First Commercial Director in Spain for a Surveillance Tech Firm

The security challenge for large construction sites and renewable energy installations is the same. They are rapidly changing environments that traditional fixed surveillance cannot cover. This Dutch-founded technology company utilized that gap, placing mobile, temporary camera surveillance, and heat detection systems on some of Europe’s biggest construction and energy projects. Backed by private equity and growing market by market from its base in the Netherlands, the company had assembled a capable, senior commercial team in Spain that was already producing results. Then it needed its first in-country commercial lead.

Bringing in a Commercial Director to an already performing team is a different proposition to hiring into a vacancy. The Spanish operation lacked a management level between its sales team and the Managing Director International in the Netherlands, and the sales professionals working there were experienced specialists who knew their market. The new Commercial Director would have to take the helm without the benefit of strong technical knowledge, leading a senior team who would quickly assess their new leader and hold them accountable from the beginning.

Experience from an earlier search had sharpened the brief considerably. The previous candidates had been too junior or too analytical in profile, and the search had been run against a salary range that was below market. The business needed a commercially assertive leader with a red-dominant personality profile and the gravitas to command genuine respect from experienced professionals. The role also required someone who was comfortable working for a Managing Director younger than themselves, and that was something that had to be judged honestly, not assumed.

Early on, personality profiling was built into the process, giving it a filter that the previous search had lacked. Profiles were selected from the construction technology, equipment rental, and infrastructure sectors which were most likely to contain the relevant industry knowledge and commercial networks. The candidates were assessed against the commercial credentials and the leadership presence called for in the brief, with DISC results reviewed with the professional background.

The candidates that passed the first evaluation were moved to direct meetings with the Spanish local team before the strongest profiles were invited to a physical meeting with the board in the Netherlands. The company saw the team meeting as a key part of the selection process, and a prior candidate in the search had flunked it by reading the room wrong.

The final shortlist had two strong candidates who had both impressed in Spain. The perfect appointment combined robust commercial credentials and an industry network across construction and renewables with the assertive, energetic leadership profile that had been central to the brief. Following the visit to Spain by the Managing Director, the board unanimously approved his appointment and confirmed the compensation package agreed at EUR 85,000 base salary, EUR 15,000 annual bonus, and stock options in a fast-growing business, with a start date of 1 September.