Signing authority is relevant evidence, but the primary duties and real responsibility determine the analysis. A signature alone does not explain the job.
Trace the decision before the signature
Choose actual examples showing who develops the proposal, checks its details and makes the binding decision. If the applicant personally performs most operational work, the file must address that fact. Describe the managerial or executive substance without treating ownership or a senior title as a substitute.
Executive capacity means directing the management of the organization or a major component or function, setting goals and policies, exercising wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and receiving only general supervision from higher-level executives, a board or shareholders. Supervising a group of employees who are not professionals does not by itself make a person a manager; the analysis looks for management of an organisation, department, subdivision or function, supervision of other supervisors or professional staff, and authority over hiring, firing and daily operations. The petitioner must also prove a qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate relationship and one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad during the preceding three years; the business-activity showing must follow the separate rules for an established or initial new office.