Lighting
Specialist sales recruitment for architectural, industrial, wholesale, emergency and smart lighting businesses across Australia.
Getting luminaires written into the drawings with lighting designers, architects and electrical consultants, then holding that spec through to order.
Selling through electrical wholesalers and contractors, where availability, pricing and branch relationships decide the sale.
Running a showroom or studio, the sample library and the walk-in design and trade traffic that comes with it.
Hunting new project work at the design end, usually across premium decorative, facade and feature lighting.
Owning the national retailers, wholesale groups, tier one contractors or major end users that carry the volume.
Leading a lighting sales team, setting territory and channel strategy, and carrying the state or national number.
Every figure below is base salary plus superannuation plus a vehicle or car allowance, quoted separately rather than bundled into one headline number.
| Role | Package range (base + super + vehicle) |
|---|---|
| Sales Representative / Account Manager | $80,000 to $110,000 |
| BDM / Specification Manager | $100,000 to $135,000 |
| Key Account Manager | $110,000 to $140,000 |
| State Sales Manager | $130,000 to $165,000 |
| National Sales Manager | $150,000 to $200,000+ |
These are the ranges observed in live Australian lighting briefs, not a survey.
I recruit across five lighting markets in Australia: architectural lighting, industrial lighting, wholesale lighting, emergency lighting, and smart lighting and controls.
Architectural lighting is specification led, sold to lighting designers, architects and interior designers well before a contractor sees the job. It sits close to the wider specification channel, which I cover on the architectural and design sector page. Industrial lighting covers high bay, warehouse, mining and hazardous area work, where performance data and payback matter more than aesthetics. Wholesale lighting runs through electrical wholesalers and contractors, and rewards reps who can hold branch relationships and move volume.
Emergency lighting is almost its own industry, built around AS/NZS 2293 compliance, monitoring and testing regimes. Smart lighting and controls covers DALI-2, addressable systems, sensors and building integration, and it is the segment pulling the most new talent in. For the full market picture, including the brands and how product actually gets sold, read the Australian lighting industry profile.
250+ placements since 2017
4.97 out of 5 on SEEK from 34 reviews
Specified Select rated 4.96 out of 5 on SEEK from 62 reviews
I recruit lighting sales roles nationally as a specialist rather than a generalist, with 250+ placements across building products since 2017 and a 4.97 out of 5 rating on SEEK from 34 reviews. Lighting is one of three core markets I work in, alongside building envelope and the architecture and design channel. That means I already know the brands, the wholesale groups and the specification agents, so a brief does not start with a market lesson.
A BDM or Specification Manager in lighting typically sits at $100,000 to $135,000 base plus superannuation plus a vehicle or car allowance, with commission on top. Sales Representatives and Account Managers run $80,000 to $110,000 on the same basis. Premium architectural brands and roles carrying a genuine designer network pay at the upper end of the band.
Specification roles are the hardest, because the person has to be credible with a lighting designer and an electrical engineer, and still able to defend the spec against a substitute at the contractor stage. Emergency and life safety sales is the next hardest, as it needs AS/NZS 2293 competence that very few sales people carry. State and national leadership roles are slower again, mainly because the pool of people who have run a lighting team in Australia is small and most of them are known to each other.
Hiring in lighting, or thinking about your next move in it? Let's talk.