Country manager and regional MD executive search
Scalerr recruits country managers, general managers and regional managing directors for tech companies entering or expanding a market. Agree what the person can decide locally before you give them a country target: a seller who needs head office to approve every deal has a different job from a GM who runs the business.
Country manager, general manager or regional MD?
A job description can give someone responsibility for a market without giving them control of anything that happens in it. Before approaching candidates, ask who sets prices, who can hire and who will explain a missed forecast to the board. Use the answers to choose the title.
| Seat | Scope | When to hire | Reports to | First-year work to test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country manager | A named local market | Customers need someone who can act for the company locally | Founder or regional director | Win early accounts and distinguish local buying habits from one customer’s requests. |
| General manager | A business unit or country operation | Commercial and operating decisions need a common owner | CEO or regional MD | Allocate the budget, build the team and run the local business. |
| Regional managing director | Several country teams | Markets compete for people and investment | Global CEO or commercial leader | Decide which country gets the next hire and what evidence supports it. |
What the first country leader needs from headquarters
Give candidates a decision they could make on day one and another they would need to take back to head office. If both are minor, reconsider the remit. If the founder really needs someone to close accounts, an AE may be a better first hire. Compare a first seller with a country leader, then use the country manager hiring guide to prepare the interview.
Searching from the market itself
Country leadership is a recurring part of Scalerr’s retained executive search work. The senior recruiter scopes the mandate with you, reviews compensation benchmarks and researches candidates before approaching them discreetly. Ask a candidate how they would handle a local customer needing an answer while their manager overseas is offline. The response should fit the authority you are offering.
In ASEAN, a Singapore seller may also need to open an adjacent country. In North Asia, James Park leads Scalerr’s Korea practice from Seoul. If the UK is the starting point, use the UK entry plan to define the market before commissioning a search. Our recruitment services cover the commercial hires who will report to the leader.
APAC leadership assignments
Forter needed a VP of APAC and regional directors for ANZ and ASEAN. For Triptease, Scalerr placed the leadership team, including its Head of APAC. The assignment at Wix included advising the Australian GM, who was already in the job.
At Deel, Scalerr hired heads of functions in North America and EMEA. If you are opening a US operation, the US market entry page can help you define which decisions a local hire should own.
Compare the Singapore regional HQ brief with the ANZ GM brief in Sydney. If the person will own revenue across the whole company rather than across a territory, use CRO executive search.
Questions to settle with the board
Does every first market need a general manager? No. If the existing product and sales process work locally and the immediate job is winning accounts, brief a seller. Appoint a GM when there are local business decisions for them to own.
How should we benchmark the offer? Start with the territory, budget and team, then compare roles with similar decision rights. The Asia country manager guide distinguishes country and regional mandates.