Managing Director Placement: Finding Electrical Engineering Leadership for Vienna’s Construction Sector

>The Background  
A Referral Born from Frustration 

A Vienna construction company needed a new Managing Director for Electrical Engineering. They hired an executive search firm. That placement failed. 

The company turned to Stanton Chase next. We had not worked with them before, but we had worked with one of their subcontractors. That subcontractor, a firm we had partnered with on multiple successful searches, made the introduction. Their recommendation carried weight because it came from experience. 

>The Challenge  
Scarce Talent, Strict Requirements, Limited Budget 

Senior electrical engineering executives are rare in Austria. Those who exist command premium salaries. The client’s budget sat well below market rates for the caliber of candidate they needed. 

The brief also came with a late addition: the client would only consider candidates who had already worked for a construction company or an electrical engineering firm. No exceptions. This narrowed an already thin candidate pool to almost nothing. 

We searched Austria thoroughly. Nobody fit. 

>The Solution  
Germany Had What Austria Did Not 

We expanded our search to Germany and found an Austrian national working there. His background fit: electrical engineering expertise combined with construction industry experience at the senior level. 

His salary presented a problem. He earned 50% more than the client could pay. On paper, the gap was too wide to bridge. 

But he wanted to come home. His family was in Austria, and reuniting with them mattered more to him than maintaining his current compensation. He accepted a 40% pay cut to make the move possible. 

We presented one candidate. The client hired him on the spot. 

>The Results  
45 Days to Placement, Then a Bigger Assignment 

The search closed in 45 days. The new MD brought the technical background and industry experience that the construction company had been missing since their previous hire fell through. 

The success prompted the client to give us a second, larger assignment: finding a successor for the Managing Director of the entire company. 

Two things made this placement work. First, we treated the border as a starting point for the search, not a boundary. Second, we recognized that a candidate’s personal priorities can matter as much as their professional ones. The right person was out there. He just was not in Austria.