Working in Spain as an expat

Start here, by profile

Every link below is a live page, refreshed every morning — not a promise.

• "I'm moving to Spain and don't speak Spanish — can I actually find work?" — yes, with eyes open about the odds: the live list shows every opening with no Spanish requirement, counted daily. The permit answer for your passport is right below, and the visa deep-dives are at the end of this guide.
• "I work in tech" — software is the biggest English-friendly slice of the market: live software openings.
• "I'm NOT a developer — what else is there?" — sales, customer support (Barcelona's multilingual hubs hire constantly), and teaching — the classic expat door into Spain.
• "Which companies actually hire English speakers?" — the company directory is hand-researched exactly for that question, beyond whatever happens to be advertised this week.
• "I'm already in Madrid / Barcelona" — city pages with everything nearby: Madrid and Barcelona.
• "I'm an employer hiring English speakers" — list your opening.

Do I need a work permit?

EU / EEA / Swiss citizens

No work permit needed — you can work from day one. Two pieces of paperwork matter early: the NIE (foreigner identification number, needed for any contract), and after 3 months the EU registry certificate (certificado de registro, the green card-sized paper). Employers also need your Spanish social-security number (número de la Seguridad Social), a same-day formality. The full paperwork order is in the Reference library.

Non-EU citizens

You generally need a residence-and-work authorization tied to an employer, or one of the newer routes: the Highly Qualified Professional permit, the EU Blue Card, or the Digital Nomad Visa (for remote work for non-Spanish employers — check if you qualify). Big multinationals sponsor routinely; small firms rarely do.

Official: Ministry of Inclusion — immigration procedures · NIE / extranjería appointments

The employment contract

• Standard contract is the contrato indefinido (permanent); temporary contracts are now restricted. Probation up to 6 months for qualified roles.
• Salaries are usually quoted gross per year, often in 12 or 14 payments (two extra in July/December) — always clarify which.
• Minimum 30 calendar days of paid vacation per year, plus ~14 public holidays.
• Payslips show hefty social-security and IRPF withholding — roughly 70–78% of gross lands net for typical salaries. Details in the Reference library.

Where the English-speaking jobs are

• Barcelona — Europe-scale multilingual hub: customer support and shared services in every major language, plus the biggest startup/tech scene (working language English) and gaming studios.
• Madrid — multinational HQs, tech, finance, international engineering firms and consultancies, international schools.
• Málaga — fast-growing tech hub (Oracle, Ebury, Freepik, Google's safety center) plus tourism.
• València / Alicante — growing tech and international-school scene, lower cost of living.
• Remote — global remote-first companies hire from Spain; the Digital Nomad Visa exists precisely for this.

Sector-specific guides

Browse the openings of each sector directly — when employers hire, what gets applications opened, salary reality, and where the openings really appear:

• Architecture · Tech & IT · Design
• Hotels & Tourism · Multilingual Support & Shared Services · Teaching & Schools
• Healthcare · Legal · Logistics · Manufacturing

Salary expectations (very rough, gross/year)

• Multilingual customer support: €18,000–24,000 (+ language premiums)
• Junior architect / BIM modeler: €22,000–30,000; BIM coordinator/manager: €30,000–45,000
• Software engineering: €35,000–70,000+ depending on seniority and city
• International school teachers: €24,000–35,000, packages vary

See Salaries for medians computed from the ads that disclose pay.

Job-hunt tips specific to Spain

• Apply directly on company careers pages (what this site links to) — response rates beat portals.
• InfoJobs is the big local board but almost entirely Spanish-language — this directory exists because English-only listings get buried there.
• LinkedIn is the main channel for English-speaking roles at multinationals.
• B1 Spanish + strong English is enough for international firms; invest in Spanish anyway — every step toward B2 widens the market dramatically.

Using AI in your applications

• Every employer you track in My search has an ⧉ AI prompt button — it copies a ready-made prompt bundling that employer's details with your saved profile. Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant to get a tailored application email, CV bullets and interview prep in seconds.
• Power users with a dev setup: ai-job-search (MIT-licensed) turns Claude Code into a full application pipeline — profile, fit scoring, tailored LaTeX CV and cover letters. Swap its portal skills for this site's public JSON data and it works for Spain out of the box.

Official & useful links

• Immigration procedures (official)
• SEPE — national employment service
• Seguridad Social — registration & numbers
• EURES — EU job mobility portal

Deep dives: moving to Spain

• Moving to Spain from the USA — the honest guide — The four visa doors, real costs, the tax question, and the reasons NOT to come.
• The Spain work visa — The employer files it — requirements, salary floor, timing, and the no-job-offer answer.
• The NIE number, without the mystery — NIE vs TIE settled, both ways to get it, and the cita previa reality.
• Health insurance that qualifies for visas — The consulate checklist, the travel-insurance trap, and who needs it by route.
• Digital nomad visa checker — Six questions against the real requirements — income bar, remote rules, the W-2 catch.
• Non-lucrative visa checker — The 400% IPREM bar, dependents, and whether the nomad visa fits you better.

Not legal advice — always check the official sources linked above.