Yannick Assouad is a graduate of the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon and the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago (1985).
She joined Thomson-CSF's Radars & Countermeasures business as an engineer in 1986, and later served as head of its thermal analysis department, then head of its thermal and mechanical engineering department.
From 1998, she was Technical Director and then Chief Executive Officer of SECAN (Société d'Études et de Constructions Aéronavales), the French subsidiary of Honeywell specialising in air conditioning systems for aircraft. She was appointed Chairman of SECAN in 2000 and oversaw the aerospace company's recovery after the 2001 crisis.
In 2003, she joined Zodiac, initially as head of the services business of its Intertechnique subsidiary. Appointed to Zodiac Aerospace’s Executive Committee in 2007, she created the group-wide Services business segment.
In 2010, Yannick Assouad was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Zodiac's Aircraft Systems segment, which was facing difficulties, and turned around the business through a policy of offensive innovation, centralised purchasing and lean manufacturing. During this time, she also oversaw the acquisition of the in-flight entertainment business IMS in California. In 2015, she became Chief Executive Officer of Zodiac Cabin and was appointed to the Executive Board of Zodiac.
In November 2016, she became Chief Executive Officer of Latécoère.