IT Jobs in Spain

Spain is a popular destination for Brits and this includes workers in IT. This is due to the attractive lifestyle and large number of ex-pats living and working in Spain.

There are a variety of IT jobs in Spain advertised on Technojobs – to view the latest vacancies visit our Spain Jobs listing.

Living in Spain

Spain is attractive due to the hot weather, the more relaxed lifestyle and the lower cost of living relative to the UK. English is widely spoken; however being able to communicate in Spanish will definitely aid your working life in Spain and your job opportunities. There is a huge ex-pat community in Spain – though a lot of this is based on coastal areas especially on the south coast.

Whilst there are IT jobs in these tourist areas such as the Costa Del Sol, primarily IT jobs in Spain are found in the main cities of Spain. These are primarily the capital City Madrid and also Barcelona.

Additionally, some IT workers, especially contractors will work remotely whilst based in Spain such as contractor web developers and web designers who are able to effectively work remotely.

Working in Spain

For the English-speaking worker, the employment opportunities in Spain are many and varied. IT jobs in Spain are varied and include

Spain is a member of the European Union and has signed up to an agreement that allows citizens from other EU countries to enter Spain without the need for a visa. If you are an EU citizen planning to work in Spain you can do so for a period of up to three months before you have to register yourself.

If you're an EU national you have as much right to work in Spain as a Spaniard. But if you intend to stay in the country for more than 90 days you'll need to apply for a resident's permit (residencia). Strictly speaking you should apply within 15 days of your arrival in Spain but there are few people who actually do this simply because they don't know at the outset whether they intend to stay permanently or not. Applying for a resident's card can be a bureaucratic nightmare so most people prefer to spend some time looking for work and securing a job before getting involved in too much red tape.

The top rate of personal income tax was reduced from 45% to 43% in 2007. The standard corporation tax has been cut from 35% in 2006 to 32.5% in 2007 and 30% from 2008. The standard rate of capital gains tax is 15% (for assets held for more than one year), to be raised to 18% over the next four years, to bring it in line with a new flat-rate 18% tax on all earnings from savings (except pensions plans). The standard rate of value-added tax is 16%. Wealth tax was abolished in 2008.

The Spanish Economy

The Spanish economy grew every year from 1994 through 2008 before entering a recession that started in the third quarter of 2008. Spain's mixed capitalist economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is approaching that of the largest West European economies.

The global economic downturn of 2008/2009 has and will continue to have a direct impact on the Spanish economy in parallel with the rest of Europe. The tightening of lending criteria and contracting domestic and external demand is likely to continue until at least the end of 2009 and this has impacted to an extent the availability of IT jobs in Spain.

However, Spain's banks and financial services largely avoided the huge problems of their counterparts in the Anglo-Saxon economies, largely due to the more vigilant regulatory regime in Spain. In fact Santander Bank actually came to the assistance of the UK government's bail-out of part of the UK banking sector.

Santander Bank is considered very solid and secure. Santander is the biggest financial employer in Spain even though 68% of their workforce works outside of Spain. BBVA is another big bank and employer of IT jobs in Spain. According to the World Bank, Spain's economy is the eighth largest worldwide and the fifth largest in Europe. The Spanish economy has thus been regarded lately as one of the most dynamic within the EU, attracting significant amounts of foreign investment.

Therefore due to the economic growth and attractive lifestyle IT jobs in Spain have been a very attractive proposition for Brits working abroad.