Solving I keep losing my best developers and can't figure out why for Aerospace
Expert Fractional CTO Solutions for Aerospace & Defense Companies
Aerospace requires developers with real-time embedded systems expertise, simulation platforms, mission-critical reliability, data security clearances, and avionics integration Our fractional CTO services provide Aerospace & Defense-specific expertise to resolve this challenge quickly and sustainably.
How "I keep losing my best developers and can't figure out why" Impacts Aerospace
Aerospace requires developers with real-time embedded systems expertise, simulation platforms, mission-critical reliability, data security clearances, and avionics integration In the Aerospace & Defense sector, this problem manifests differently than in other industries, requiring specialized expertise and industry-specific solutions.
Business Impact
Turnover costs averaging $80K-$150K per senior developer (recruiting, onboarding, lost productivity, knowledge loss). Development velocity decreasing 20-30% with each departure. Product roadmap constantly reset as new people ramp up. Compounding problem as remaining team takes on more work and becomes more likely to leave. Reputation damage making hiring harder.
Aerospace & Defense Specific: Revenue loss, customer churn, competitive disadvantage
Team Impact
Remaining developers overloaded picking up work from departed colleagues. Team morale declining as friends and mentors leave. Increased stress and longer hours for those who stay. Knowledge loss creating gaps and inefficiencies. Survivors questioning whether they should leave too. Difficulty building team cohesion when roster constantly changes.
Aerospace & Defense teams face unique pressure and expertise requirements
Leadership Impact
Emotional toll of watching talented people you invested in walk out the door. Feeling like a failure as a leader and questioning your decisions. Stress from constantly recruiting and interviewing. Anxiety about maintaining relationships with former employees and what they might say. Fear of investor reaction to retention numbers. Guilt about remaining team members who are overworked.
Critical for Aerospace & Defense founders and technical leaders
Warning Signs for Aerospace
Aerospace & Defense Red Flag
Telemetry data dropout during missions
Aerospace & Defense Red Flag
Simulation computation taking days
Aerospace & Defense Red Flag
System redundancy failing tests
General Symptom
Losing 2-4 strong developers per year despite competitive salaries
General Symptom
Exit interviews reveal consistent themes you weren't aware of
Aerospace & Defense Compliance Risks
This problem can jeopardize critical compliance requirements for Aerospace & Defense companies:
Our Aerospace & Defense-Specific Approach
We combine deep Aerospace & Defense industry expertise with proven problem-solving methodologies to deliver solutions that work in your specific context.
Solution Framework
Developer retention problems are rarely about salary alone. Through confidential stay interviews, team surveys, exit interview analysis, and technical environment assessment, we identify the real issues driving attrition. Common findings: lack of technical leadership and mentorship, frustration with tech debt and code quality, unclear career paths, boring work or outdated technology, poor work-life balance, or organizational dysfunction. We then address root causes systematically, creating an environment where talented engineers want to stay and grow.
For Aerospace & Defense companies, we adapt this approach to account for industry-specific challenges including compliance, simulation, and more.
Implementation Timeline
Retention Diagnostic and Stay Interviews
We conduct confidential stay interviews with your current team (not just exit interviews with people leaving) to understand what's working, what's frustrating, and what would make them leave. We analyze patterns from past departures and benchmark your retention against industry standards. We assess technical environment, career development systems, compensation positioning, work-life balance, and organizational health. You'll get a clear diagnosis of why people are leaving and which remaining team members are flight risks.
2-3 weeks
Aerospace & Defense optimizedAddress Critical Retention Issues
We immediately tackle the highest-impact retention issues. This typically includes: providing senior technical leadership and mentorship that's been missing, creating clear career development frameworks and growth paths, implementing technical debt reduction plans to make work less frustrating, improving development processes and tooling to reduce friction, ensuring competitive compensation especially for high performers, establishing better work-life balance and sustainable pace, and creating more interesting technical challenges and learning opportunities. These aren't generic solutions - they're tailored to your specific retention drivers.
4-8 weeks initial implementation
Aerospace & Defense optimizedBuild Retention-Focused Culture and Systems
We establish ongoing retention systems: regular 1:1s with career development focus, skills development and learning budgets, technical mentorship programs, competitive compensation review process, recognition and growth visibility, interesting technical projects allocated strategically, and regular pulse surveys to catch issues early. We create a technical leadership structure that provides the mentorship and direction senior engineers need. We make retention a key metric with early warning systems.
2-4 months
Aerospace & Defense optimizedOptimize Team Environment and Reduce Friction
We address longer-term environmental issues: paying down technical debt that makes work frustrating, modernizing technology stack to keep it interesting and resume-worthy, improving product and engineering collaboration to reduce waste and rework, optimizing team size and structure for healthy span of control, establishing sustainable development practices preventing burnout, and creating technical vision and strategy that gives people something to believe in and work toward.
4-6 months
Aerospace & Defense optimizedTypical Timeline
2-3 weeks to diagnose issues, 4-8 weeks to implement critical fixes, 3-6 months to build sustainable retention, measurable improvement in 90 days
For Aerospace & Defense companies
Investment Range
$12k-$28k/month (pays for itself by preventing 1-2 departures per year at $100K+ cost each)
Typical for Aerospace & Defense engagement
What You Get: Aerospace & Defense-Specific Deliverables
Comprehensive assessment of i keep losing my best developers and can't figure out why in aerospace context
Aerospace & Defense-specific solution roadmap with timeline and milestones
Technical architecture recommendations tailored to your industry
Implementation plan with risk mitigation strategies
Mission-critical system redundancy and failover architecture review
Real-time telemetry processing pipeline and data analysis framework
Simulation infrastructure optimization and computation distribution
Aerospace & Defense Tech Stack Expertise
Our fractional CTOs have extensive experience with the technologies your Aerospace & Defense company uses:
languages
frameworks
databases
Success Metrics for
When we solve "I keep losing my best developers and can't figure out why" for Aerospace & Defense companies, you can expect:
Improvement in key performance metrics
To full resolution and sustainability
Aerospace & Defense compliance maintained
Other Common Aerospace & Defense Challenges We Solve
Can't Hire Senior Developers
Can't Hire Senior Developers is a critical challenge facing many technology leaders today. This issue compounds over tim...
Learn about Aerospace & Defense solutions →No Technical Leadership
No Technical Leadership is a critical challenge facing many technology leaders today. This issue compounds over time, af...
Learn about Aerospace & Defense solutions →Technical Debt Out of Control
Technical Debt Out of Control is a critical challenge facing many technology leaders today. This issue compounds over ti...
Learn about Aerospace & Defense solutions →Codebase Unmaintainable
Codebase Unmaintainable is a critical challenge facing many technology leaders today. This issue compounds over time, af...
Learn about Aerospace & Defense solutions →Ready to Solve I keep losing my best developers and can't figure out why in Your Aerospace & Defense Company?
Get expert fractional CTO guidance with deep Aerospace & Defense expertise. Fast resolution from $2,999/mo.