Greece · Managing Directors · Country Managers · Heads of Sales
JN Recruitment runs executive search in Greece for machinery, industrial technology and recycling companies — at leadership level, in Greek. We find the Managing Directors, Country Managers and Commercial Directors who turn one of Europe’s fastest-modernising industrial markets into your growth story, through confidential retained direct search.
to your first shortlist of referenced Greek executives
from briefing to signed contract — Greek notice periods then keep start dates short
industrial leadership and sales — no generalist recruiting
Greek mandates run by Greek-speaking consultants from our Larnaca office
Headhunter Greece
Greek industry is being rebuilt in real time — EU recovery funding is modernising factories, ports, utilities and the entire waste sector — and the scarcest resource in that rebuild is not capital but leadership. The Managing Directors and Commercial Directors who have actually run an industrial P&L through Greek decision cycles form a small, personally networked circle from Athens to Thessaloniki. They are employed, they are courted, and they will never answer a job advert — least of all from a generalist executive search provider that also hires shipping crews and accountants.
We work that circle from the inside. As a boutique headhunter for Greece focused entirely on industrial B2B, we run Greek leadership mandates through Greek-speaking consultants from our Larnaca office: direct, confidential approach in Greek, references checked inside Greek industry without triggering rumours, and shortlists built on verifiable P&L and capital-equipment track records — because Greek business still decides on trust and personal standing, and an approach in English from a database never carries either.
Typical Greek mandates: the first Country Manager or Managing Director for an international manufacturer entering the market, the succession of a long-serving Commercial Director in a family-owned industrial group, or a General Manager for a Greek plant or business unit — often with Cyprus and South-East Europe in scope. And for the sales team beneath the leader, the same house runs our sales recruitment for Greece — one partner for the whole commercial organisation.
Positions we fill
From the Managing Director of a Greek subsidiary to the Commercial Director of a national sales organisation — these are the executive roles our search practice fills in Greece, each referenced at leadership level.
Runs the Greek entity — A.E., ΕΠΕ or branch — end to end: P&L, team, key customers and the parent-company relationship. In a market where family-owned groups dominate, the most trust-sensitive search a manufacturer commissions.
The market-entry hire: converts a distributor-led export business into a direct presence, wins the first Greek reference customers and builds the local organisation as EU-funded projects come to tender.
Jobs, salaries & recruitmentThe classic second-level executive mandate in Greece: succession for a long-serving Commercial Director, professionalising a relationship-driven sales culture into pipeline discipline and key-account structure.
Regional commercial leadership run from Athens or Thessaloniki — Greece as the hub for Cyprus and the Balkans, aligning country teams, distributors and project business into one accountable number.
Owns a product line across engineering, project delivery and commercial results — recycling plants, port equipment, energy technology — a search that demands genuine niche knowledge of the Greek project landscape.
Leads the installed-base business — service contracts, spare parts, retrofits — across a machine park that Greek plants keep running far beyond its design life, which makes this leadership profile both scarce and decisive.
Market knowledge
Greek executive employment has its own legal and cultural logic — from 14 salary payments to notice periods an employer can buy down. The essentials we brief every client on before a Greek leadership search starts:
Statutory notice for white-collar employees scales with tenure and tops out around four months — and employers can shorten it further against severance. Even at executive level, a Greek leader is usually on board far faster than a German counterpart; we plan the search backwards from your target start date all the same.
Greek law treats managerial employees — the “directing employees” who represent the company — differently: working-time limits do not apply, and the Managing Director of an A.E. is typically a board-appointed officer whose mandate sits alongside or instead of an employment contract. Serious candidates weigh those terms carefully before moving; your offer must be structured accordingly.
Greek private-sector pay is customarily made in 14 instalments, and executive packages run fixed-heavy with a bonus tied to company results plus a company car. We quote every benchmark in consolidated annual gross so your Greek offers stay comparable with the rest of Europe.
Much of Greek industry is family-owned, and a leadership change — especially the first non-family Managing Director — is market-sensitive news. 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 Greece? Annual gross compensation in EUR for executive roles in machinery, industrial technology and recycling — 14 payments consolidated, bonus components included, company car not included:
| Position | Base salary | Total cash (on-target) |
|---|---|---|
| Managing Director Greece | €95,000 – 130,000 | €120,000 – 170,000 |
| Country Manager Greece | €70,000 – 95,000 | €90,000 – 125,000 |
| Sales Director South-East Europe | €70,000 – 95,000 | €88,000 – 120,000 |
| Business Unit Director | €75,000 – 100,000 | €95,000 – 130,000 |
| Head of Sales / Commercial Director | €60,000 – 85,000 | €80,000 – 110,000 |
| Head of Service & After-Sales | €55,000 – 75,000 | €68,000 – 92,000 |
Source: JN Recruitment placement and interview data, industrial B2B, Greece. Athens and Thessaloniki price 10–15% above the national range; internationally listed groups typically pay at the top of it.
We run retained executive search for industrial leadership roles in Greece: systematic mapping of every relevant company and executive in your niche, confidential direct approach in Greek, structured interviews and industry references at leadership level, salary benchmarking against the Greek market, 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 and General Managers, the classic Greek mandates are Commercial Directors (Heads of Sales), Sales Directors, Country Managers and Business Unit Directors — every position with P&L or revenue responsibility that cannot be filled through job adverts. A Commercial Director search in Greek industry is executive search in every respect: confidential, direct, referenced at leadership level.
Exclusively industrial B2B: machinery and plant engineering, packaging and processing technology, automation and industrial components, port and logistics equipment, and recycling and environmental technology — the sector Greece is currently rebuilding around EU circular-economy targets. This focus means we know the executives, their employers and their compensation in your Greek niche before your briefing call ends.
The large global firms in Athens are strong in shipping, banking and consumer goods — but the Managing Director for a recycling-technology entity or the Commercial Director for capital equipment is not where their networks run deep. A boutique with total industry focus starts inside your niche: we know the candidates and their reputations, you work directly with the consultant who owns your mandate, and our fees sit well below big-firm level. For Greek industrial leadership, niche depth beats brand breadth.
Yes — and in a market built on personal relationships, discretion is everything. Many Greek mandates replace an incumbent who has not yet been informed, prepare the first non-family Managing Director of a family-owned group, or stage a market entry competitors should not learn about. We approach candidates without naming your company, take references discreetly inside Greek industry, 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 Greek leadership mandates are signed within 6–12 weeks. Greece then works in your favour on the start date: statutory notice scales with tenure but rarely exceeds four months, and employers can buy it down against severance — so a Greek executive often starts months earlier than an equivalent hire in Germany or Austria. We keep signed executives engaged and counter-offer-proof until day one.
A Managing Director of an industrial subsidiary in Greece typically earns €95,000–130,000 base and €120,000–170,000 total cash, annual gross; a Commercial Director €60,000–85,000 base and €80,000–110,000 on-target. Packages are fixed-heavy, customarily paid in 14 instalments, and a company car is standard at leadership level. We benchmark every mandate against current market data before the search starts.
Greek law distinguishes ordinary employees from managerial “directing employees”: working-time rules do not apply to them, and the Managing Director of an A.E. is typically appointed by the board, with a mandate that sits alongside or instead of a standard employment contract. Severance, notice buy-down and the 14-payment convention all shape the negotiation. We structure offers around these particularities so the search does not fail at the contract stage.
Yes — that is the point of one specialised house. Executive search covers the Managing Director, Country Manager and Commercial Director level; our sales recruitment practice fills the Sales Managers, Area Sales Managers and Technical Sales Engineers who report to them. Many Greek 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 for Greece that is a real advantage: leadership searches are run by Greek-speaking consultants from our Larnaca office who work the Greek-speaking market daily. Direct approach and interviews in Greek, references checked with Greek industry contacts, and candidate meetings in person, by video or at the sector’s trade fairs.
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
