For #WomenInBusiness Day we are highlighting our Chief Operations Officer, Cara Sindir. Cara started working for Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc. in 2019, after nearly a decade working in Munich, Germany for Airbus Defence & Space- “It was an exciting opportunity to bring my knowledge of Airbus, and the products developed initially in Europe, to the U.S to serve the warfighter and other U.S. government missions.”

As a mother of two pre-schoolers, Cara understands the struggles of working parents, “It’s a difficult balance trying to figure out how to succeed in a career and raise a family.” Cara wants to do as much as she can to help create work environments that allow everyone to perform at their highest. She supports all decisions, “whether you decide to have kids, or not, whether you decide to stay in the workforce, or take time out to focus on other things— I am excited we are living in a time where we do have options and there is no ‘right’ way to do things.”

Cara works on projects across all of Airbus U.S.’ lines of business, but lately, she has been most heavily involved in the space programs and plays an important role in the execution of the company’s contracts supporting major US government programs. Although rewarding, there are also challenges. “One of the biggest challenges in the space business is how to protect our commercial business model, and also make the investments needed to be a responsible US defense contractor. We are working hard to create modular solutions that can be manufactured at speed, and we are also taking care to build an infrastructure that protects our national security.”

She describes the working environment at Airbus U.S. as “highly engaged and motivated” and explains how “it was refreshing to ‘take a break’ from the large corporate environment in Europe and join a smaller subsidiary where every individual can make a difference.” Cara has really enjoyed having the opportunity to see real change happening as well as being part of the leadership team that created and implemented the new strategy for the U.S. market. “The best part by far is the people- we have a great team, and I am proud to see so many awesome women playing key roles in our company (engineering, operations, programs) – our women are making an impact everywhere!)”.

Cara’s biggest goal for Airbus U.S. is to build a company that is “welcoming and provides exciting work opportunities for all employees.”