SaaS Hiring in Germany – 6 month review

 

In this new insight, we will offer some feedback around the latest trends coming out of Germany.  Trends based on much of the Headhunting activity we have experienced during the first 6 months of 2019 in Europe’s largest economy.

 

Many SaaS firms we have spoken with recently have often struggled to find and hire great German-based Execs, why is that?

 

How to you attract and hire the best Senior SaaS talent in Germany?  How is SaaS Hiring in Germany at the moment?  What locations are firms looking to hire and the main challenges?  How good is Berlin as a DACH HQ?  What are the latest salary trends?

 

 

Market Overview

There has been huge demand from start-up, high-growth, mid and large B2B SaaS firms for German based talent during the first half of 2019!

 

This situation has created very much a candidate driven market, when often the strongest candidates will have multiple job opportunities.  It really could be possible for the best Senior Sales and Sales Leaders to interview every single day of the week!

 

Form the many Headhunting campaigns we have worked on in 2019, it appears there is a situation of zero unemployment in the region, hence the best need to be pro-actively approached and offered a great candidate experience.

 

Finally, there has been much demand for “Customer Success Execs”, but Germany seems have a lack of sufficient numbers.  This could be due to the slower adoption of SaaS compared to the USA and UK markets.

 

How to Attract the best Senior Sales Talent in Germany?

 

So what have some SaaS firms been able to do differently to help them win and attract some of the best commercial talent and of course to get them excited about working for them?

 

We have identified the following:

 

• In terms of the employer, being a solid SaaS company, with funding, a great story and some type of foothold in the DACH market
• A unique proposition in an uncrowded market place
• An impressive future boss!  The A players will attract the A players.  The B and C players will attract the B, C and D players!

 

Most Popular Hiring Locations?

Unsurprisingly, the South of Germany has generated the biggest demand for commercial talent.

The red circle below portrays where most of the demand has been for B2B SaaS, Commercial talent, however some additional cities such as Hamburg, often contain some strong SaaS Execs. 

 

What about Berlin?

 

Berlin is booming from a technology start-up perspective.  However, from our various projects in this region, we have found a shortage of Enterprise Software sellers and Leaders.  Berlin appears to consist of many more B2C focused SaaS companies.  Further, apart from the Government sector, the vast majority of Enterprise prospects just won’t be located in Berlin, hence much travel would be necessary in the case of extensive face-to-face consultative selling.

 

German SaaS Salary Levels?

We have noticed an increase of ten percent on basic salaries within the last 12 months for Senior Commercial SaaS Leaders and Enterprise Sales Executives.

 

SaaS Hiring and scaling  in Germany clearly has it’s challenges, hence the importance of working with the top Headhunters who cover the region!

 

If you are looking for a German Headhunter or have any questions, please contact Ben Watkins.

 

Further reading:

B2B Survey Report 2019

How to Hire the Best SaaS Leaders / Sales Execs in Europe