Turkey · Managing Directors · Country Managers · Heads of Sales
JN Recruitment runs executive search in Turkey for machinery, industrial technology and recycling companies — in Turkish, at leadership level. We find the Genel Müdürler, Country Managers and Satış Direktörleri who carry P&L responsibility in the industrial bridge between Europe and Asia, through confidential retained direct search.
to your first shortlist of referenced Turkish executives
from briefing to signed contract — Turkish notice periods keep start dates close
industrial leadership and sales — no generalist recruiting
Turkey searched from our Eastern Mediterranean office — a short flight from Istanbul
Headhunter Turkey
Turkey is one of the world’s great manufacturing economies — 85 million consumers, a customs union with the EU, and the Marmara region alone out-producing most member states. But the Genel Müdürler and Satış Direktörleri who have actually run industrial businesses through Turkish decision cycles, lira volatility and export markets are a small, hard-courted circle. A job advert will never reach them, and a generalist headhunter for Turkey built for volume hiring starts your search from zero.
As a boutique firm working exclusively in industrial B2B, we run executive search for Turkey from inside the niche: we know which family holdings are professionalising their management, which OEM subsidiaries are restructuring, and what a Genel Müdür in your segment actually earns — in euros, the currency senior Turkish packages are benchmarked in. Candidates are approached directly and confidentially, in Turkish (retained and exclusive — our executive search glossary explains why), and every shortlist comes with P&L track records referenced inside the industry.
Typical Turkish mandates: the first Country Manager or Managing Director for an international manufacturer entering the market, the confidential replacement of a Satış Direktörü, or a General Manager for a Turkish plant with export scope into the Middle East and Central Asia. And for the sales team beneath the leader, the same house runs our sales recruitment for Turkey — one partner for the whole commercial organisation.
Positions we fill
From the Genel Müdür of a Turkish subsidiary to the Satış Direktörü of a national sales organisation — these are the executive roles our search practice fills in Turkey, each referenced at leadership level.
Runs the Turkish A.Ş. or Ltd. Şti. end to end — P&L, team, key customers and the parent-company relationship, often navigating between a Western parent and a family-holding business culture. The most confidential search a manufacturer commissions.
The market-entry hire for international manufacturers: wins the first Turkish reference customers, builds the local organisation from Istanbul, and grows into the Genel Müdür role as the entity scales.
Jobs, salaries & recruitmentThe classic second-level executive mandate in Turkey: professionalises a distributor-grown sales organisation, installs pipeline discipline across the Marmara, Aegean and Anatolian territories, and holds pricing through lira volatility.
Regional commercial leadership run from Istanbul — aligns Turkey with the export corridors into the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia that Turkish industry serves naturally, across direct sales and distributor networks.
Owns a product line across engineering, plant interface and commercial results — in Turkey often the link between a Western parent and a Turkish manufacturing operation supplying both local and export markets.
Leads the installed-base business — service contracts, spare parts, retrofits — across one of the world’s densest manufacturing landscapes: the margin engine of machinery business, and one of Turkey’s scarcest leadership profiles.
Market knowledge
Turkish executive employment has its own legal and cultural logic — from severance maths to packages indexed in hard currency. The essentials we brief every client on before a Turkish leadership search starts:
Statutory notice (ihbar) scales with tenure from two to eight weeks, so even leadership hires move fast by European standards. Senior executives frequently sit on individually negotiated longer notice, which we verify per candidate — but a Turkish Genel Müdür is still typically on board months earlier than a German counterpart.
Statutory severance (kıdem tazminatı) accrues at roughly one gross monthly salary per year served — and is normally forfeited on resignation. An executive with fifteen years at one employer walks away from more than a year’s salary to join you. Serious Turkish offers price that in; we build it into the package structure from the start.
Because of lira volatility, Turkish leadership packages are routinely benchmarked — and often contractually indexed — in euros or dollars, with a bonus of 20–40% on company and personal targets and a company car as standard. We quote Turkish executive benchmarks in EUR so your offers stay stable and comparable across markets.
Much of Turkish industry is family-owned, and the professionalisation of a holding’s management — or the replacement of a long-serving Genel Müdür — is precisely the kind of news the market must not learn early. 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 Turkey? Annual gross compensation for executive roles in machinery, industrial technology and recycling, quoted in EUR because senior Turkish packages are routinely FX-indexed — fixed bonus components included, company car not included:
| Position | Base salary | Total cash (on-target) |
|---|---|---|
| Managing Director / Genel Müdür | €90,000 – 130,000 | €125,000 – 180,000 |
| Country Manager Turkey | €70,000 – 100,000 | €95,000 – 135,000 |
| Sales Director Turkey & Middle East | €65,000 – 90,000 | €85,000 – 125,000 |
| Business Unit Director | €70,000 – 95,000 | €90,000 – 130,000 |
| Head of Sales / Satış Direktörü | €60,000 – 85,000 | €80,000 – 115,000 |
| Head of Service & After-Sales | €55,000 – 75,000 | €70,000 – 100,000 |
Source: JN Recruitment placement and interview data, industrial B2B, Turkey. Istanbul and the Marmara industrial belt price 10–15% above the national range; packages are quoted in EUR because senior compensation is routinely FX-indexed.
We run retained executive search for industrial leadership roles in Turkey: systematic mapping of every relevant company and executive in your niche, confidential direct approach in Turkish, structured interviews and industry references at leadership level, package benchmarking against the Turkish market in EUR, 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 Genel Müdürler, the classic Turkish mandates are Heads of Sales (Satış Direktörleri), Sales Directors, Country Managers and Business Unit Directors — every position with P&L or revenue responsibility that cannot be filled through job adverts. A Satış Direktörü search in Turkish industry is executive search in every respect: confidential, direct, referenced at leadership level.
Exclusively industrial B2B: machinery and plant engineering, the automotive cluster around Bursa and Kocaeli, packaging and processing technology for food and textiles, automation and industrial components, and recycling and environmental technology. This focus means we know the executives, their employers and their compensation in your Turkish niche before your briefing call ends.
The large global firms in Istanbul are strong at holding and bank board level — but your Genel Müdür for a recycling-technology subsidiary or your Satış Direktörü for packaging machinery 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 industrial Turkey, niche depth beats brand breadth.
Yes — a large share of Turkish mandates are confidential: replacing an incumbent Genel Müdür or Satış Direktörü who has not yet been informed, professionalising the management of a family holding, or entering the Turkish 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 Turkish leadership mandates are signed within 6–12 weeks. Statutory notice of two to eight weeks then works in your favour — a Turkish executive is often on board months earlier than a German or Austrian counterpart. Individually negotiated executive notice can run longer, and accrued severance needs handling in the offer; we verify both per candidate.
A Genel Müdür of an industrial subsidiary typically earns the equivalent of €90,000–130,000 base and €125,000–180,000 total cash; a Satış Direktörü €60,000–85,000 base and €80,000–115,000 on-target, annual gross. Senior packages are routinely benchmarked or contractually indexed in euros or dollars because of lira volatility, and a company car is standard. We benchmark every mandate against current market data before the search starts.
Two things. First, statutory severance: kıdem tazminatı accrues at roughly one gross monthly salary per year served and is normally forfeited on resignation — a long-tenured executive gives up a substantial sum to join you, and a serious offer must answer that. Second, FX indexation: senior contracts are commonly denominated or indexed in euros or dollars. We structure both into the offer so the negotiation does not fail at the contract stage.
Yes — that is the point of one specialised house. Executive search covers the Genel Müdür, Country Manager and Satış Direktörü level; our sales recruitment practice fills the Sales Managers, Area Sales Managers and Technical Sales Engineers who report to them. Many Turkish 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 — with Turkey covered from our Eastern Mediterranean base in Larnaca, a short flight from Istanbul. Turkish executive searches are run by consultants who work the market continuously: direct approach and interviews in Turkish, references checked with Turkish industry contacts, and candidate meetings by video, at the sector’s trade fairs or in person in Istanbul.
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
