The QRC Group has many years of experience in recruiting experts and executives in the field of research and development for reputable SMEs and DAX companies around the world. We take a direct approach, which means our headhunters get directly in touch with suitable R&D candidates for your vacancy.
The technology industry continues to grow at a rate of knots. Particularly in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, many industrial companies have found global success with their outstanding products. That’s why it is particularly important for developed countries to continue investing heavily in research and development. But the competition for the brightest minds is intense, which means you also need an R&D headhunter with lots of experience in the field. We know the best way to approach suitable candidates and have an excellent network with the finest R&D professionals, which means we can fill vacancies in a wide range of sectors. Our network includes candidates in the automotive, electronics, biomedical, pharmaceutical and food technology industries, as well as other sectors.
The QRC Group’s consultants have been supporting companies in R&D for over 15 years by recruiting important executives (Executive Search), experts (Expert Search) and interim managers (Interim Management). As our experienced headhunters and recruiters have many years of industrial experience, they know all the specific requirements in research and development. Contact us!
Challenges Of The Digital Transformation
Research and development is being driven by digitisation. The greatest investments are being made in ICT, as well as energy, climate and environmental technology, and vehicle and transport technology. However, it is important for aspiring researchers to know that the electrical industry and IT sector, which are both important for digitisation, have been increasing their research expenditure at a below-average rate in recent years. Companies in other economic sectors are responding to the changes caused by digitisation more strongly with their own development ideas. This is expanding the range of professions at many companies. The best-known example is Deutsche Post, which has developed electric vehicles for its own use.
Job market for R & D
Researchers still have excellent career opportunities in Germany and Austria, where a total of 700,000 people are employed in R&D. Around a quarter of them work in vehicle construction, followed by service providers in various sectors, such as natural science, engineering, economics, social science and law. Three quarters of the people who work in R&D divisions at companies are employed by firms with over 500 workers.
Women in research
The Institute for Social Science Research in Munich predicts that the digital revolution will pave the way for women in research. The sharpened customer orientation in R&D, the growing importance of software and the new focus on user experience is expanding the range of occupations and opening up technical careers for female computer scientists and economists. The focus has now shifted to communicating, coordinating and thinking about the bigger picture, which is a really exciting prospect for women of Generation Y – and flexible working arrangements also make it a little easier to balance work and family. However, companies have completely failed to reach out to this extended pool of female applicants – but not when headhunters are involved.
The automotive industry not only attracts the most R&D professionals – it also invests the highest amounts in research and development in Germany, accounting for almost 35% of R&D investments made by the country’s commercial enterprises (€ 20 billion). Electronics and computer manufacturers come in second place with around € 8 billion. The third largest investors are mechanical engineering companies with around € 5.5 billion, followed by the pharmaceutical and chemical industry. With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that Volkswagen, Daimler, Bosch and BMW are the companies that spend the most on research and development. Volkswagen and Daimler are even the top R&D investors in Europe.
