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Portugal · Country Managers · Heads of Sales · Sales Managers

Sales Recruitment Agency Portugal

JN Recruitment is the boutique sales recruitment agency for Portugal trusted by machinery, industrial technology and recycling companies. We find the Country Managers, Heads of Sales and Sales Managers who open the Portuguese market — searched in Portuguese, not managed as a footnote to Spain.

  • Technical sales placements from Lisbon to Porto, Braga to Coimbra
  • 100% technical sales — machinery, industrial technology & recycling
  • Portuguese-language executive search with Portugal-specific 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 Portuguese candidates

6–9 weeks

from briefing to signed contract — Portuguese notice periods are short

100% focus

technical sales roles — no generalist recruiting

30+ markets

European markets covered — Portugal treated as a market, not an add-on

Sales headhunter Portugal

Your sales headhunter for the Portuguese market

Portugal is routinely filed under “Iberia” — and routinely underestimated because of it. Behind the label sits a distinct industrial economy: a northern manufacturing belt from Porto to Braga built on metalworking and textile machinery, a mould-making cluster around Marinha Grande that tools the world’s plastics industry, and a recycling sector scaling fast on EU circular-economy funding. Buyers here decide in Portuguese, on relationships — and they notice immediately when a supplier runs the country as an afterthought from Madrid.

That is why generalist job boards rarely deliver in Portugal. As a specialised sales headhunter for Portugal, we approach proven technical sales professionals directly — people who carry a network of plant operators, mould makers, OEMs and distributors, and who have sold capital equipment through Portuguese decision cycles before. Every search is run in Portuguese, every candidate is interviewed against your niche, and every shortlist comes with verifiable track records.

Whether you need a first Country Manager to enter the market or a Head of Sales to give Portugal its own commercial leadership at last: our executive search for sales leadership in Portugal is built for one outcome — revenue responsibility in the right hands.

Positions we fill

Sales positions we recruit in Portugal

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 Portugal, each screened for genuine hunter mentality.

Head of Sales Portugal

Gives Portugal its own commercial leadership instead of remote management from Madrid — from pipeline discipline to key accounts across the country’s industrial clusters.

Sales Manager Portugal

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

100+ companies expanded successfully with our placements

Market knowledge

Hiring sales talent in Portugal: what employers should know

Recruiting in Portugal follows its own rules — from salary structure to notice periods. The essentials we brief every client on before a Portuguese search starts:

14

Salary payments per year

Portuguese gross salaries are paid in 14 instalments — twelve monthly payments plus a holiday allowance (“subsídio de férias”) and a Christmas allowance (“subsídio de Natal”). We always quote annual gross so your Portuguese offers stay comparable with the rest of Europe.

30–60

Days of notice — not months

Employees resigning from an indefinite contract owe roughly 30 days’ notice with up to two years of service and 60 days beyond that. Compared to the German three-to-six-month standard, a Portuguese hire can be in front of your customers remarkably fast.

240

Days of probation for leadership roles

Portuguese probation periods scale with responsibility: around 90 days for standard roles, up to 180 for technically complex positions and up to 240 days for management and positions of trust — generous time to see your new Country Manager perform before the contract hardens.

~€10

Meal allowance — a standard line item

The “subsídio de alimentação” of roughly €6–10 per working day (higher when paid on a meal card) is an expected part of every Portuguese package, and a company car is effectively universal in industrial field sales. Packages run base-heavy — pure-commission models will not attract serious technical sales talent in Portugal.

Salary benchmarks

Sales salaries in Portugal: current benchmarks

What does sales talent cost in Portugal? Annual gross salaries in EUR for technical sales roles in machinery, industrial technology and recycling — 14 payments consolidated, meal allowance and company car not included:

Position Base salary OTE (on-target earnings)
Country Manager Portugal €70,000 – 95,000 €90,000 – 125,000
Head of Sales Portugal €60,000 – 80,000 €80,000 – 110,000
Sales Manager Portugal €40,000 – 55,000 €52,000 – 75,000
Business Development Manager €35,000 – 48,000 €45,000 – 65,000
Area / Regional Sales Manager €32,000 – 45,000 €42,000 – 58,000
Technical Sales Engineer €30,000 – 42,000 €38,000 – 52,000

Source: JN Recruitment placement and interview data, industrial B2B sales, Portugal. Greater Lisbon prices 10–15% above the national range; the industrial north is more affordable than its export strength suggests.

Portugal Q&A

Sales recruitment in Portugal: frequently asked questions

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As a boutique sales recruitment agency for Portugal, we run the full executive search for technical sales roles: direct approach of proven candidates, structured interviews and reference checks in Portuguese, salary benchmarking against the Portuguese market, and support through offer negotiation and signing. 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 Portugal: Country Manager Portugal, 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 Portuguese market — or a company finally giving Portugal its own leadership after years of remote coverage.

Exclusively industrial B2B niches: machinery and plant engineering — including the mould-making and plastics cluster around Marinha Grande and Leiria, metalworking and textile machinery in the Porto–Braga north — plus automation, industrial components, and recycling and environmental technology, a sector growing fast on EU funding. This focus means we already know the candidates, salaries and competitors in your Portuguese niche.

Generalist agencies in Portugal cover every function from finance to IT — and the technical sales talent you need rarely answers their adverts. A specialised sales recruitment agency for Portugal starts every search with an existing network of Country Managers, Heads of Sales and Sales Engineers in your niche, knows the realistic salary 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 Portugal are run by Portuguese-speaking consultants who work the market daily: direct approach and interviews in Portuguese, references checked with Portuguese industry contacts, and candidate meetings by video or at the sector’s trade fairs. You get local-market depth without paying local-agency generalism.

Sometimes — but less often than organisation charts assume. An Iberia role can work when the product is highly specialised and the customer base is thin in both countries. In most cases, though, Portugal is a distinct market: its own language, its own industrial clusters, its own buying culture — and Portuguese customers notice quickly when they are being served part-time from Madrid. We advise honestly per mandate; when Iberia scope does make sense, we find candidates who genuinely work in both languages rather than treating Portuguese as optional.

You typically receive a first shortlist within 2–4 weeks, and most Portuguese positions are signed within 6–9 weeks. Portugal has a structural advantage here: resignation notice is roughly 30 days for shorter tenures and 60 days beyond two years of service — so a Portuguese hire often starts months earlier than an equivalent hire in Germany or Austria.

A Sales Manager in Portuguese industrial B2B typically earns €40,000–55,000 base and €52,000–75,000 on-target, annual gross. A Country Manager Portugal reaches €90,000–125,000 OTE, a Technical Sales Engineer €38,000–52,000. Portuguese salaries are quoted in 14 payments, come with a meal allowance as standard, and almost always include a company car in field roles — noticeably below Spanish levels for the same title, which is part of the market’s appeal. We benchmark every mandate before the search starts.

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

All of them. Most mandates centre on Lisbon, Porto and the northern manufacturing belt towards Braga and Aveiro, plus the moulds and plastics cluster around Leiria and Marinha Grande in central Portugal — reachable from Coimbra. Portuguese technical sales is largely home-office and territory-based, so we recruit where your customers are — and in this market, that is as often the industrial north as the capital.

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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