Aptero SAS
Gender Equality Plan
A public, formally endorsed commitment to gender equality across our team, our culture, our hiring and our research, in Paris and in Seoul.
Our commitment
A word from the CEO
Aptero SAS is a small, multicultural and research driven company. We build open infrastructure for digital sovereignty, and we believe the technology we create should reflect the values we hold inside the company. Gender equality is one of those values, and we treat it as an operational priority rather than a statement of intent.
This Gender Equality Plan sets out our objectives, the concrete actions we commit to, the indicators we will track, and the resources and people responsible for delivery. It is a public document, it is endorsed at the highest level of the company, and it is shared with every member of the team.
The Horizon Europe eligibility criterion is formally addressed to public bodies, universities and research organisations. As a private company active in research and development, Aptero SAS is not legally required to hold a Gender Equality Plan, yet we choose to adopt one and to publish it. We want the same standards to apply to us, and we want anyone working with us, applying to us, or partnering with us to be able to read exactly where we stand.
Context
About the organisation and the scope of this plan
Aptero SAS is a French technology company (SIREN 881 138 135) headquartered in Paris, with an operational presence in Seoul. The company develops NSL.SH, a free and open source mesh routing and domain layer, the managed Yundera Personal Cloud platform built on top of it, and Aptero 3D, a line of immersive and digital twin solutions. The company carries out research and development activities, including work recognised under the French Crédit Impot Recherche scheme.
This plan applies to the whole legal entity Aptero SAS and to everyone connected to it: permanent and fixed term employees, founders and managers, interns and apprentices, contractors and freelancers working on a recurring basis, and candidates throughout recruitment. It covers both the Paris and the Seoul operations, and it is read in conjunction with applicable French and Korean labour law, whichever offers the stronger protection in a given situation.
Aptero is a small team of roughly eight people. The actions in this plan are deliberately scaled to that size: lightweight, practical, and possible to sustain without a dedicated human resources department. Small does not mean exempt. Many equality risks are higher in small teams, where a single hire or a single decision can shift the balance of the whole company.
The foundations
Four mandatory building blocks
Every compliant Gender Equality Plan rests on four process requirements. These are the structural commitments that make the rest of the plan credible and verifiable.
A public, endorsed document
This plan is published on the company website at a stable public address, it is formally approved and signed by the CEO, and it is actively communicated to every member of the team at onboarding and once a year thereafter.
Dedicated resources and expertise
A named Gender Equality Referent is responsible for implementation, with allocated working time. The company sets aside an annual budget line for training and, where needed, external expertise, and reviews it each year.
Data collection and monitoring
Each year the company collects and analyses sex disaggregated data on recruitment, pay, promotion, training access and leadership. Progress is measured against defined indicators and reported internally.
Training and capacity building
Awareness raising on gender equality is part of onboarding for everyone. Training on unconscious bias is mandatory for all staff and managers involved in hiring, evaluation and other key decisions, and is refreshed annually.
Where we act
Five areas, with concrete actions and targets
The plan addresses the five thematic areas recommended by the European Commission. For each one we state an objective, the actions we commit to, how we will measure progress, who leads, and by when.
Work-life balance and organisational culture
- Objective
- Sustain a respectful, flexible culture where caring responsibilities are never a penalty, across two time zones.
- Key actions
-
- Formalise flexible and remote working as a written, equally available policy.
- Protect core collaboration hours that respect both Paris and Seoul, and avoid systematic meetings outside working hours.
- Guarantee a smooth return after parental, family or medical leave, with no loss of role or scope.
- Run an annual anonymous climate check on workload, respect and inclusion.
- Indicators
- Share of staff using flexible arrangements by sex. Climate check participation and results. Retention after long leave.
- Lead
- Gender Equality Referent, with the CEO.
- Timeframe
- Policy in place within 6 months. Climate check yearly.
Gender balance in leadership and decision-making
- Objective
- Improve the gender balance of leadership and of every group where company decisions are made.
- Key actions
-
- Track the gender composition of management and of any decision making or hiring panel.
- Aim for mixed panels for every significant hire and promotion.
- Actively support women and underrepresented colleagues toward lead roles through mentoring and visible projects.
- Report leadership balance in the annual review and set the next year target.
- Indicators
- Share of women in management and in decision groups. Share of mixed hiring panels.
- Lead
- CEO, supported by the Gender Equality Referent.
- Timeframe
- Tracking immediate. Targets reviewed yearly.
Equality in recruitment, career progression and pay
- Objective
- Make hiring, advancement and pay fair, transparent and free of gender bias.
- Key actions
-
- Use neutral, inclusive job descriptions and publish roles on channels that reach a diverse pool.
- Apply a structured, criteria based interview process with the same questions for all candidates.
- Run a simple annual pay review to detect and correct any unjustified gender pay gap.
- Give equal access to training, skill growth and high visibility work.
- Indicators
- Applicant, shortlist and hire ratios by sex. Adjusted gender pay gap. Training hours by sex.
- Lead
- Gender Equality Referent, with hiring managers.
- Timeframe
- Structured hiring immediate. Pay review yearly.
Integration of the gender dimension into research and innovation
- Objective
- Consider sex and gender, where relevant, in the design of our products and our research and development work.
- Key actions
-
- Add a short sex and gender relevance check to the design phase of new features and research work.
- Build accessibility and inclusive defaults into our open source and Personal Cloud products, so they serve a wide range of users.
- When user research or testing is run, seek a balanced and representative set of participants.
- Document this dimension in research proposals and technical documentation when applicable.
- Indicators
- Share of new projects that completed the relevance check. Diversity of test and research participants.
- Lead
- Product and engineering leads.
- Timeframe
- Relevance check in place within 6 months.
Prevention of gender-based violence and harassment
- Objective
- Maintain a workplace with zero tolerance for harassment and gender based violence, with a clear and safe way to report.
- Key actions
-
- Publish a clear anti harassment policy covering all sites and remote work.
- Provide a confidential reporting channel and name the contact people, including those required under French law.
- Train everyone to recognise, prevent and respond to harassment, with a focus on managers.
- Handle every report seriously, promptly and without retaliation against the person who reports.
- Indicators
- Policy published and acknowledged by all staff. Training completion. Reports received and resolved.
- Lead
- Gender Equality Referent and CEO.
- Timeframe
- Policy and channel in place within 3 months.
Who is responsible
Governance and responsibilities
Responsibility for this plan is shared, but it is never vague. Each role below has a clear part to play.
Chief Executive Officer
Accountable for the plan, approves and signs it, allocates the resources, and reports on progress. Endorses gender equality as a company priority.
Gender Equality Referent
Coordinates day to day implementation, collects and analyses the data, organises training, runs the annual review and proposes updates. Role assigned to Christian Gomez, Chief Operating Officer.
Managers and hiring leads
Apply the plan in recruitment, evaluation and team management, sit on mixed panels, and complete unconscious bias training.
Every team member
Upholds a respectful and inclusive culture, completes awareness training, and can raise concerns through the confidential channel without fear.
How we measure
Monitoring, indicators and review
The company conducts an annual review each June. Sex disaggregated data is collected, indicators are updated, and the results are shared with the whole team. The plan is revised at least every two years, or sooner if the company changes significantly. The indicators below form the framework we track against each year.
| Indicator | Target or direction |
|---|---|
| Overall gender ratio of the team | Move toward balance over time |
| Women in management and decision groups | Increase year on year |
| Mixed hiring panels | 100 percent of significant hires |
| Adjusted gender pay gap | No unjustified gap |
| Staff completing bias and awareness training | 100 percent |
| Anti harassment policy acknowledged | 100 percent of staff |
Raising a concern
Reporting a problem, safely
Anyone connected to Aptero SAS can raise a concern about discrimination, harassment or gender based violence. Reports are treated confidentially, taken seriously, and never lead to retaliation against the person who comes forward.
Confidential contact: [email protected], addressed to the Gender Equality Referent. Staff may also use the contact people designated under French law and, in Korea, the relevant statutory channels. In an emergency, always contact local emergency services first.
For the record
Document control
- Title
- Gender Equality Plan
- Organisation
- Aptero SAS (SIREN 881 138 135), Paris and Seoul
- Version
- 1.0
- Adoption date
- June 2026
- Approved by
- Cedric Chane, Chief Executive Officer
- Responsible
- Christian Gomez, Gender Equality Referent
- Next review
- June 2027