Local hire vs distributor — what does Europe really cost?
Pick a country, configure the team you'd hire, and we'll compute the real Year 1 cost (salary + social charges + office + comp plan + sales support) — then show what the equivalent distributor margin path costs. Side-by-side, deterministic, no marketing claims.
Step 1 — Target country
Salary benchmarks differ widely. Switzerland + Norway are 1.5–2× DACH; Spain + Portugal + Poland are 0.5–0.7×.
Used to compute distributor margin equivalent. Default €500K.
Step 2 — Team composition
Click each role to add to the launch team. Typical Year 1 medical device launch: 1 Country Manager + 1 Sales Manager + 1 KAM.
Step 3 — Setup & opex
Non-payroll costs add 15–25% to the team build.
Step 4 — Distributor comparison
What margin would you pay a distributor for the same Year 1 revenue?
Editor's note from Miguel
This estimator is calibrated against actual 2024–2026 European MedTech salary surveys (Robert Half, Hays, Michael Page) and my own Country Manager P&L experience at the Portuguese affiliate of a medtech company. The single biggest mistake non-EU manufacturers make: underestimating social charges. Employer social charges in France, Belgium, Italy are 35–45% on top of gross salary — they double the apparent cost. In contrast, Switzerland and UK are 15–25% but base salaries are higher. The distributor path looks expensive at 35–45% margin but saves the full fixed cost stack — which is why most non-EU launches start there and migrate to direct sales only after €3–5M revenue per country justifies the overhead.
Country Manager · Portuguese affiliate of a medtech company. Recruited 13 team members across Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Tech Service, Invoicing. Direct P&L responsibility — and a few hard lessons on how social charges hit Year 2 EBITDA.
Assumptions and limitations
Base salaries are 2026 averages for MedTech-experienced hires, weighted to capital cities. Social charges include employer contributions (pension, healthcare, unemployment) per country. Comp plan = 20% of base for sales roles (commission accrual). Office costs are co-working equivalent in capital cities. Entity setup is one-time (amortized across horizon). Demo stock is Year 1 only. Marketing is Year 1 only. Distributor margin is applied to gross revenue. This is an estimator, not a P&L — it shows order of magnitude, not bookable forecast. For your specific scenario, talk to Fractio.
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