Belgium · Managing Directors · Country Managers · Heads of Sales
JN Recruitment runs executive search in Belgium for machinery, industrial technology and recycling companies — matched to the right language region, at leadership level. We find the Directeurs Généraux, Algemeen Directeurs and Country Managers who carry a Belgian or Benelux P&L across Flanders and Wallonia, through confidential retained direct search.
to your first shortlist of referenced Belgian executives
from briefing to signed contract — Belgian notice periods grow with tenure, so start dates need planning
industrial leadership and sales — no generalist recruiting
Dutch and French — Flanders and Wallonia approached in the candidate’s language
Headhunter Belgium
A Belgian leadership hire has to work in two markets at once. The Algemeen Directeur who commands respect in Flanders’ manufacturing belt may carry no weight with Wallonia’s heavy-industry buyers, and vice versa — while Brussels hosts the Benelux headquarters where the role is usually anchored. The Directeurs Généraux and Commercieel Directeurs you want are employed, discreet and courted; a generalist headhunter for Belgium covering finance, IT and marketing will not reach them, and neither will a job advert.
We run executive search for Belgium exclusively in industrial B2B, and we map your customer base before we map candidates — because the language question decides the profile. We know which Flemish family businesses face succession, which groups steer the Benelux from Brussels or Antwerp, and what a Directeur Général in your niche actually costs once the 13.92 package structure, employer social security and the near-mandatory company car are counted. Candidates are approached directly in Dutch or French, and every shortlist comes with P&L track records referenced inside the Belgian industry (our glossary explains retained executive search in detail).
Typical Belgian mandates: the first Country Manager or Managing Director Benelux for an international manufacturer, the confidential succession of a long-serving Algemeen Directeur in a Flemish family business, or a General Manager for the Antwerp recycling and process cluster. And for the sales team beneath the leader, the same house runs our sales recruitment for Belgium — one partner for the whole commercial organisation.
Positions we fill
From the Directeur Général of a Belgian subsidiary to the Commercieel Directeur who unites Flemish and Walloon territories — these are the executive roles our search practice fills in Belgium, each referenced at leadership level.
Runs the Belgian BV or SRL end to end — P&L, team, key customers and the parent-company relationship, often with Benelux scope from Brussels. The most confidential search a manufacturer commissions in this market.
The market-entry hire for international manufacturers: wins the first Belgian reference customers, builds the local organisation — and frequently carries the Netherlands and Luxembourg as the role scales.
Jobs, salaries & recruitmentThe classic second-level executive mandate: succession for a long-serving sales leader, and the rare profile who bridges Flemish and Walloon key accounts under one commercial strategy.
Multi-country commercial leadership run from Belgium — aligns Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg sales teams, distributors and OEM channels into one accountable number.
Owns a product line across engineering, production interface and commercial results — a search that demands genuine knowledge of Belgium’s recycling, chemical-process and materials-handling niches, not a database.
Leads the installed-base business — service contracts, spare parts, retrofits — around the Antwerp port cluster and Belgium’s processing plants: a scarce leadership profile in a dense industrial market.
Market knowledge
Belgian executive employment has its own legal and cultural logic — from tenure-based notice to the choice between employee and self-employed director status. The essentials we brief every client on before a Belgian leadership search starts:
Under Belgium’s unified employment statute, notice is counted in weeks and grows with tenure — roughly three weeks per year of service in the mid-career range. A long-serving Algemeen Directeur can owe several months, so realistic start-date planning is part of every Belgian executive search, and we map each candidate’s position before you make an offer.
Belgian leadership roles run under two regimes: a salaried employee under the unified statute, or a self-employed director mandate — often via a management company — with different social security, tax treatment and no employee notice protection. Many Belgian Directeurs Généraux work self-employed; which construction you offer shapes cost, risk and who will accept.
A salaried Belgian package pays a 13th month plus double holiday pay — 13.92 months in effect — with employer social security of roughly a quarter on top and automatic salary indexation by law. Executive packages run fixed-heavy with a bonus, and a company car with fuel or charging card is effectively non-negotiable. Budget total cost of employment, not the gross on the contract.
Belgium’s industrial community is compact, and Flanders’ family businesses in particular guard succession closely. Many mandates replace an incumbent who has not been told, or prepare a generational handover. We approach candidates without naming your company, reference discreetly inside the industry, and reveal your identity only at shortlist stage.
Salary benchmarks
What does industrial leadership cost in Belgium? Annual gross compensation in EUR for executive roles in machinery, industrial technology and recycling — 13th month and double holiday pay consolidated, fixed bonus components included, company car not included:
| Position | Base salary | Total cash (on-target) |
|---|---|---|
| Managing Director / Directeur Général | €130,000 – 170,000 | €170,000 – 230,000 |
| Country Manager Belgium | €100,000 – 130,000 | €130,000 – 170,000 |
| Sales Director Benelux | €100,000 – 130,000 | €130,000 – 170,000 |
| Business Unit Director | €105,000 – 135,000 | €135,000 – 175,000 |
| Head of Sales Belgium | €90,000 – 115,000 | €115,000 – 150,000 |
| Head of Service & After-Sales | €85,000 – 110,000 | €105,000 – 135,000 |
Source: JN Recruitment placement and interview data, industrial B2B, Belgium. Brussels and the Antwerp port cluster price 5–10% above the national range; a company car adds €8,000–12,000 in effective value, and self-employed director mandates are priced differently again.
We run retained executive search for industrial leadership roles in Belgium: systematic mapping of every relevant company and executive in your niche, confidential direct approach in Dutch or French depending on the region, structured interviews and industry references at leadership level, benchmarking against the Belgian 13.92 package structure and director-mandate practice, and support through offer, contract negotiation, resignation and notice period until your executive actually starts. Every mandate is handled end-to-end by the consultant who took your briefing.
No. Executive search covers the first and second leadership level: alongside Managing Directors — Directeurs Généraux in Wallonia, Algemeen Directeurs in Flanders — the classic Belgian mandates are Commercieel Directeurs and Directeurs Commerciaux (Heads of Sales), Sales Directors Benelux, Country Managers and Business Unit Directors — every position with P&L or revenue responsibility that cannot be filled through job adverts. A Commercieel Directeur search in Flanders is executive search in every respect: confidential, direct, referenced at leadership level.
Exclusively industrial B2B: machinery and plant engineering, recycling and materials-recovery technology — one of Belgium’s strongest sectors thanks to its circular-economy pioneers — chemical process equipment around the Antwerp port cluster, materials and manufacturing technology in Flanders, and heavy industry and intralogistics in Wallonia. This focus means we know the executives, their employers and their compensation in your Belgian niche before your briefing call ends.
The large global search firms are strong in Brussels at BEL-20 and EU-institution level — but your Directeur Général for a recycling-technology subsidiary or your Commercieel Directeur for materials handling in Flanders is not where their networks run deep. A boutique with total industry focus starts inside your niche: we know the candidates and their reputations on both sides of the language border, you work directly with the consultant who owns your mandate, and our fees sit well below big-firm level.
Yes — a large share of Belgian mandates are confidential: replacing an incumbent Algemeen Directeur or Commercieel Directeur who has not yet been informed, preparing the succession of a Flemish family business, or entering the Benelux before competitors should know. We approach candidates without naming your company, take references discreetly inside the industry — in the candidate’s language — and reveal your identity only to shortlisted, seriously interested executives at the agreed stage.
You typically receive a first shortlist within 2–4 weeks, and most Belgian leadership mandates are signed within 8–12 weeks. The variable is the start date: Belgian notice is counted in weeks and grows with tenure — roughly three weeks per year of service — so a long-serving executive may need several months between signing and starting, while a self-employed director mandate can move much faster. We map every candidate’s status and notice before you make an offer, and keep signed executives committed until day one.
A Managing Director / Directeur Général of a Belgian industrial subsidiary typically earns €130,000–170,000 base and €170,000–230,000 total cash; a Head of Sales €90,000–115,000 base and €115,000–150,000 on-target, including the 13th month and double holiday pay. A company car with fuel or charging card is effectively standard, employer social security adds roughly a quarter on top, and self-employed director mandates are structured — and priced — differently. We benchmark every mandate before the search starts.
Both constructions are common, and the choice shapes everything downstream. A salaried executive under the unified statute gets the 13.92 package, tenure-based notice and full social protection — at high employer cost. A self-employed director mandate, often via a management company, trades that protection for tax efficiency and flexibility, and is standard practice for many Belgian Directeurs Généraux. Senior candidates usually have a clear preference; we establish it early and structure the offer so the construction question never derails the negotiation.
Yes — that is the point of one specialised house. Executive search covers the Directeur Général, Country Manager and Head of Sales level; our sales recruitment practice fills the Sales Managers, Area Sales Managers and Technical Sales Engineers who report to them — matched to the right language region. Many Belgian clients combine both: first the leader through executive search, then the team beneath through sales recruitment — one briefing, one partner, one quality bar.
Our offices are in Germany, Poland and Cyprus — and that is deliberate. Belgian executive searches are run by consultants who cover both Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia and work the market daily: direct approach and interviews in the candidate’s language, references checked with Belgian industry contacts, and candidate meetings by video or at the sector’s trade fairs. You get local-market depth at leadership level without paying local-agency generalism.
Across Europe
The same retained leadership search opens every market on the continent — pick the country you are hiring in.
Building the sales team below the leader?
Talk to us — no strings attached. We get back to you within 24 hours.
Our mission is simple: placements that open new markets.
30-minute intro call
We come to the call prepared — with a clear view of your target markets and how we would approach your search.
Your contact person Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment +49 1525 2077583 [email protected] Thank you — we’ll get back to you within one business day to schedule your intro call.
An honest read on your vacancy & market — in your first call.
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Before you go
Every month a key sales seat stays empty pushes your expansion plans back — and leaves serious revenue on the table. We fill technical sales positions within weeks, so you hit your expansion targets on schedule.
Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment Free vacancy check · reply within 24 hours
