Working in Spain as an expat
The practical basics for finding and starting an English-speaking job in Spain. Not legal advice — always check the official sources linked below.
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.
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). Big multinationals sponsor routinely; small firms rarely do.
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.
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
Every sector hub opens with a short guide to how hiring actually works in that industry here — when employers hire, what gets applications opened, salary reality, and where the openings really appear:
- Architecture (colegiación, portfolio norms, the September wave) · 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
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 card in the sector hubs has an ⧉ AI prompt button — it copies a ready-made prompt bundling that employer's researched 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.