How to read a business jet pilot job ad (and what to ask before you apply)

By Arnthor Birgisson, business aviation captain and founder of Galley. Facts checked on 17 October 2026 against the official texts listed under Sources.

Pilot job ads have hardly changed since the 90s: a title, a paragraph about the operator’s “commitment to excellence”, a list of requirements in prose, and “competitive salary”. You open each one to find out whether you even qualify, and the things you most want to know (the roster, the pay, who pays the type rating) are often the things it leaves out.

This guide is the checklist I use: eight facts every ad should answer, how to read the requirements, and the questions to ask when the ad is silent.

The eight facts every ad should answer

#	Fact	What a good ad says	If it doesn’t, ask
1	Aircraft	The type, and the rating it needs	“Which variant? Is my rating on the same endorsement enough?”
2	Seat	Captain / PIC, First Officer / SIC, or either	“Is there an upgrade path, and on what basis?”
3	Base	An airport, or “anywhere in Europe” with travel provided	“Who pays travel to base, and is it duty time?”
4	Contract	Permanent, fixed-term, freelance, or through an agency	“Who is my employer, and under which country’s law?”
5	Roster	A pattern: 15 on / 15 off, 7/7, on call, home every night	“How many days on call, and what notice do I get?”
6	Pay	A figure or a range, per month, year or day	“What is the starting pay or range for this position?”
7	Type rating	Held already / provided by the operator (with the bond) / paid by you	“Who pays, how much, and what is the bond?”
8	Start date	A date, or “as soon as possible”, plus when the ad was posted	“Is this a live vacancy or a talent pool?”

If an ad answers six or more of these, the operator has thought about who it wants. If it answers two, you will spend your interview finding out the rest.

Requirements: read the verbs

Most ads mix two lists without saying so. The verbs tell you which is which:

Mandatory: “must hold”, “required”, “minimum”, “only candidates who…”. Some ads say it outright: don’t apply if you don’t meet these. Believe them: the first screening may be someone ticking boxes.
Preferred: “an asset”, “desirable”, “preferred”, “ideally”. These decide between candidates who meet the mandatory list. Missing one is not a reason to skip the ad.

Then read the hours carefully, because the same number can mean different things:

Total time is everything in your logbook.
PIC time is time as pilot in command. Whether PIC under supervision or SIC time counts towards it is the operator’s call, and ads often don’t say. Ask.
Multi-engine turbine or jet time narrows it further.
On type means on that aircraft (or, for some operators, on the same rating; see below). “500 h PIC on type” is a much higher bar than “500 h on type”.

Licence lines are usually exact: “Full EASA ATPL” excludes a frozen ATPL; an FAA ATP is not an EASA licence; “ICAO English Level 6” is more than Level 4. And the line that most often decides it, “right to live and work in the EU” (or the UK, or the US), is not something an operator can wave away, even if it likes you.

What your type rating covers

Business jets come in families, and several share one licence endorsement. EASA’s “Class and Type Rating & License Endorsement List – Aeroplanes” (issue of 12 February 2026) puts, for example:

the Challenger 300 and 350 under one endorsement (CL30);
the Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 (EMB-500 and EMB-505) under one (EMB 500/505);
the Falcon 7X and 8X under one (Falcon 7X);
the Gulfstream G500 and G600 under one (GVII), and the G700 and G800 under another (GVIII);
the Global Express XRS, 5000, 5500, 6000 and 6500 under one (BD-700), while the Global 7500 and 8000 have their own (G7500).

So if you hold a CL30 rating, a “Challenger 350 type-rated” ad is for you, even if you have flown only the 300. Whether the operator counts your 300 hours as “on type” is its call: ask. Some families are split across endorsements: the Challenger 600/601 has its own (CL600/601), separate from the 604, 605 and 650 (CL604/605). Check the list rather than the marketing name.

One more that confuses people: the PC-12 is flown on the single-engine turboprop class rating, SET (land), not on a type rating (the list’s Appendix 2). An ad asking for a “PC-12 type rating” usually means experience on the aircraft.

Type rating terms and bonds

This is the line that decides whether a job is worth it, and the one ads are vaguest about. There are three cases:

You must already hold it. Clear, and it narrows the field.
The operator provides it. Read on: it usually comes with a bond, a sum you repay if you leave within a set period.
You pay for it, sometimes with a promise of a job afterwards.

For case 2 or 3, get these in writing before you sign:

the amount, and whether it is the course price or includes your salary during training;
how long the bond runs, and whether it reduces month by month or stays whole until the end;
what triggers repayment: resigning, being dismissed, failing the course, the operator losing the aircraft;
whether it is a bond or a loan, and when repayment would be due;
for self-sponsored ratings, what happens to the “job afterwards” if the operator changes its plans.

Whether a bond is enforceable depends on the contract and the country’s employment law. Have someone who knows that law read it. “Everyone signs it” is not a reason.

Pay: “competitive” means not stated

In the EU, the Pay Transparency Directive gives applicants the right to receive from the prospective employer “the initial pay or its range” for the position (Directive (EU) 2023/970, article 5(1)), for example in the published job vacancy notice or before the job interview. Member States had until 7 June 2026 to bring it into national law (article 34(1)), and each country did it in its own way. Either way, asking for the range before the interview is normal. Article 5(2) adds that an employer “shall not ask applicants about their pay history” in their current or previous jobs.

When an ad gives pay, check the unit (day, month, year), the currency, and whether per diems, the roster and days on call are part of the figure. A day rate for freelance work and a monthly salary with 15 days off aren’t comparable until you do the arithmetic.

Freshness, agencies and red flags

Dates. “Posted 3 Oct” is information; “30+ days ago” is not. An ad that stays open for months, or is reposted every few weeks, may not be a live vacancy.
Direct employer or agency. Agencies are useful, but you should know which you’re talking to. Ask who the operator is before you send your logbook.
Talent pools collect CVs for future needs. Fine to join, but it is not a job.
Never pay to apply. A genuine operator doesn’t ask for a fee to apply, or for money up front for a visa, uniform or “processing”.
Your duty and rest. If the roster looks like it won’t leave the rest you need, ask how it is planned. Our guide to EASA FTL for business aviation has the rules.

The checklist before you apply

Do I meet every mandatory line? Which preferred ones?
Does my rating’s endorsement cover the type?
Base, travel to base, and right to work: all clear?
Roster pattern and on-call days?
Pay: stated, or do I ask for the range?
Type rating: held, provided with which bond, or paid by me?
Contract and employer: direct or through an agency, and which law?
Is the ad fresh, and is it a real vacancy?

Where Galley comes in

We built Galley Jobs to answer this checklist before you open the ad. Every job, whatever its source, shows the same facts: aircraft, seat, base, contract, roster, pay as stated in the ad, or “Pay not stated”, type rating terms with the bond, and the start date. Each ad shows when it was posted and when Galley last checked it on the operator’s site, and when the ad leaves the operator’s site, Galley closes it too. Galley labels agencies, and one tap shows direct employers only.

The first line of every ad says which requirements you meet, for example “You meet 5 of 6 · missing 500 h PIC on type”, checked against your own logbook, ratings, licence and medical. Reading every job and seeing which requirements you meet is free. You apply on the operator’s own page, or with your Galley card for jobs posted in Galley. Job alerts come as a free daily summary, or instantly with Pro. The board updates every hour.

See which jobs you qualify for, free

Sources

EASA, Class and Type Rating & License Endorsement List – Aeroplanes, issue 12.02.2026: pages 5–8 (Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream). https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/downloads/11737/en
EASA, Appendix 2: SET, SEP and MEP class ratings previously listed under the type rating list: Pilatus PC-12: SET (land). https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/downloads/141631/en
Directive (EU) 2023/970 (pay transparency): articles 5(1), 5(2) and 34(1). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32023L0970

Changes

17 October 2026: Facts checked against the texts above.