A quarter of companies making their first international hire during 2025-26 opted for a senior leader, a marked rise on the figure recorded four years earlier, according to Employer of Record firm Teamed.
Teamed's figures show that 25% of businesses hiring abroad for the first time in that period brought in someone at head, director, VP or C-suite level, compared with 11% in 2022. The firm said the pattern points to companies reaching for senior expertise from the outset rather than filling roles one by one as an overseas presence builds.
Smaller firms were more likely than larger ones to take this approach, with 23% of smaller businesses choosing a senior leader for their debut international appointment against 13% of large businesses. Teamed's co-founder, Tom Price-Daniel, said: "For smaller businesses especially, this could be a way to gain the experience and direction they need to grow internationally without having to build an entire team first."
Sales roles gain ground on engineering
The type of role being recruited internationally has also changed. Teamed's data shows sales and business development positions made up 22% of its Europe-based international hires in 2026, up sharply from 5% in 2022, while the share going to software and engineering roles dropped from 36% to 19% over the same period.
Price-Daniel said: "Four years ago, if a business hired abroad, it was usually hiring an engineer. Now it's more likely to be someone who sells."
Spain tops the list of talent sources
Spain was the single largest source of international hires recorded by Teamed in 2026, supplying 12.8% of them, ahead of South Africa on 7.9%. Spain also featured heavily as a starting point for businesses' overseas expansion, accounting for 15% of first international hires, level with Germany, while South Africa took 12% of first hires.
Teamed's figures also show the geographic spread of employers doing the hiring has widened. UK-based employers made up 79% of international hires recorded in 2022, but that share had fallen to 46% by 2025-26.
The figures are drawn from Teamed's own internal employment contract data covering 2022 to 2026, with year-on-year comparisons for 2026 based on the January to September period, extracted on 20 October 2026 and anonymised before analysis, the company said.
Source: Teamed; Free Press Releases (release issued by Teamed).