Bordeaux Recruitment Agency

As everywhere in France, fees are a percentage of the candidate's gross annual package, base salary and variable pay included. The market rate is typically 20% to 27%, depending on how scarce the profile is and how senior the role. We work on a contingency basis: no retainer, no set-up fee, and you are only invoiced once a candidate accepts your offer. The percentage is agreed at the briefing stage, before the search begins. Full terms are on our contingency recruitment page (in French).

You get your first qualified candidates within 7 days of the briefing. From the start of the search to a signed offer, allow 4 to 8 weeks on average in Bordeaux, depending on how scarce the profile is and how quickly you can run interviews. Leadership roles and the hardest-to-find Tech profiles often take longer. The candidate's notice period, one to three months depending on their seniority, then comes on top.

The Bordeaux talent pool has grown a lot, but it is still thin for senior specialists: the best candidates already have jobs and don't answer ads. An agency gives you access to these passive candidates through headhunting, and takes sourcing and screening off your hands. It also gives you a clear view of the local market, from salary levels to who else is competing for the same people, and the ability to attract candidates from Paris or abroad who are drawn by the Bordeaux lifestyle.

The Bordeaux area hires mostly in aerospace, space and defence, IT and SaaS (software companies, e-commerce, digital services), healthcare and biotech, greentech and renewable energy, and the wine and food industry, which is going increasingly digital. The hardest roles to fill are much the same across sectors: developers, data, product and B2B sales.

Yes. Bordeaux and its suburbs (Mérignac, Pessac, Bègles) account for most of the demand, but we recruit across Nouvelle-Aquitaine: La Rochelle, Poitiers, Niort, Limoges, Angoulême, Pau and the Basque Country. Because we run our searches remotely, we cover on-site, hybrid and fully remote roles alike. We also recruit in France's other major cities, including Paris, Lyon and Marseille.

Every search comes with a replacement guarantee written into the service agreement. If the person you hired leaves during the guarantee period, we run the search again at no extra cost. The length of the guarantee is agreed at the briefing stage, along with the fee percentage and invoicing terms.