Skip to main content
Country Guide Known as “CV”

Spanish CV Format: How to Write a Spanish CV (2026)

Navigating the Spain job market requires a document that matches local expectations. The standard Spanish CV format is concise, structured, and built around conventions that differ from the North American resume.

Length is a key signal in Spain: 1–2 pages; 1 page for graduates and junior roles, up to 2 for experienced professionals..

Spanish recruiters value concise, well-structured CVs.. The photo rule is Optional but traditional. A plain, professional passport-style photo (neutral background, no selfies) is common, especially when emailing a CV directly or applying to smaller companies..

Larger and international firms increasingly omit it.. Dates follow Day / Month / Year (DD/MM/YYYY, e.g. 12/06/2025) or written as “June 2025”. Spain follows the European convention; never write MM/DD/YYYY.. These are the details recruiters notice first, so they anchor this guide.

Personal details follow a clear local standard: Name, phone (with +34 from abroad), professional email, city, and LinkedIn URL. Date of birth and marital status are optional and increasingly dropped..

Never include your NIE or DNI (Spanish tax and ID numbers), bank details, or religion.. Section order matters too: Contact details → Personal profile or objective (2–4 lines) → Work experience (reverse-chronological) → Education → Skills (technical + languages) → Certifications → References (“References available on request” is accepted)..

Recent graduates may put Education before Work experience.. Each section below explains the reasoning behind the rule, not just the rule itself.

This guide covers the Spanish CV format end to end, with example content for software engineer at every career level. Use it to write a cv that passes the first screening.

Use This CV Example Build Your CV Free

Spanish CV Format at a Glance

Document type
CV: “CV” or currículum is the standard term in Spain. Applications are made in Spanish for most local roles and in English for tech and international companies. A cover letter (carta de presentación) is expected for most roles.
Typical length
1–2 pages; 1 page for graduates and junior roles, up to 2 for experienced professionals. Spanish recruiters value concise, well-structured CVs.
Photo
Optional but traditional. A plain, professional passport-style photo (neutral background, no selfies) is common, especially when emailing a CV directly or applying to smaller companies. Larger and international firms increasingly omit it.
Date format
Day / Month / Year (DD/MM/YYYY, e.g. 12/06/2025) or written as “June 2025”. Spain follows the European convention; never write MM/DD/YYYY.
Paper size
A4.
Personal details
Name, phone (with +34 from abroad), professional email, city, and LinkedIn URL. Date of birth and marital status are optional and increasingly dropped. Never include your NIE or DNI (Spanish tax and ID numbers), bank details, or religion.
Section order
Contact details → Personal profile or objective (2–4 lines) → Work experience (reverse-chronological) → Education → Skills (technical + languages) → Certifications → References (“References available on request” is accepted). Recent graduates may put Education before Work experience.
ATS friendliness
High; Spanish multinationals and IT companies (Google Madrid, Meta, Banco Santander, Telefónica, Indra) screen with ATS. Use standard headings, a clean single column, no tables or graphics, and PDF export. Mirror keywords from the job description.

Spanish CV Examples

Real Spanish CVs written to these conventions across three experience levels. Switch tabs to review each, then load it straight into the builder to make it your own.

L

Lucía García

Software Engineer (Graduate)

Entry Level lucía.garcí[email protected] Madrid, Spain

Professional Summary

Entry Level software engineer (graduate) with experience at Google (Madrid) and Glovo (Barcelona) in Madrid, Spain. Skilled in Kotlin, Java and Spring Boot, with a focus on reliability and clean architecture. Following the standard Spanish CV format.

Work Experience

Software Engineer (Graduate)
07/2025 – Present

Google (Madrid) · Madrid, Spain

  • Ship customer-facing features in the payments using Kotlin, Java and Spring Boot, following team code review and CI/CD practice.
  • Reduced API response time by 22% by introducing response caching in a payments endpoint.
  • Fixed 40+ production issues across two quarters, maintaining a 99.9% service uptime record.
  • Pair with senior engineers on system design and observability, contributing to the team's on-call rota.
Software Engineering Intern
01/2025 – 06/2025

Glovo (Barcelona) · Madrid, Spain

  • Built a reporting dashboard in React and Python that cut weekly report generation from 3 hours to 20 minutes.
  • Wrote 60+ unit and integration tests, raising feature coverage on the module to 92%.
  • Presented the project to 150+ staff at the local office; offer extended.

Education

BSc Computer Science
2021 – 2025

Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) · Madrid

Focused on computer science fundamentals, distributed systems, and software engineering.

Skills

TypeScript & JavaScript (Experienced) React & Node.js (Experienced) Python (Skillful) SQL (PostgreSQL) (Skillful) AWS (S3, Lambda) (Skillful) Git & CI/CD (GitHub Actions) (Experienced)

Certifications & Links

  • AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials
  • GitHub portfolio with 25+ public repositories
  • LinkedIn profile linked in the header
Use This Example

How to Write a Spanish CV: Step-by-Step

1

Open With Contact Details and a Short Personal Profile

Start with your name, phone (use +34 from abroad), a professional email address, city, and LinkedIn URL.

Date of birth and marital status are optional and increasingly dropped.

Never include your NIE or DNI (Spanish tax and ID numbers) or bank details.

Follow with a 2–4 line personal profile:

who you are, your specialism, and what you bring.

Example

"Software Engineer with 3 years' experience building payments platforms in Madrid. Skilled in Java, Kotlin, and AWS, with a focus on reliability and clean architecture. Seeking a full-time role in a Spanish product team."

Entry Level

Keep the profile to 2–3 lines: your degree, internships, and core languages.

Mid Level

Lead with years of experience, your stack, and the products or teams you have shipped for.

Senior Level

Summarise scope: systems owned, team size led, architecture decisions, and business impact.

2

List Work Experience Reverse-Chronological With Quantified Achievements

List roles most recent first with job title, company, city, and dates in DD/MM/YYYY or month-year format.

Write 3–5 achievement-led bullets per role;

"cut API response time by 40% by introducing caching" beats "responsible for backend development".

Spanish recruiters want results, not responsibilities, so quantify impact in every bullet.

Example

"Software Engineer. Glovo, Barcelona, 06/2022 – Present. Migrated a payments service to Kubernetes, cutting deployment time from 40 to 8 minutes and improving on-call resolution by 30%."

Entry Level

Detail internships, thesis projects, and open-source contributions with measurable outcomes.

Mid Level

Quantify features shipped, systems owned, uptime or latency improvements, and team collaboration.

Senior Level

Highlight architecture decisions, team leadership, mentoring, and business impact in revenue or efficiency.

3

Place Education With Spanish Institutions Prominently

Spanish employers recognise the local university system:

Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), and the University of Barcelona.

List your degree, institution, dates, and grade where strong.

Recent graduates place education before work experience;

experienced engineers keep it after.

Mention certifications (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) in a separate line.

Example

"MSc Computer Science, Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), 2018–2020. Thesis: 'Scalable stream processing for e-commerce analytics' (Grade: 9.5/10)."

Entry Level

Lead with your degree, grades, and thesis or capstone project.

Mid Level

Add professional certifications and any continued education alongside the degree.

Senior Level

Keep education brief; lead with certifications and any leadership training.

4

Show Key Skills and Language Assets

Use a short skills section with 6–10 competencies mirroring the job description:

languages (Java, Kotlin, Go, Python, TypeScript), frameworks (React, Spring), and platforms (AWS, GCP, Kubernetes).

Spanish tech companies screen with ATS, so keyword match and clean parsing decide the first cut.

English fluency matters at international firms;

Spanish is expected at local ones.

Example

"Java · Kotlin · Go · Python · React · Spring Boot · AWS (S3, Lambda, ECS) · Kubernetes · Terraform · CI/CD (GitHub Actions) · SQL (PostgreSQL) · Spanish (native) · English (C1)."

Entry Level

List languages and frameworks from coursework and internships honestly.

Mid Level

Add depth: cloud certifications, distributed systems, observability, and testing practice.

Senior Level

Focus on architecture, scaling, security, and leadership skills (system design, incident command, mentoring).

5

Close With References and a Clear Right-To-Work Line

Spanish convention is to write "References available on request";

never list referee contact details on the CV itself.

If you are not an EU/EEA citizen, state your work permission clearly:

"Work permit holder" or "EU Blue Card holder".

Spanish employers sponsor work permits for skilled roles, and being upfront about your status saves everyone time.

Example

"References available on request. Right to work: EU Blue Card holder (sponsorship current)."

Entry Level

Use your university careers office and a thesis supervisor or internship mentor as referees.

Mid Level

Prefer two professional referees: a current engineering manager and a senior colleague.

Senior Level

List a director of engineering and a peer tech lead who can verify leadership outcomes.

6

Use Spanish or English, A4, and an ATS-Clean Layout

Spanish is standard for local roles;

English is standard for tech and international companies.

Write in the language of the job ad.

Use A4 with a clean 10–11pt font and 2.54cm margins.

Save as a PDF named Nombre_Apellido_CV.pdf.

Use a single column;

Spanish multinationals run ATS and multi-column layouts parse badly.

Proofread carefully.

Example

"Save as Garcia_Lucia_CV.pdf and mention relevant keywords from the job description."

Entry Level

Have your university careers office review the CV before applying.

Mid Level

Check every date and certification is exact; gaps read as hiding something.

Senior Level

Verify all certifications and permits have current dates; keep it to two pages.

What Makes the Spanish Cv Different

The Spanish CV format stands apart from its neighbours in a few concrete ways.

The length rule (1–2 pages;

1 page for graduates and junior roles, up to 2 for experienced professionals.

Spanish recruiters value concise, well-structured CVs.), the photo stance (Optional but traditional.

A plain, professional passport-style photo (neutral background, no selfies) is common, especially when emailing a CV directly or applying to smaller companies.

Larger and international firms increasingly omit it.), and the date convention (Day / Month / Year (DD/MM/YYYY, e.g.

12/06/2025) or written as “June 2025”.

Spain follows the European convention;

never write MM/DD/YYYY.) all signal local awareness.

Write every experience bullet with numbers.

Spanish recruiters compare candidates on measurable outcomes:

latency reduced, revenue grown, costs cut.

Each bullet should start with a strong action verb and end with a quantified result.

Finally, tailor the document to the specific job ad.

Identify the top three requirements and mirror them in your summary, skills, and experience bullets.

Generic CVs are screened out quickly in this market.

Madrid and Barcelona software engineer salaries in 2026 run roughly €25k–€40k for juniors, €40k–€65k for mid-level, and €65k–€100k+ for senior roles (WhatIsTheSalary, 2026), and both cities host Google, Meta, and Stripe engineering offices.

Key Skills Valued in Spain

Technical Skills

Programming languages relevant to the roleCloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)Container orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker)CI/CD and IaC (GitHub Actions, Terraform)Databases and data pipelines (PostgreSQL, Kafka)Observability (Prometheus, Grafana)

Soft Skills

Clear written and verbal communicationTeam collaboration and code reviewProblem-solving under pressureTime management and delivery focusStakeholder communicationContinuous learning

Keywords and Terminology for Spanish Cvs

Using the right keywords is the only way to pass an ATS screen and reach a human recruiter.

Extract them from the job description and mirror the exact wording:

job title, required skills, and tools.

Job-ad keywords (mirror the wording exactly)Languages and frameworks the team usesPlatforms and tools (cloud, CI/CD, databases)Practice terms (agile, testing, observability)Local qualification and certification terms

How Experience Is Presented in a Spanish Cv

Experience is the core of the document, written reverse-chronologically with the most recent role first.

Each role shows the job title, company, city, and dates, followed by achievement-led bullets with numbers.

Entry Level

Focus on internships, projects, and transferable skills; show reliability and a fast learning curve.

Mid Level

Show ownership: features shipped, systems run, and improvements measured in numbers.

Senior Level

Show scale: teams led, architectures owned, budgets or revenue impact, and mentoring outcomes.

Tailoring Your Cv to Spanish Employers

Tailoring means adjusting the lens, not rewriting your history.

Identify the top three priorities in the job ad and make sure they appear in your summary and your first skills.

Match the ad's language exactly.

Common Spanish Cv Mistakes to Avoid

Avoid these errors that regularly get applications rejected in Spain:

1. Getting the length wrong: 1–2 pages; 1 page for graduates and junior roles, up to 2 for experienced professionals. Spanish recruiters value concise, well-structured CVs. is the local standard.

2. Ignoring the photo rule: Optional but traditional. A plain, professional passport-style photo (neutral background, no selfies) is common, especially when emailing a CV directly or applying to smaller companies. Larger and international firms increasingly omit it.

3. Using the wrong date format: use Day / Month / Year (DD/MM/YYYY, e.g. 12/06/2025) or written as “June 2025”. Spain follows the European convention; never write MM/DD/YYYY. consistently.

4. Including personal details that local practice excludes: Name, phone (with +34 from abroad), professional email, city, and LinkedIn URL. Date of birth and marital status are optional and increasingly dropped. Never include your NIE or DNI (Spanish tax and ID numbers), bank details, or religion.

5. Listing duties instead of achievements; quantified results win every time.

Spain Job Market and Salary Outlook

The Spain job market in 2026 remains active for software engineers, with demand concentrated in the major cities.

Understanding the typical salary brackets for your level helps you calibrate your examples and negotiate with confidence.

LevelTypical annual salary (EUR, gross)Typical CV length
Entry Level€25,000–€40,0001 page
Mid Level€40,000–€65,0001–2 pages
Senior Level€65,000–€100,000+2 pages

Source: WhatIsTheSalary + SpainJobs.io Spanish software engineer salary data, 2026 (approximate gross ranges, see sources)

Key Tips for Writing a Spanish CV

  • Tip 1: Save as a clean, selectable PDF named FirstName_LastName_Role_Cv.pdf.
  • Tip 2: Use a professional email address; never a personal-sounding handle.
  • Tip 3: Include the correct international dialling code on your phone number.
  • Tip 4: Keep the length to the local standard: 1–2 pages; 1 page for graduates and junior roles, up to 2 for experienced professionals. Spanish recruiters value concise, well-structured CVs..
  • Tip 5: Mirror the job ad's keywords verbatim for ATS screens.
  • Tip 6: Have a careers service or a trusted colleague proofread before sending.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a photo on my Spanish CV?

A photo is optional but traditional. A plain, professional passport-style photo (neutral background, no selfies) is common, especially when emailing a CV directly or applying to smaller companies. Larger and international firms increasingly omit it, so follow the job ad and company style.

Should I include my date of birth, NIE, or DNI on a Spanish CV?

No. Date of birth and marital status are optional and increasingly dropped. Never include your NIE or DNI (Spanish tax and ID numbers), bank details, or religion on a CV, as they are sensitive personal data. Keep the header to name, city, phone, email, and LinkedIn.

How long should a Spanish CV be?

One to two pages: one page for graduates and junior roles, up to two for experienced professionals. Spanish recruiters value concise, well-structured CVs, so every line must earn its place.

Can international applicants work in Spain and how do I show it on my CV?

EU/EEA citizens work freely in Spain. Non-EU applicants need a work permit, usually sponsored by the employer, or a digital nomad visa for remote work. Show your status clearly on the CV, for example "EU Blue Card holder", so employers can screen eligibility early.

What does a software engineer CV look like in Spain?

A 1–2 page, ATS-clean single column: contact details, a short personal profile, work experience reverse-chronological with quantified achievements, education (UPM, UPC, UAM, University of Barcelona), a keyword-matched skills section, and "References available on request".

Madrid and Barcelona tech salaries run roughly €25k–€40k at entry, €40k–€65k mid, and €65k–€100k+ for senior roles, so tailor your examples to the level you are applying for.

Conventions verified for 2026 and based on well-established Spanish recruitment practice.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the following authoritative sources.

Related Countries

France Italy Portugal Germany

Related Resume Guides

Software Engineer Resume Guide Software Developer Resume Guide Full Stack Developer Resume Guide Data Scientist Resume Guide Devops Engineer Resume Guide

Build Your Free Spanish CV

Our AI-powered builder helps you create a professional, ATS-optimized cv in minutes. Choose a template, customize the content, and download as PDF for free.

Start Building Your CV