Ireland · Managing Directors · Country Managers · Heads of Sales
JN Recruitment runs executive search in Ireland for machinery, industrial technology and recycling companies — natively in English, at leadership level. We find the Managing Directors, Country Managers and Heads of Sales who turn Ireland’s dense pharma, medtech and food-processing landscape into revenue — through confidential retained direct search, often with one leader covering the whole island.
to your first shortlist of referenced Irish executives
from briefing to signed contract — Irish senior notice of three months then sets the start
industrial leadership and sales — no generalist recruiting
searches run natively in English — the language our consultants work in daily
Headhunter Ireland
Ireland is a small market with an outsized leadership problem. The pharmaceutical plants around Cork, the Galway medtech cluster and the food and dairy processors across the island buy serious capital equipment — but the Managing Directors and Commercial Directors who can sell into validated processes are few, settled and courted weekly by pharma and medtech employers. In a labour market running near full employment, a job advert will never reach them, and a generalist headhunter for Ireland covering accountants and developers starts your search from zero.
As a boutique firm focused entirely on industrial B2B, we run executive search for Ireland the retained way: systematic mapping of every relevant company and executive in your niche, confidential direct approach, and shortlists with P&L track records referenced inside the industry — not keyword-matched CVs (our glossary explains retained vs. contingency in detail). Since Brexit, Ireland is also the only English-speaking gateway left inside the EU, and the executives who have run an island-wide P&L — often with a UK or Northern Ireland remit attached — know exactly what they are worth.
Typical Irish mandates: the first Country Manager or Managing Director for an international manufacturer using Ireland as its post-Brexit base, the succession of a long-serving Commercial Director, or a General Manager for an Irish plant or business unit. And for the sales team beneath the leader, the same house runs our sales recruitment for Ireland — one partner for the whole commercial organisation.
Positions we fill
From the Managing Director of an Irish Ltd to the Head of Sales carrying an Ireland-and-UK number — these are the executive roles our search practice fills in Ireland, each referenced at leadership level.
Runs the Irish Ltd end to end — P&L, team, key customers and the parent-company relationship. On an island this compact, the role often carries all-Ireland scope including Northern Ireland, which makes the wrong hire visible everywhere at once.
The market-entry hire for international manufacturers using Ireland as their post-Brexit EU base: wins the first reference customers in pharma, medtech and food processing, builds the local organisation and grows into the Managing Director role.
Jobs, salaries & recruitmentThe classic second-level executive mandate in Ireland: succession for a long-serving Commercial Director, professionalising a sales team built around founder relationships, and pricing power against pharma-scale purchasing departments.
Two-jurisdiction commercial leadership run from Dublin or Cork — one accountable number across euro and sterling, EU and UK rules, with the distributor and contractor networks of both markets in scope.
Owns a product line across engineering, operations and commercial results — in Ireland frequently the leadership interface to validated pharma and medtech processes, where credibility is earned in the plant, not the boardroom.
Leads the installed-base business — service contracts, spare parts, validation support: the margin engine of equipment suppliers to Ireland’s process industries, and one of the island’s scarcest leadership profiles.
Market knowledge
Irish executive employment is contract-led rather than statute-led — flexible, but with its own conventions from garden leave to bonus culture. The essentials we brief every client on before an Irish leadership search starts:
Statutory notice in Ireland is measured in weeks, but senior contracts set their own terms: three months is the executive standard, six for genuinely C-level roles. Even so, an Irish leadership hire starts quarters earlier than a German one — we flag each candidate’s notice on the shortlist so the start date is never a surprise.
Ireland has no German-style dismissal-protection regime for executives — the contract is the law. Garden-leave and payment-in-lieu-of-notice clauses are standard at leadership level, and non-compete covenants are enforceable only where reasonably drawn. We read the candidate’s exit terms early, so your start date and their restrictions are known before the offer.
Irish executive packages pair a solid base with a 20–40% performance bonus — there is no 13th-month tradition. A car allowance, employer pension contribution and health cover are expected at leadership level, and multinational-heavy Ireland means your offer competes with pharma and medtech packages that include long-term incentives.
Irish industry is tightly networked — from Dublin to Cork, the people who matter mostly know each other. Replacing an incumbent or preparing a succession therefore leaks faster here than in larger markets. We approach candidates without naming your company, reference discreetly, and reveal your identity only at shortlist stage.
Salary benchmarks
What does industrial leadership cost in Ireland? Annual gross compensation in EUR for executive roles in machinery, industrial technology and recycling — bonus included, car allowance, pension and health cover not included:
| Position | Base salary | Total cash (on-target) |
|---|---|---|
| Managing Director / General Manager | €130,000 – 170,000 | €165,000 – 230,000 |
| Country Manager Ireland | €100,000 – 130,000 | €130,000 – 175,000 |
| Sales Director Ireland & UK | €100,000 – 125,000 | €125,000 – 165,000 |
| Business Unit Director | €105,000 – 135,000 | €135,000 – 180,000 |
| Head of Sales / Commercial Director | €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, Ireland. Dublin prices 10–15% above the national range; pharma- and medtech-adjacent leadership around Cork and Galway trends toward the upper band.
We run retained executive search for industrial leadership roles in Ireland: systematic mapping of every relevant company and executive in your niche, confidential direct approach run natively in English, structured interviews and industry references at leadership level, salary benchmarking against the Irish market including the Dublin premium, and support through offer, contract negotiation, resignation and notice 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, the classic Irish mandates are Commercial Directors, Heads of Sales, Sales Directors with Ireland-and-UK scope, 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 Irish industry is executive search in every respect: confidential, direct, referenced at leadership level.
Exclusively industrial B2B: machinery and plant engineering serving the pharmaceutical cluster around Cork and the Galway medtech belt, food and dairy processing technology, packaging, automation, industrial components, and recycling and environmental technology. This focus means we know the executives, their employers and their compensation in your Irish niche before your briefing call ends.
The large global search firms are strong at plc board level in Dublin — but your Managing Director for a food-processing equipment subsidiary or your Head of Sales for recycling technology 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. In a market as small and networked as Ireland, niche depth beats brand breadth.
Yes — and in Ireland confidentiality takes real discipline, because the industrial community is small and word travels fast between Dublin, Cork and Galway. Whether you are replacing an incumbent who has not yet been informed, preparing a succession or entering the market before competitors should know: we approach candidates without naming your company, take references discreetly inside the 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 Irish leadership mandates are signed within 6–12 weeks. Ireland then delivers a structural advantage: senior notice periods are three months — six only for genuinely C-level contracts — so your new leader often starts two to three quarters earlier than an equivalent hire in Germany. We keep signed executives engaged and counter-offer-proof until day one.
A Managing Director of an industrial subsidiary in Ireland typically earns €130,000–170,000 base and €165,000–230,000 total cash; a Head of Sales or Commercial Director €90,000–115,000 base and €115,000–150,000 on-target. Packages are built on a 20–40% performance bonus rather than a 13th salary, plus car allowance, employer pension contribution and health cover — and Dublin prices 10–15% above the national range. We benchmark every mandate against current market data before the search starts.
Irish executive employment is governed by the contract, not by a protective statute: notice, garden leave, payment in lieu of notice (PILON) and restrictive covenants are all negotiated terms, and covenants hold up only where reasonably limited in scope and duration. Serious candidates therefore scrutinise bonus mechanics, notice symmetry and non-compete reach before moving — we structure the offer and manage that negotiation so it 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 Head of Sales level; our sales recruitment practice fills the Sales Managers, Area Sales Managers and Technical Sales Engineers who report to them. Many Irish 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 Ireland that costs you nothing. Irish searches run in English, the language our consultants work in daily, so there is no translation layer anywhere in the process: direct approach, interviews and reference calls all happen natively. Candidate meetings take place by video or at the sector’s trade shows, and you get specialist depth in industrial leadership instead of 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?
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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
