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Headhunters in Graz — executive search for Styria
Senior leadership search for industrial companies in Styria and southern Austria — confidential, led by a senior partner, from our head office in Graz.
Confidential senior-level search across Austria and the wider DACH region
Direct access to executive, board, and specialist leadership talent
Structured evaluation, discreet outreach, and close client communication
Practices active in Austria
The Styrian leadership market is small — and everyone knows everyone.
Market expertise
What is actually being searched for in Styria.
Styria is an industrial region with few but large employers. Anyone looking for a plant manager, a head of engineering or a managing director here is searching in a market where the candidates know one another — and where word gets around about who is open to a conversation. A carelessly run search is not merely unsuccessful; it becomes the talking point.
That is why our head office has been in Graz since 2009, and not in Vienna. We hold the conversations ourselves rather than through a researcher at a distance, and we know which moves in the region are currently sensitive.
The focus lies on manufacturing and plant engineering, automotive supply, materials technology and the technical leadership roles behind them: plant management, production, quality, supply chain, technical directorship. Alongside these come finance roles up to CFO and, increasingly, positions at the interface with defence and security technology.
From Graz we cover the whole of Styria, together with Carinthia and southern Burgenland. For mandates that reach beyond the region we work with the offices in Vienna, Linz and Düsseldorf.
Ertler Executive Search supports confidential senior-level mandates in Austria by combining precise role definition, direct market access, discreet candidate approach, and structured evaluation. Our work is especially relevant for roles where trust, cultural fit, leadership judgment, and long-term commitment matter.
C-Level
Executive mandates for strategic leadership roles.
Board
Discreet search for governance and advisory positions.
Senior Experts
Specialised profiles in complex and competitive markets.
Open positions in Austria
Featured mandates
Graz office
Ertler Executive Search GmbHJoanneumring 14/7
8010 Graz, Austria
+43 664 1538 086 · office@ertlerexecutivesearch.com
The Styrian industrial region
Austria’s densest industrial region — and our home market.
Styria is Austria’s densest industrial region: the automotive cluster, machinery and plant engineering, electronics, materials and a growing defence supply base. Many companies are owner-managed or in their second and third generation — successions, first non-family managing directors and plant management are the typical mandates here. Our head office on Joanneumring sits in the middle of this market; from here David Ertler and the Graz team run searches for Styria, Carinthia and Burgenland — and internationally through our offices in Vienna, Linz, Düsseldorf, New York and Hong Kong.
Which sectors do you serve from Graz?
Industry and machinery, automotive, defence, technology, and finance functions in industrial companies.
Do you also fill positions below managing director level?
Yes: heads of division and plant managers, heads of sales, heads of controlling and comparable key functions — but not clerical roles.
How discreet is a search in such a close-knit market?
The client is named to candidates only after the client’s approval; outreach is exclusively direct and personal, without job advertisements.
What sets you apart from national and international search firms?
We have been based in Graz since the firm was founded, we know the ownership structures of Styrian industry, and we combine that with an international network of six offices.
CONTACT NOW
Start a confidential conversation in Graz.
Tell us about the role, country scope, seniority level, and discretion required for your Austrian executive search mandate.