Who gets to the top? Meritocracy and diversity in public bureaucracy

While an extensive body of literature on representative bureaucracy suggests that factors beyond qualifications influence hiring decisions, there remains limited understanding of whether this phenomenon extends to top-level leadership positions. We investigate gender and ethnic minorities representation in the federal government, particularly in top-level leadership positions. Unlike existing research concentrating on street-level bureaucrats, our federal government dataset examines discretionary appointments for Senior Management and Advisory (DAS) positions in 76 Brazilian federal agencies from 2008 to 2022, with a deliberate focus on DAS 5 and DAS 6 positions (director and high-level consultant, respectively). Findings suggest that, as agency size increases, the top-level leadership board becomes both more diverse and meritocratic. The political orientation moderates such relationship. Left-oriented politicians demonstrate a greater inclination towards prioritizing diversity, while right-oriented counterparts display a stronger inclination towards meritocracy. We contribute to representative bureaucracy scholarship by highlighting the extension of discretionary appointments to top-level leadership positions.