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France · Country Managers · Heads of Sales · Sales Managers

Sales Recruitment Agency France

JN Recruitment is the boutique sales recruitment agency for France chosen by machinery, industrial technology and recycling companies. We deliver the Country Managers, Heads of Sales and Sales Managers who win the French market — approached in French, negotiated at cadre level, signed on French terms.

  • Technical sales placements from Paris to Lyon, Lille to Toulouse
  • 100% technical sales — machinery, industrial technology & recycling
  • French-language executive search with cadre-level salary benchmarks
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Our niches
  • Machinery & plant engineering
  • Industrial technology
  • Recycling & environmental technology
2–4 weeks

to your first shortlist of qualified French candidates

8–12 weeks

from briefing to signed contract — realistic for cadre-level hires in France

100% focus

technical sales roles — no generalist recruiting

30+ markets

European markets covered, France among the most requested

Sales headhunter France

Your sales headhunter for the French market

France is the second-largest economy in the European Union — a market too big to skip and too particular to improvise. Industrial buyers in Lyon, Lille or Toulouse expect a supplier who negotiates in French, understands cadre-level employment terms and shows up at their site, not just at the Paris trade shows. Companies that enter with an English job advert and a generalist agency usually learn this the expensive way.

As a specialised sales headhunter for France, we work the other direction: direct approach of proven technical sales professionals who already carry a network of plant managers, OEMs and integrators in your niche — from the Rhône-Alpes machinery and chemicals cluster to the manufacturing and recycling belt of Hauts-de-France. Every search runs in French, every candidate is assessed against your product and sales cycle, and every shortlist arrives with track records we have actually verified.

Whether you need a first Country Manager to open the market or a Head of Sales to take over an existing French organisation: our executive search for sales leadership in France is built for one outcome — revenue responsibility in the right hands.

Positions we fill

Sales positions we recruit in France

From the first commercial hire in the market to a full national sales organisation — these are the technical sales roles our recruitment agency fills in France, each screened for genuine hunter mentality.

Head of Sales France

Takes over and professionalises an existing French sales organisation — sometimes with Benelux or Southern Europe scope — from pipeline discipline to key-account strategy.

Sales Manager France

Hunts new OEM and end-customer business nationwide: trade fairs, distributor and integrator management, and direct sales of machinery and industrial technology.

100+ companies expanded successfully with our placements

Market knowledge

Hiring sales talent in France: what employers should know

French employment law draws a hard line between cadres and non-cadres — and it shapes everything from probation to notice periods. The essentials we brief every client on before a French search starts:

Cadre

The status that defines the offer

Sales managers and above are hired as “cadres” — a formal status with its own pension scheme, longer probation and notice periods, and real prestige attached. An offer that ignores cadre conventions signals an employer who doesn’t know the French market; we structure every senior offer around it.

3

Months of notice for cadres

Cadre contracts typically carry a three-month notice period, set by the applicable collective agreement. Plan a French sales hire accordingly: even after a fast signature, your new Country Manager usually starts a quarter later — which is exactly why we start the search before the market entry, not after.

4+4

Months of probation, renewable

The période d’essai for cadres runs up to four months and can be renewed once where the collective agreement allows it — up to eight months in total. That is generous time to see your new Sales Manager perform in front of real customers before the contract locks in.

70/30

Typical base-to-variable split

French industrial sales packages usually run around 70% fixed salary, a company car is standard in field roles, and a 13th-month payment is common in several industrial collective agreements. Alongside the 35-hour framework, cadres normally work on annual-days arrangements with RTT days — pure-commission models won’t attract serious candidates.

Salary benchmarks

Sales salaries in France: current benchmarks

What does sales talent cost in France? Annual gross salaries in EUR for technical sales roles in machinery, industrial technology and recycling — any 13th-month payment consolidated, company car not included:

Position Base salary OTE (on-target earnings)
Country Manager France €100,000 – 130,000 €130,000 – 175,000
Head of Sales France €90,000 – 115,000 €115,000 – 155,000
Sales Manager France €60,000 – 80,000 €80,000 – 110,000
Business Development Manager €55,000 – 70,000 €70,000 – 95,000
Area / Regional Sales Manager €50,000 – 65,000 €65,000 – 85,000
Technical Sales Engineer €45,000 – 60,000 €55,000 – 75,000

Source: JN Recruitment placement and interview data, industrial B2B sales, France. Île-de-France prices 10–20% above the national range; Lyon and Grand Est sit close to it.

France Q&A

Sales recruitment in France: frequently asked questions

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As a boutique sales recruitment agency for France, we run the complete executive search for technical sales roles: direct approach of proven candidates, structured interviews and reference checks in French, salary benchmarking at cadre level, and support through offer negotiation and signature. Every mandate is handled end-to-end by the consultant who took your briefing — no CV databases, no job-board reposting.

We fill technical sales and sales leadership roles across France: Country Manager France, Head of Sales, Sales Manager, Area Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Business Development Manager and Technical Sales Engineer. Typical mandates are the first or leading commercial hire of a machinery, industrial technology or recycling company entering the French market.

Exclusively industrial B2B niches: machinery and process equipment — including the Rhône-Alpes machinery and chemicals cluster around Lyon — plus manufacturing and recycling technology in Hauts-de-France, the aerospace supply chain around Toulouse, automation, industrial components, and environmental technology. This focus means we already know the candidates, salaries and competitors in your French niche.

Generalist agencies in France cover every function from finance to IT — and the technical sales talent you need rarely answers their adverts. A specialised sales recruitment agency for France starts every search with an existing network of Country Managers, Heads of Sales and Sales Engineers in your niche, knows the realistic cadre package for each role, and can judge a track record in capital-equipment sales rather than just matching keywords on a CV.

Our offices are in Germany, Poland and Cyprus — and that is deliberate. Searches for France are run by French-speaking consultants who work the market daily: direct approach and interviews in French, references checked with French industry contacts, and candidate meetings by video or at the sector’s trade fairs. You get local-market depth without paying local-agency generalism.

You typically receive a first shortlist within 2–4 weeks, and most French positions are signed within 8–12 weeks. Factor in the start date, though: cadre contracts usually carry a three-month notice period, so a signed Country Manager often begins a quarter after signature. We recommend briefing a recruitment agency in France three to six months before you need the person in the field.

A Sales Manager in French industrial B2B typically earns €60,000–80,000 base and €80,000–110,000 on-target, annual gross. A Country Manager France reaches €130,000–175,000 OTE, a Technical Sales Engineer €55,000–75,000. A company car is standard in field roles and a 13th-month payment is common in several industrial collective agreements — we benchmark every mandate before the search starts.

Senior sales leaders in export-driven industries usually work in good English, and we verify it in every interview. Day-to-day selling, however, happens in French: plant managers, bureaux d’études and technical buyers expect the conversation in their own language, and many strong candidates simply never appear in English-language searches. That is exactly why we search in French rather than filtering for English CVs.

Yes — that is the typical starting point of a market entry. Your first French hire can be employed through an Employer of Record, a local payroll setup or an existing EU entity while your French subsidiary is being established. Cadre-level candidates will scrutinise the setup, so we advise on what top candidates in France will accept and structure the offer accordingly.

All of them. Most mandates centre on Paris, Lyon, Lille, Toulouse and Strasbourg — the last a natural gateway for DACH companies crossing into France — but we regularly place field-based sales roles around Nantes, Bordeaux and Marseille as well. French technical sales is largely home-office and territory-based, so we recruit where your customers are — not just where the TGV stops.

Across Europe

One sales recruitment playbook, every European market

The same specialised technical sales search opens every market on the continent — pick the country you are expanding into.

Hiring in several markets at once?

Hiring at leadership level? Our executive search practice:

Candidate found — and now need a compliant way to employ them?

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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