What European Employers Actually Ask For in Manager Roles, Country by Country

Manager job ads across Europe do not all ask for the same thing. Looking at the skills listed on manager postings on NewLuxJob across 15 countries, from Germany to Norway, shows real differences in what employers put at the top of the list.

Leadership tops the list in several markets

In Germany, Leadership appears on 70% of manager postings (out of 1024 postings), well ahead of Strategy at 33% and Stakeholder Management at 30%. Austria follows a similar pattern, with Leadership on 61% of its 301 manager postings, ahead of Strategy at 38%. Ireland lists Leadership on 60% of its 837 postings, Switzerland on 59% of its 389 postings, and France on 56% of its 519 postings, where Leadership is followed by Strategy at 29% and, separately, Team Leadership at 12%.

Stakeholder management leads in other countries

Elsewhere, Stakeholder Management is the more frequently listed skill. Denmark's 219 manager postings list it on 79%, the highest figure among the countries covered, ahead of Strategy at 57% and Leadership at 49%. Spain lists Stakeholder Management on 56% of its 724 postings, just ahead of Strategy at 52%. Ireland lists it on 59% of postings, alongside its high Leadership figure. Luxembourg's 345 postings show Stakeholder Management at 54%, close behind Strategy at 57%. Norway, with a smaller sample of 32 postings, lists Stakeholder Management on 44%, and Poland lists it on 43% of its 280 postings.

Strategy and project management stand out elsewhere

In a few countries, neither Leadership nor Stakeholder Management is the single most listed skill. Czechia's 147 postings put Strategy at the top with 55%, ahead of Stakeholder Management at 26% and Leadership and Project Management tied at 24%. The Netherlands lists Strategy on 45% of its 634 postings, ahead of Stakeholder Management at 40% and Budgeting at 35%. Sweden's 713 postings show Stakeholder Management at 45% just ahead of Strategy at 40%. Poland stands apart in listing Project Management as its top skill, at 44%, with Agile/Scrum following at 28%. Belgium's 594 postings show Stakeholder Management and Budgeting tied at 38% each, ahead of Strategy at 25%.

Budgeting and coaching further down the list

Budgeting and coaching rarely top the list but appear consistently further down it. Belgium's Budgeting figure of 38% is the highest recorded among the countries covered, followed by Sweden and the Netherlands at 35% each. Ireland lists Coaching on 32% of its postings, the highest Coaching figure recorded, ahead of Switzerland at 23% and Luxembourg at 20%. Spain lists Coaching at 14%, Denmark at 17%, and Germany at just 7%, its lowest listed skill for manager roles.

What this means if you are applying for a manager role

For job seekers comparing opportunities across borders, these figures suggest it is worth checking which skills come up most often in the country you are targeting before you apply, rather than assuming the same manager profile works everywhere. A candidate strong in stakeholder management may find more matching postings in Denmark, Spain or Luxembourg, while a candidate whose experience centers on leading teams directly may find more overlap with postings in Germany, Austria or Ireland. Those with project management and Agile backgrounds may find Poland's postings, where Project Management leads at 44% and Agile/Scrum sits at 28%, a closer match than markets where Strategy or Stakeholder Management dominate. NewLuxJob publishes the full skills breakdown for manager roles on its country pages, covering Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.