The job market in Thailand remains active, but employers are hiring more selectively, scrutinizing senior roles more closely, and demanding clearer commercial results from managers and executives.
There is something happening in Thailand’s senior job market that deserves more attention. Companies are still hiring, and money is still going into manufacturing, technology, logistics, hospitality, retail, and other sectors. At the same time, companies are becoming more cautious about senior headcount, especially expensive senior headcount.
That creates an unusual market. You can have demand for new General Managers, Managing Directors, functional heads, commercial directors, and technology executives at exactly the same time as other companies are cutting experienced executives from their organizations.
That is what I see right now in executive search in Thailand.
Why the Thailand executive job market is getting tougher
The job market in Thailand has always been difficult for non-Thais. That is nothing new. What has changed is how many foreign executives have contacted me over the past 12 to 18 months after losing their jobs.
Many of them were not terminated because of poor performance. Most employers removed the position, blaming cost reduction and concern about what might come next.
Some were worried about geopolitics. Others were concerned about weaker growth in Thailand or were under pressure from regional or global headquarters to simplify structures, reduce expensive expatriate positions, or move responsibilities elsewhere in Asia.
If you are fired because you failed, that is one situation. If your company removes your role because your compensation package has become difficult to justify, that is something very different.
Unfortunately, the job market does not care very much about the reason. Once you are unemployed, you compete against candidates who are still employed, and that makes your situation immediately more difficult.
As a headhunter in Bangkok, I would therefore tell any foreign executive in Thailand to ask a difficult question:
- What would happen if your company had to cut 10 or 15 percent of management costs tomorrow? Would your role survive?
What salary increases are expected in Thailand in 2027?
Aon has now published one of the first useful indications for 2027. Thailand employers increased salaries by an average 4.5 percent in 2026 and are budgeting 4.6 percent for 2027. Life sciences and medical devices stand out, with projected salary increases of 5.3 percent for 2027.
Adecco’s 2026 Thailand data shows a much more divided market. Mid-level through senior executive salaries increased about 10 to 20 percent, while multinational CEOs, Chief AI Officers and some General Managers can reach THB 800,000 per month.
Other C-suite positions typically sit around THB 500,000 to THB 700,000. Adecco also found that 72 percent of professionals did not plan to change jobs within twelve months, while only 23 percent were actively looking.
The implication is obvious. Salary inflation across the workforce remains modest, but scarce senior talent can still require a substantial premium to move. Clients who benchmark a search against annual merit increases may badly underestimate the cost of attracting a sitting executive. This is particularly relevant when you approach passive candidates who already have a job with bonus, provident fund, and long-service benefits.
These recent appointments show how boards fill top jobs
Several recent appointments show how boards are filling top jobs, although I would not claim that a handful of appointments proves a market-wide trend.
KPMG appointed Abhisit Pinmaneekul as CEO for Thailand, Myanmar and Laos from 1 October. He came from inside KPMG, where he had led the tax practice. That is classic internal succession.
Asia Plus took a different route. It appointed Kris Panijpan as CEO from 1 October. He came from outside the organization, with investment banking and private-equity experience, at a time when Asia Plus wants to strengthen brokerage, technology and wealth management.
Allianz provides a third model, cross-border internal mobility. Sanghun Park moved from Allianz Re into Thailand as Deputy CEO of Allianz Ayudhya General Insurance on 1 October, ahead of becoming CEO in January 2027. Lars Heibutzki will also move into the Thailand country leadership role in January.
These examples are a reminder that headquarters, regional management, CEOs, and boards should ask one simple question.
If one of your top three executives left tomorrow, do you have someone internally who could genuinely take over?
That question exposes succession risk before the vacancy exists.
What should employers and executives watch next?
Until the next job market update, we should all check whether companies continue to reduce expensive senior positions, particularly expatriate roles, even when performance is not the issue.
Also, watch whether salary pressure for hard-to-find executives moves further up and away from the modest increases for the wider workforce.
Finally, pay attention to where major employers are investing, restructuring, or moving regional responsibilities, because those decisions often signal where the next senior-management opportunities will appear.
