No. The actual subordinate positions and the applicant’s managerial or executive duties require assessment. Degrees alone do not establish the complete qualifying role.
Explain positions and management responsibilities together
Describe what the team does, what the positions genuinely require and what authority the applicant exercises. Do not infer a qualifying professional staff structure simply from employee credentials that are unrelated to the actual work.
Some decisions may be reserved while the applicant manages other responsibilities.
Explain whether the applicant directs people or a function, sets priorities and exercises relevant discretion, or mainly coordinates work decided by others. Review the actual job description for each subordinate position rather than assuming a credential requirement from the employee's own background, since supervising degree-holders whose qualifications are unrelated to their daily tasks does not by itself support a professional staff structure. Confirm what license, certification or advanced knowledge the work itself genuinely requires, separate from what any particular current employee happens to hold or how the role was advertised. Identify who evaluates the subordinates' work product, approves their schedules and makes staffing decisions for the group, because those functions distinguish managing professionals from working alongside them. Ask whether the applicant personally performs the same technical work as the subordinates on a regular basis, since doing so can undercut a claim that management is the applicant's primary role.