AbstractBackgroundNurses capable of adequately developing their competencies in the management field are essential for the sustainability of health‐care organizations. Such competencies should be included in a model of specific competencies.AimThe aim of this research is to propose a competency model for nurse executives.MethodsThe Delphi method was applied to reach a consensus on the required competencies, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to determine the construct validity and reduce the data set's dimensionality. Consensus was defined based on at least 80% of the experts agreeing with the proposed competencies. For each competency, the development levels were beginner, advanced beginner, competent, highly competent and expert.ResultsFrom among the 51 competencies that were identified to define a model for nurse executives, decision‐making, leadership and communication stood out. The PCA indicated the structural validity of the proposed model by saturation of the principal components (Cronbach's α > 0.631).ConclusionNurses wishing to develop their professional careers as nurse executives must first develop the competencies shown in the proposed model. Nurse executives should follow the educational programmes specified in this study, to adapt their knowledge to this role's requirements.