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Machinery & plant engineering · Sales & service recruitment

Sales recruitment for machinery & plant engineering in Europe

JN Recruitment is the boutique recruitment agency for machinery and plant engineering. We find the Sales Managers, Country Managers and service leaders who sell, commission and support capital equipment — across Europe, searched in the local language.

  • Presses, machine tools, packaging lines, complete plants — we know the products
  • 100% technical sales & service roles — no generalist recruiting
  • Direct search in 30+ European markets, benchmarked per country
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Our niches
  • Machinery & plant engineering
  • Industrial technology
  • Recycling & environmental technology
2–4 weeks

to your first shortlist of qualified machinery sales candidates

6–10 weeks

from briefing to signed contract — typical for machinery searches

100% focus

technical sales & service roles — no generalist recruiting

30+ markets

European markets where we place machinery sales professionals

Our home industry

Recruiting built for machine builders

Selling capital equipment is unlike any other sales job: cycles run six to eighteen months, the buyer is an engineer, and a single machine can carry a seven-figure price tag. The people who win these deals read technical drawings, talk cycle times and ROI, and stay credible from the first trade-fair conversation to final acceptance on the customer’s shop floor.

That profile does not respond to job ads — so we don’t post and pray. As a boutique headhunter for machinery and plant engineering we approach proven performers directly: salespeople who carry a network of OEMs, distributors and end customers in your niche, and service leaders who turn installed base into recurring revenue. Every candidate is interviewed against your product, every shortlist benchmarked against the local salary reality.

Whether you need your first Area or Regional Sales Manager in a new market or a Head of Service for the whole of Europe: we run the search in the market’s own language — and hand you people who have sold machinery through exactly these decision cycles before.

Segments we cover

From single machines to turnkey plants

Machine building is not one market but dozens of niches — each with its own players, trade fairs and career paths. These are the segments we recruit for every week:

Forming technology & presses

Stamping, bending and forming lines — from job-shop presses to automotive press shops.

Machine tools & machining centres

Milling, turning, grinding and EDM — the classic core of European machine building.

Packaging & processing machinery

Filling, wrapping and end-of-line technology for food, pharma and consumer goods.

Plastics & extrusion technology

Injection moulding, blow moulding and extrusion lines, including tooling and hot runners.

Complete plants & production lines

Turnkey projects and line integration — long cycles, consortiums, seven-figure tickets.

After-sales & service

Service contracts, spare parts and retrofit business — the margin engine of the installed base.

Two workers guiding a large turbine rotor hanging from a crane in a machine-building hall

On your shop floor

Machines are sold by people who understand them. We find those people.

Positions we fill

Sales & service positions we recruit

From the first commercial hire in a market to a European sales organisation — these are the roles machinery and plant engineering clients trust us with:

Sales Manager / Area & Regional Sales Manager

Territory-based hunters for machines and lines — trade fairs, distributor management and direct sales to OEMs and end customers.

Country Manager

Your first hire in a new market: opens the country, owns the P&L, builds the customer base and later the local team.

Head of Sales / Sales Director

Leads and professionalises an existing sales organisation — pipeline discipline, key accounts, pricing and forecast quality.

Business Development Manager

Opens new segments and applications — from single-machine business into lines, or from one industry vertical into the next.

Technical Sales / Application Engineer

Consultative selling of complex equipment: specification work, feasibility studies, demos and long-cycle project sales.

Service Manager / Head of After-Sales

Builds the service P&L: field-service teams, service contracts, spare-parts pricing and customer-satisfaction ownership.

100+ companies expanded successfully with our placements

Machinery Q&A

Machinery recruitment: frequently asked questions

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Technical sales and sales leadership across the whole commercial organisation: Sales Manager, Area Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Country Manager, Head of Sales, Business Development Manager and Technical Sales or Application Engineers — plus the service side, from Service Manager to Head of After-Sales. Typical clients are machine builders and plant engineering companies expanding into new European markets or professionalising an existing sales team.

Yes — deliberately. In machine building the service organisation carries the margin and often decides the next machine sale. We place Service Managers, Heads of After-Sales and field-service leaders with the same method as sales roles: direct approach, technical screening and market-specific salary benchmarks.

All of Europe. Most mandates centre on the DACH region, Spain, France, Italy, Poland and the Nordics; searches run in the local language by consultants who work that market daily. For a market entry we also advise on employment setup, typical packages and what top candidates in that country expect.

You typically receive a first shortlist within 2–4 weeks, and most mandates are signed within 6–10 weeks. Machinery is our home industry: we know the niche players, the trade fairs and the candidates already — which is exactly what shortens a search.

We only work technical sales and service roles in three industrial niches — machinery and plant engineering first among them. That focus means we speak the language of your products, screen candidates for technical depth rather than CV keywords, and bring an active network instead of a database. As a boutique agency you work directly with the consultant who runs your search.

Fill your key sales roles across Europe — now.

Talk to us — no strings attached. We get back to you within 24 hours.

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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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