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Spain · Managing Directors · Country Managers · Heads of Sales

Executive Search Spain

JN Recruitment runs executive search in Spain for machinery, industrial technology and recycling companies. We find the Directores Generales, Country Managers and Directores Comerciales who carry the Spanish P&L — approached directly and confidentially, interviewed in Spanish, referenced inside the Spanish industry.

  • Spanish-speaking consultants — leadership searches run in Spanish, from Madrid to Bilbao
  • 100% industrial B2B — machinery, industrial technology & recycling
  • Confidential mandates: succession, replacement and market entry handled under NDA
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Our niches
  • Machinery & plant engineering
  • Industrial technology
  • Recycling & environmental technology
2–4 weeks

to your first shortlist of referenced Spanish executives

6–10 weeks

from briefing to signed contract — Spanish notice periods then run shorter than almost anywhere in Europe

100% focus

industrial leadership and sales — no generalist recruiting

ES native

searches run in Spanish by consultants who work the Spanish industrial market daily

Headhunter Spain

Your executive headhunter for the Spanish market

Spain is the fourth-largest economy in the European Union — and its leadership market runs on relationships, not adverts. The Director General of a machine-tool builder in the Basque Country or the Director Comercial of a packaging-machinery company in Catalonia is employed, discreet and courted; many of the strongest profiles sit inside family-owned groups where careers are long and moves are quiet. A job advert never reaches them, and a generalist headhunter for Spain covering finance, IT and marketing starts your search from zero.

As a boutique firm focused entirely on industrial B2B, we run executive search for Spain from an existing network: the Directores Generales, Country Managers and Directores Comerciales of machinery, industrial technology and recycling niches from Madrid to Vigo. Candidates are approached directly and confidentially, in Spanish — and every shortlist comes with P&L track records referenced inside the Spanish industry, not keyword-matched CVs (our glossary explains how retained search works).

Typical Spanish mandates: the first Country Manager or Managing Director for a manufacturer entering the market, the confidential succession of a long-serving Director Comercial, or a General Manager for a Spanish plant or subsidiary. And for the sales team beneath the leader, the same house runs our sales recruitment for Spain — one partner for the whole commercial organisation.

Positions we fill

Leadership positions we recruit in Spain

From the Director General of a Spanish S.L. to the Director Comercial of a national sales organisation — these are the executive roles our search practice fills in Spain, each referenced at leadership level.

Managing Director / Director General

Runs the Spanish S.L. end to end — P&L, team, key customers and the parent-company relationship, usually on an alta dirección contract. The most confidential search a manufacturer commissions in Spain.

Head of Sales / Director Comercial

The classic second-level executive mandate in Spain: succession for a long-serving Director Comercial, professionalising a relationship-driven sales culture, key-account structure and pricing power.

Sales Director Iberia / Southern Europe

Multi-country commercial leadership run from Spain — aligns the Iberian or Southern European sales organisation, distributor network and OEM channels into one accountable number.

Business Unit / Division Director

Owns a product line across engineering, production interface and commercial results — a search that demands genuine knowledge of Spain’s industrial clusters, from Basque machine tools to recycling technology, not a database.

Head of Service & After-Sales

Leads the installed-base business — service contracts, spare parts, retrofits — across a market where machines run long and service loyalty decides the next sale. One of Spain’s scarcest leadership profiles.

100+ companies expanded successfully with our placements

Market knowledge

Hiring executives in Spain: what employers should know

Spanish executive employment has its own legal and cultural logic — from alta dirección contracts to notice periods far shorter than the European norm. The essentials we brief every client on before a Spanish leadership search starts:

1–3

Months of notice at leadership level

Spain is one of Europe’s fastest markets to hire leadership in: the statutory notice period is just 15 days, and even senior executive contracts rarely exceed one to three months. Where a German Geschäftsführer needs two to four quarters to arrive, a Spanish Director General can often be on board within a single one — a structural advantage we build into every search plan.

RD 1382

Alta dirección — the executive contract regime

Spanish top executives sit on an alta dirección contract — a special employment relationship outside the ordinary Workers’ Statute. Notice and severance are largely what the contract says, dismissal protection is thinner than for regular employees, and either side can walk away against agreed compensation. Candidates know exactly what they trade when they leave a protected position — your offer must reflect it.

70/30

Typical base-to-variable split at leadership level

Spanish executive packages run fixed-heavy — roughly 70–80% base with a bonus tied to company and personal targets, plus a company car as standard. Staff-level salaries are quoted in 14 payments; at executive level we quote annual gross so your Spanish offers stay comparable with the rest of Europe. Equity-heavy offers alone will not move a secure Director General.

NDA

Succession in family-owned groups stays silent

Much of Spanish industry is family-owned, and many mandates replace an incumbent who has not been told or prepare a generational succession the market must not learn about. We approach candidates without naming your company, reference discreetly inside the industry, and reveal your identity only at shortlist stage — in Spain’s tightly networked clusters, rumours travel fast.

Salary benchmarks

Executive salaries in Spain: current benchmarks

What does industrial leadership cost in Spain? Annual gross compensation in EUR for executive roles in machinery, industrial technology and recycling — fixed bonus components included, company car not included:

Position Base salary Total cash (on-target)
Managing Director / Director General €120,000 – 160,000 €150,000 – 220,000
Country Manager Spain €90,000 – 120,000 €120,000 – 160,000
Sales Director Iberia €90,000 – 120,000 €120,000 – 155,000
Business Unit Director €95,000 – 125,000 €125,000 – 165,000
Head of Sales / Director Comercial €80,000 – 110,000 €105,000 – 145,000
Head of Service & After-Sales €70,000 – 95,000 €90,000 – 120,000

Source: JN Recruitment placement and interview data, industrial B2B, Spain. Madrid, Barcelona and the Basque Country price 10–15% above the national range; subsidiaries of international groups typically pay at the top of it.

Spain Q&A

Executive search in Spain: frequently asked questions

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We run retained executive search for industrial leadership roles in Spain: systematic mapping of every relevant company and executive in your niche, confidential direct approach in Spanish, structured interviews and industry references at leadership level, salary benchmarking against the Spanish market, and support through offer, alta dirección 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 Directores Generales, the classic Spanish mandates are Directores Comerciales (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 Director Comercial search in Spanish industry is executive search in every respect: confidential, direct, referenced at leadership level.

Exclusively industrial B2B: machinery and plant engineering — including the Basque machine-tool cluster and ceramics machinery around Castellón — plus packaging and processing technology in Catalonia, automation and industrial technology, industrial components, and recycling and environmental technology. This focus means we know the executives, their employers and their compensation in your Spanish niche before your briefing call ends.

The large global search firms are strong at IBEX board level — but your Director General for a recycling-technology subsidiary or your Director Comercial for machine tools 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 Spain’s relationship-driven industrial clusters, niche depth beats brand breadth.

Yes — a large share of Spanish mandates are confidential: replacing an incumbent Director General or Director Comercial who has not yet been informed, preparing a succession in a family-owned group, or entering the Spanish 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 Spanish leadership mandates are signed within 6–10 weeks. Spain then delivers a structural advantage: notice periods run 15 days by statute and one to three months even on senior contracts, so a signed Spanish executive often starts a full quarter or two earlier than an equivalent hire in Germany or Italy. We still keep every signed executive engaged and counter-offer-proof until day one.

A Director General of an industrial company or international subsidiary in Spain typically earns €120,000–160,000 base and €150,000–220,000 total cash; a Director Comercial €80,000–110,000 base and €105,000–145,000 on-target. Packages are fixed-heavy (around 70–80% base) and a company car is standard; Madrid, Barcelona and the Basque Country price 10–15% above the national range. We benchmark every mandate against current market data before the search starts.

Spanish top executives work under the alta dirección regime — a special employment relationship outside the ordinary Workers’ Statute. Notice periods, severance and non-compete terms are largely contractual, dismissal protection is thinner, and either party can terminate against agreed compensation. Serious candidates therefore scrutinise the contract, the severance clause and the shareholders’ expectations before leaving a protected position — 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 Director General, Country Manager and Director Comercial level; our sales recruitment practice fills the Sales Managers, Area Sales Managers and Technical Sales Engineers who report to them. Many Spanish 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. Spanish executive searches are run by Spanish-speaking consultants who work the market daily: direct approach and interviews in Spanish, references checked with Spanish 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

One executive search practice, every European market

The same retained leadership search opens every market on the continent — pick the country you are hiring in.

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Jonas Strambach – Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment
Our mission is simple: placements that open new markets.
Jonas Strambach Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment
Jonas Strambach – Director & Senior Recruiter, JN Recruitment

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