United Kingdom · Managing Directors · Country Managers · Heads of Sales
JN Recruitment runs executive search in the UK for machinery, industrial technology and recycling companies. We find the Managing Directors, Country Managers and Sales Directors who turn the UK from an export line into a home market — leaders your British customers, distributors and OEMs already respect — through confidential retained direct search.
to your first shortlist of referenced UK executives
from briefing to signed contract — UK executive notice of 3–6 months planned in from day one
industrial leadership and sales — no generalist recruiting
in Germany, Poland and Cyprus — UK mandates worked daily in English
Headhunter UK
For European manufacturers, the UK business now stands or falls with local leadership. Since Brexit, British plant operators and OEMs expect a decision-maker on their side of the Channel — a Managing Director or Sales Director who handles import formalities, UKCA questions and service commitments without escalating to Düsseldorf or Milan. The leaders who can carry that are employed, well paid and approached weekly; a job advert will not reach them, and a generalist headhunter for the UK covering finance, IT and marketing starts your search from zero in one of Europe’s most crowded recruitment markets.
We run executive search for the UK exclusively in industrial B2B. We know which British subsidiaries of European groups are restructuring, which Managing Directors in your niche are quietly open, and what a UK executive package actually looks like — bonus-heavy, car allowance instead of company car, pension contributions senior candidates will ask about. Candidates are approached directly and confidentially, and every shortlist comes with P&L track records referenced inside the UK industry, not keyword-matched CVs (our glossary explains retained executive search in detail).
Typical UK mandates: the first Country Manager or Managing Director for a European manufacturer building a real British business, the succession of a long-serving Sales Director, or a General Manager for a UK plant, service operation or business unit. And for the sales team beneath the leader, the same house runs our sales recruitment for the UK — one partner for the whole commercial organisation.
Positions we fill
From the Managing Director of a British Ltd to the Sales Director holding UK and Ireland together — these are the executive roles our search practice fills in the UK, each referenced at leadership level.
Runs the British Ltd end to end — P&L, team, key customers and the parent-company relationship — and gives UK customers a decision-maker on their side of the Channel. The most confidential search a European manufacturer commissions here.
The market-entry hire for European manufacturers: wins the first British reference customers, builds the local organisation and grows into the Managing Director role as the entity — often covering Ireland too — scales.
Jobs, salaries & recruitmentThe classic second-level executive mandate: succession for a long-serving Sales Director, pipeline discipline for a bonus-driven British sales culture, and key accounts from the Midlands to Scotland.
Multi-country commercial leadership run from the UK — aligns British and Irish sales teams, distributors and OEM channels into one accountable number, sometimes with Nordic scope attached.
Owns a product line across engineering, production interface and commercial results — a search that demands genuine knowledge of the UK’s machine-tool, packaging and recycling niches, not a database.
Leads the installed-base business — service contracts, spares, retrofits — across the UK’s large stock of ageing machinery: the margin engine of the British market, and one of its scarcest leadership profiles.
Market knowledge
UK executive employment runs on contract, not statute — from notice periods to restrictive covenants. The essentials we brief every client on before a British leadership search starts:
Statutory notice in the UK is minimal — what counts is the contract. Senior sales leadership typically sits on three months, Managing Directors on six, occasionally twelve. Faster than the German norm, but long enough that we map every shortlisted executive’s notice — and any garden-leave clause — before you make an offer.
British employers routinely put departing executives on garden leave for the full notice period and hold them to non-compete and non-solicitation covenants — enforceable when reasonably drawn. Your hire may be paid but off the market for months, and your own contract should use the same instruments. We factor both into every UK search plan.
UK executive compensation leans harder on variable pay than most continental markets: annual bonus, sometimes LTIPs in PE-owned businesses, a cash car allowance of £6,000–8,000 instead of a company car, and employer pension contributions senior candidates will probe. There is no 13th month — an offer quoted on base alone will be misread and undersold.
Many UK mandates replace an incumbent Managing Director or Sales Director who has not been told, or restructure a British subsidiary before the market should know. We approach candidates without naming your company, reference discreetly inside the industry, and reveal your identity only at shortlist stage — in a market this networked, rumours cost customers.
Salary benchmarks
What does industrial leadership cost in the UK? Annual gross compensation in GBP for executive roles in machinery, industrial technology and recycling — fixed bonus components included, car allowance and pension not included:
| Position | Base salary | Total cash (on-target) |
|---|---|---|
| Managing Director UK | £120,000 – 160,000 | £160,000 – 220,000 |
| Country Manager UK | £90,000 – 120,000 | £120,000 – 165,000 |
| Sales Director UK & Ireland | £90,000 – 115,000 | £120,000 – 160,000 |
| Business Unit Director | £95,000 – 125,000 | £125,000 – 170,000 |
| Head of Sales UK | £80,000 – 110,000 | £105,000 – 150,000 |
| Head of Service & After-Sales | £75,000 – 100,000 | £95,000 – 125,000 |
Source: JN Recruitment placement and interview data, industrial B2B, United Kingdom. London and the South East price 10–20% above the national range; private-equity-owned businesses typically pay at the top of it, with long-term incentives on top.
We run retained executive search for industrial leadership roles in the UK: systematic mapping of every relevant company and executive in your niche, confidential direct approach, structured interviews and industry references at leadership level, salary and bonus benchmarking against the British market, and support through offer, contract negotiation, resignation, garden leave 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 CEOs of subsidiaries, the classic UK mandates are Sales Directors and Commercial Directors (Heads of Sales), Country Managers and Business Unit Directors — every position with P&L or revenue responsibility that cannot be filled through job adverts. A Sales Director search for a British industrial subsidiary is executive search in every respect: confidential, direct, referenced at leadership level.
Exclusively industrial B2B: machinery and plant engineering — including the retrofit and service business around the UK’s large installed base — packaging and processing technology, automation and industrial technology, industrial components, and recycling, environmental and energy-from-waste technology, where Scotland’s project pipeline keeps producing new leadership mandates. This focus means we know the executives, their employers and their compensation in your UK niche before your briefing call ends.
The large global search firms are excellent at FTSE board level — but your Managing Director for a shredding-technology subsidiary or your Sales Director for packaging machinery is not where their networks run deep, and the UK’s crowded recruitment market makes the generalist noise worse. 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.
Yes — a large share of UK mandates are confidential: replacing an incumbent Managing Director or Sales Director who has not yet been informed, restructuring a British subsidiary, or entering the UK 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 UK leadership mandates are signed within 8–12 weeks. The variable is the start date: senior British executives usually sit on three to six months’ contractual notice, and employers often enforce it as garden leave — so plan one to two quarters between signature and day one. We confirm every candidate’s notice and covenant position at first interview, and keep signed executives engaged and counter-offer-proof throughout.
A Managing Director of a British industrial subsidiary typically earns £120,000–160,000 base and £160,000–220,000 total cash; a Head of Sales £80,000–110,000 base and £105,000–150,000 on-target. British packages are bonus-heavy compared to the continent, add a cash car allowance rather than a company car, and employer pension contributions above the auto-enrolment minimum are expected at this level. We benchmark every mandate against current market data before the search starts.
Almost everything is contractual rather than statutory: notice periods of three to six months exist only because the contract says so, garden leave lets the old employer park your hire off the market for the duration, payment in lieu of notice can shorten it, and restrictive covenants — non-compete, non-solicitation — are enforceable when reasonably drawn. Since Brexit, right-to-work checks apply to EU citizens too, which is why UK leadership roles are best filled with executives already based and eligible in the country. We manage all of it as part of the mandate.
Yes — that is the point of one specialised house. Executive search covers the Managing Director, Country Manager and Sales Director level; our sales recruitment practice fills the Sales Managers, Area Sales Managers and Technical Sales Engineers who report to them. Many UK 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. UK executive searches are worked daily in English by consultants who know the British industrial landscape: direct approach and interviews in English, references checked with UK industry contacts, and candidate meetings by video or at the sector’s British trade shows. 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
