Management and leadership search in
Madrid

Madrid is the political, financial and corporate capital of Spain and the centre of gravity for senior Iberian hiring across banking, telecoms, energy, professional services and large-corporate leadership. The Cuatro Torres and Paseo de la Castellana corridor concentrate banking, asset management, telecoms and Big Four consulting talent (Banco Santander, BBVA, Telefónica, Iberdrola, Repsol, Mapfre, EY, Deloitte, PwC, McKinsey, BCG, Bain); the Salamanca and Chamberí districts anchor advertising, media and creative leadership; the Las Tablas and Tres Cantos corridor carries the SaaS, AdTech and B2B platform scenes.

A typical Go Ahead HiRe Madrid brief is a Country Manager Iberia for a US or European scale-up landing its first Iberian hire, a VP Sales Iberia or Southern Europe for a SaaS or fintech business, a CMO or Head of Marketing for a Spanish scale-up scaling internationally, or a confidential C-suite replacement inside an IBEX 35 group or a PE-backed portfolio company. Roughly two-thirds of our Spanish mandates land in or commute into Madrid.

Madrid senior search runs to a distinctively Spanish cadence. The Estatuto de los Trabajadores sets the baseline; notice periods cluster at one month for individual contributors and three to six months for executives via Alta Dirección contracts; severance is structured (20 days per year of service for fair dismissal, 33 days for unfair dismissal, capped); and the works council (comité de empresa) is a real factor inside the larger employers. We brief every international hiring team through the Alta Dirección framework before kickoff.

Senior Spanish hires typically operate under the Estatuto de los Trabajadores at standard contract level and the Alta Dirección regime for executives, with notice periods of one month at IC level and three to six months at executive level. Severance is structured (20 days per year for fair dismissal, 33 days for unfair dismissal, both capped). Contracts are written in Spanish under Spanish law; the comité de empresa applies inside the larger employers.

For non-EU candidates the Highly Qualified Professional visa under the Entrepreneurs Law and the new Digital Nomad visa are the default routes; processing through the UGE-CE in Madrid currently runs ten to twenty business days once the file is complete. The Beckham Law (régimen de impatriados) caps personal income tax at 24 percent on the first 600,000 EUR of Spanish-source income for six years for qualifying senior relocators.

Senior Madrid general management hires typically carry the most layered comp structure: base, executive variable, long-term incentive plan or equity, retention component and where relevant a pension or insurance package. We model the full package including LTIP vesting on every executive shortlist.

City-specific Madrid note: Madrid is the standard Spanish landing city for the Highly Qualified Professional visa under the Entrepreneurs Law and for the new Digital Nomad visa for remote senior workers. Processing through the UGE-CE in Madrid currently runs ten to twenty business days once the file is complete; the Beckham Law (régimen de impatriados) reduces personal income tax to 24 percent on Spanish-source income for the first six years for qualifying senior international relocators.