Quest Global reports that 90% of its women employees—nine in ten—hold technical and engineering roles, far exceeding global STEM benchmarks where women comprise about 28% of the workforce, with female talent directly tackling clients’ most complex challenges. Women constitute 25% of the global workforce, achieving near parity at the Trivandrum centre (46% women, 54% men), one of the company’s largest engineering hubs, demonstrating scalable models for balanced technical environments. This positioning differentiates Quest Global by embedding women in core engineering functions rather than support roles, aligning diversity with innovation imperatives in aerospace, automotive and high-tech sectors.
For engineering leaders addressing global talent shortages, Quest’s metrics offer a blueprint for technical inclusion that sustains problem-solving capacity amid rapid technological evolution.
Leadership promotions and retention trajectory accelerate
Women’s share of managerial promotions reached 25% in 2025, up from 20% in 2024—a five percentage-point gain reflecting deliberate pipeline development and bias mitigation. Female attrition plummeted to 6% in FY26 year-to-date from 18% in FY24, outperforming overall voluntary attrition declines and indicating robust career continuity and engagement. Sonia Kutty, Senior Vice President – People & Culture, attributes this to sustained focus on core technical engagement and leadership pathways: “At Quest Global, our focus has been to ensure that women engineers are not just represented, but meaningfully engaged in core technical roles and leadership pathways.”
These outcomes position Quest as a leader in engineering services diversity, where retention investments translate to stable talent pools for long-cycle client engagements.
Executive commitment drives inclusive engineering culture
Co-founder and CEO Ajit Prabhu emphasises diverse perspectives as essential for complex challenges: “Engineering innovation thrives on diverse perspectives, and increasing participation of women in technical roles is essential to solving the complex challenges industries face today.” Chief Strategy Officer Yumi Clevenger-Lee, executive sponsor of the “together” ERG, reinforces performance-driven progression: “Enabling more women to participate and lead in core technical roles is essential to driving innovation and long-term impact.”
C-suite alignment elevates inclusion from HR initiative to strategic capability, fostering resilience in talent-constrained markets.
Implications for India’s engineering services sector
Quest’s progress arrives ahead of International Women’s Day 2026, coinciding with industry-wide pressures from AI acceleration and STEM shortages, where women’s technical participation becomes a growth multiplier. A companion video featuring women leaders underscores career narratives that inspire replication across India’s engineering hubs.
Enterprises can emulate by prioritising technical onboarding, mentorship pipelines and flexible structures that retain women through lifecycle stages, securing competitive edges in global services delivery.
