“Only 7% of companies have a woman or nonbinary CTO. The future cannot be built by the few.”

The State of Women in
Engineering Leadership
2025

Our future future of engineering leadership cannot be built by the few.

Let’s open the door wideracross the industry,and keep itopen.

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Just 15 percent of engineers and 14 percent of managers identify as women or nonbinary

Our future cannot be built by the few

Diverse engineering leadership isn’t just good for business,it’s essential to innovation,resilience, and progress. But too often, the people building the future don’t reflect the world for which they’re building.

When women and nonbinary engineers are excluded from leadership, companies lose creative talent, insight, and competitive advantage. To close the gender gap in engineering leadership.

This first of its kind report describes the state of the industry for women and nonbinary engineering leaders. This report shows that women are all but non existent in senior engineering roles.

Only 7 percent of the most senior engineering leaders (CTO/EVP/SVP) are women or nonbinary people.

ONLY 7%

INSIGHTS

The Pipeline Fails Women Early And Often

Despite years of effort, the engineering leadership pipeline fails women and nonbinary professionals from the start. Just 15% of engineers in our survey identify as women, a clear signal that barriers exist long before leadership becomes a factor.

Even for companies that have increased outreach and inclusive hiring at the entry level, too few organizations work to retain and advance that talent. Without strong on boarding,sponsorship, and clear growth pathways, the early-career pipeline leaks just as fast as it fills.

One Senior Engineering Manager at a cyber security firm built a team that she described as having “fantastic representation of women,” and called it a“rare and special experience.”

Leaders who act on these insights will build for the future.

We need CEOs to build teams as diverse as the problems they're solving, because breakthrough innovation needs people who think and build differently, together

ONLY 9%

of Directors are women. That’s where the career ladder breaks

INSIGHTS

The Director Ceiling Is Real

The engineering career ladder breaks at the Director rung. While women and nonbinary engineers now make up a small but steady share of managers, they are not advancing to Director at the rate they should. Women hold 14 percent of the Engineering Manager roles, but just 9

percent of the Director roles. In a fair system, that number should rise, not fall.

We call this The Director Ceiling, the moment when opportunity narrows, bias compounds, and advancement shifts from process to perception. The leap to Director demands strategic influence, visibility, and advocacy. Too often, it’s where high-potential women and nonbinary leaders stall.

A former machine learning engineering manager at a social media company:

“My path to management was delayed due to the bias I faced,” she said. “I left the organization for good and have never considered working for those leaders again.”

As I move up, I see less and less representation.

When I wanted to grow, I felt the ceiling

REPRESENTATION COLLAPSES AS COMPANIES SCALE

As companies grow, opportunities shrink: women and nonbinary leaders hold only 7% of top engineering roles in enterprises.

Woman or Nonbinary Leader Holds Most

Senior Engineering Executive Role

The Executive Ladder Crests at 7%

Only 7% of companies have a

woman or nonbinary leader

at the top of engineering

IMPACT OF DEI INITIATIVES

Intentional Leadership
Investment Pays Off

With DEI Programs