively, this supports stronger long-term hiring decisions, team balance, and leadership effectiveness.

Outplacement

Our Outplacement Programme supports aircraft leasing organisations managing workforce change in a considered and professional manner.

We design tailored programmes to assist impacted employees to secure new roles efficiently while maintaining the organisation’s reputation within the relatively small and interconnected global leasing community. Support includes one-to-one advisory sessions, practical job-search guidance, interview preparation, and access to professional tools, delivered either onsite or remotely.

This service is typically engaged during restructuring, consolidation, or strategic realignment across leasing platforms.