How to find a French company’s director, HR or finance director and their email

You know which company you want to win. Two things are missing: who to write to, and how to reach them. A message to contact@ lands in a shared inbox. It rarely reaches the person who decides.

This guide starts from that person. It covers what the free French company sites tell you, what they leave out, and how to find the LinkedIn profile and work email of the director, the HR director or the finance director.

This article is written by the FindMyLead team, one of the tools compared. The other tools’ prices were read on their pages on 14 October 2026, with links.

Who to aim at: the director, then the function you serve

In a company of 10 to 49 people, the director picks most suppliers. Aim at them first.

If you sell to a function, aim at the head of that function:

• an HR service, a recruitment firm, a training course: the HR director (DRH);
• an accountant, a management tool, financial advice: the finance director (DAF);
• a sales tool or sales training: the sales director;
• managed IT or cybersecurity: the IT director, or the director when there is none.

In a small firm these roles do not always exist. The director often holds them.

What the free company sites tell you

The sites that republish official French company data give the director’s name for free.

On Pappers, without an account, a company’s page lists its directors and legal representatives: name, role, age and start date. Pappers says its data comes from INSEE, INPI and BODACC (Pappers home page). Example: Doctolib’s page on Pappers, read on 14 October 2026, names its chairman and the date he took office.

On Societe.com, the free plan also shows the directors and their mandate (Doctolib’s page on Societe.com). The site names its sources: infolegale, Infogreffe, INSEE and the CRNS.

What they do not tell you

These sites answer one question: who legally represents the company. They do not answer your two.

• Who to write to. They list the chairman or the manager, not the HR director, the finance director or the sales director.
• How to reach them. On Pappers, the company’s phone and email are reserved for logged-in users; they are not the director’s. On Societe.com, plain-text phone numbers come with the PLUS plan, at €16.90 excluding VAT a month on a 12-month commitment (Societe.com plans, read on 14 October 2026).
• Their LinkedIn profile. Neither links the director to it.

These sites give you a name. The rest is found elsewhere.

LinkedIn, by hand

LinkedIn remains the most direct way to find a person by job title.

1. Open the company’s page, then the “People” tab.
2. Search by title: “gérant”, “directeur général”, “DRH”, “ressources humaines”, “DAF”, “directeur commercial”.
3. Check that the job is current and that the person really works there.

A profile’s contact details are visible only if the person allows it, often to their connections only. For one company, that is a few minutes. For fifty, half a day.

Sales Navigator adds, among others, a company-size filter. The Core plan starts at €120.99 a month per licence, and LinkedIn says its prices may exclude VAT (Sales Navigator plans page). That page mentions neither emails nor phone numbers.

Guess the email format

Most companies use one format for every employee. The most common in France:

• firstname.lastname@company.fr;
• f.lastname@company.fr;
• firstname@company.fr;
• lastname.firstname@company.fr.

Find one employee’s address on the website, a press release or a signature, and apply its format to the director’s name. Then verify the address before writing. A made-up address that bounces hurts your sending domain’s reputation: see our guide to email deliverability.

The company’s website

Look at the “Team”, “About” and “Mentions légales” pages. The legal notice often names the publication director, who is often the company director. Press releases and job ads sometimes name the HR director.

The tools: what they do and what they cost

Kaspr

Kaspr is a Chrome extension. On a LinkedIn profile you open, it shows the person’s email and phone number. It needs your LinkedIn account, with at least 20 connections (Kaspr FAQ). The Starter plan costs €59 a month per user with no commitment (Kaspr pricing, help center). You first have to find the person on LinkedIn. More in our Kaspr alternatives compared.

Dropcontact

Dropcontact starts from a name and a company and finds the work email. It says it “does not use any contact databases”: its algorithms work the address out. It is not a search by job title. The Starter plan costs €29 a month for 500 credits, and 50 credits are free (Dropcontact pricing page).

Hunter

Hunter starts from a company’s website and shows the addresses it found, or looks up one person from their name. Its addresses come from analysing websites (Hunter’s data page). The free plan gives 50 credits a month, the Starter plan 2,000 credits for €49 a month (Hunter pricing page).

FindMyLead

FindMyLead starts from the person. You describe who you want in one sentence, and the AI turns it into criteria shown on screen: job, place, company size, sector. Example: “Finance managers of companies with 50 to 250 employees in Bordeaux”, 197 people in October 2026 (the managers’ use case).

Seeing and counting the people is free. A credit pays for one contact and their LinkedIn profile, when you add them to a list. Their work email is looked up at no extra credit, found or not. The AI then writes a LinkedIn message and an email for each person, which you review.

FindMyLead costs €69 a month for 500 credits, for the whole team. VAT does not apply: the price shown is the price paid (our pricing). It never acts on your LinkedIn account: you send the prepared message yourself. It does not give mobile numbers yet.

Which method for which case

• One company: the register for the name, LinkedIn for the profile, the format for the email.
• A list of names without emails: a tool that starts from the name, such as Dropcontact or Hunter.
• Dozens of people by job, place and size: a people search, which gives the name and the LinkedIn profile, then looks up the email.
• A mobile number: an extension such as Kaspr, from the LinkedIn profile.

Before writing, read what GDPR allows in B2B prospecting: you must tell each recipient where their details came from.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find a French company director’s name for free?

Open the company’s page on Pappers or Societe.com. Both show the director’s name, role and mandate date without an account.

How do I find a director’s email?

Start from their name and the company’s website. Apply the format of the company’s other addresses, or use a tool that starts from the name, then verify the address before sending.

How do I find a company’s HR director?

The registers do not list them. Search “DRH” or “ressources humaines” in the “People” tab of the company’s LinkedIn page, or describe the job, place and size in a people search tool.

Can I write to a director without their consent?

Yes, at their work address, if your offer concerns their profession. You tell them where their details came from, and they must be able to stop further messages with one reply.