Assistant Director Governance

Employment Type: Permanent
Contract Duration:

Why you will love working here

At IATA, we represent over 350 airlines worldwide, striving to makeaviation safer, smarter, more sustainable, and inclusive.

• Our Values are not just words on a page - they are the energy behind everything we do: ONE IATA - We collaborate across teams, TRUSTED - We do the right thing, INNOVATIVE - We make tomorrow better, INCLUSIVE - We embrace diverse perspectives.
• With over 30,000 courses available, we believe in continuous learning and support your growth in an ever-changing industry.
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion are our priorities. We are certified by the Equal Salary Foundation, offering equal pay and family-friendly policies.
• We encourage community involvement through volunteering and strive to make tomorrow better for aviation and our communities. We offer time off so you can support causes important to you.
• We promote work-life balance with flexible work options, including remote and hybrid work, a generous 'work from abroad' policy, and you get your birthday off!

About the team you are joining

IATA's Legal Services and Corporate Secretary (LSCS) team oversees IATA's governance framework to ensure it operates effectively and aligns with governance best practices. The Corporate Secretariat's Governance and Membership team is responsible for IATA's governance framework, supporting the functioning of the General Meeting, the Board of Directors, Board Committees, and advisory structure, as well as the Association's membership strategy and policies.

What your day would be like

You will serve as the primary governance interface for three of the four Board Committees:

• the Governance and Performance Committee which oversees governance effectiveness, executive performance, performance targets, the appointment of IATA’s Officers, and IATA’s ESG framework;
• the Finance, Risk, and Audit Committee, which oversees financial performance and policies, internal controls, and risk management; and
• the Membership Committee, which manages Board nominations, membership matters, such as terminations and suspensions, and IATA’s airline membership strategy.

This requires a thorough understanding of the issues each Committee is responsible for — governance and organizational performance, ESG, financial oversight and risk, and membership strategy — and the ability to engage substantively with senior leadership and Board members on those issues. The secretariat mechanics of the role — agenda management, meeting preparation, and decision capture — are the vehicle for that engagement, not its substance.

You will hold end-to-end accountability across the full Committee cycles: shaping agendas in consultation with senior leadership, overseeing the preparation and timely delivery of high-quality meeting materials, managing preparation timelines and milestones, attending Committee meetings, and ensuring outcomes and decisions are clearly captured and communicated.

You will interact regularly with IATA's senior leadership, in particular the Corporate Secretary and the Chief Financial Officer, and Board members in the exercise of these responsibilities.

You will also contribute to preparations for Board and AGM meetings, and actively participate in the ongoing review and refinement of IATA's governance framework and implementation of reforms.

We would love to hear from you if

• Intellectual range and curiosity: you are able to quickly grasp and engage with a wide variety of complex issues: governance, financial, legal, institutional, and airline industry.
• Sound judgment on substance: you are able to assess whether an issue is ready for committee deliberation, whether a paper is fit for Board-level discussion, and whether a proposed decision is well-founded, not merely whether the process has been followed
• Political intelligence and institutional awareness: you are able to read a room, understand what is driving a position, and navigate competing interests and sensitivities with maturity and discretion
• Stakeholder management at senior level: you are comfortable engaging with Board members, the Director General, and senior officers as a peer on governance matters
• You can manage processes, people, and priorities simultaneously in a fast-moving environment with multiple competing deadlines and stakeholders
• Strong written communication: you are able to synthesize complex issues clearly and concisely for Board-level audiences, and to draft governance documents
• Autonomy and drive: you are able to own a workstream end-to-end, identify what needs to be done without being told, and hold others to timelines and quality standards
• You have a demonstrated ability to build and improve processes in an environment where structures are still being defined

Travel Required: 5%

Learn more about IATA’s role in the industry, our benefits, and the team at . We are looking forward to hearing from you!