Sales Leadership recruitment
From first-line managers to CROs, sales leaders design the motion, hire the team and own the forecast. The wrong hire costs a year. The right one compounds.
What the job really covers
Sales leadership in a software company covers the people who build, run and are accountable for the sales team’s results: first-line sales managers who coach reps, directors and VPs of sales who own regional or global targets, and chief revenue officers who own the whole revenue number across sales, and often marketing and customer success.
- Hiring, ramping and coaching a team to consistent attainment
- Setting territories, quotas and comp plans with Finance and RevOps
- Running a forecast the board can trust
- Redesigning the motion as the company moves upmarket or into new regions
Titles we recruit
- Sales Manager
- Director of Sales
- Head of Sales
- VP Sales
- Regional VP
- Country Manager
- General Manager
- Chief Revenue Officer
What we assess, and how
Every shortlist comes with notes on all four- 01
Team results, not personal
Attainment spread across their team over time, and how many reps they promoted. - 02
Hiring track record
Who they hired, who they let go, and why. We reference both. - 03
Forecast discipline
How close they called the quarter, and how consistently. - 04
Stage fit
Series A builder or IPO-ready operator. We're honest about which they are.
A question we always ask
“Show me your last four quarters' forecast against actual.”
Pay benchmarks
Indicative 2026 ranges from the TRG GTM Salary Guide. Varies by company stage and city.| Role | UK | US |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Manager (front line) | £85–110k base£140–190k OTE | $130–160k base$230–290k OTE |
| Sales Director / Head of Sales | £110–150k base£180–260k OTE | $160–200k base$280–360k OTE |
| VP Sales | £140–190k base£240–350k OTE | $170–230k base$290–420k OTE |
| Chief Revenue Officer | £180–250k base£300–450k OTE | $220–300k base$380–560k OTE |
Career path
- Sales Manager
- Director of Sales
- VP Sales
- CRO or GM
Tools of the trade
- Salesforce
- Clari
- Gong
- Looker
- Tableau
- Pigment
- Anaplan
Market notes
Many UK roles are 'first leader in EMEA', reporting to a US CRO. They need someone who can build from zero, still sell personally and manage across time zones.
UK sales leaders are often hired to run UK and Ireland or EMEA for a US company, or to lead a UK scale-up into new markets. London is the centre of the market, though many leaders work hybrid and travel. Three-month notice periods, and sometimes longer for C-level roles, are standard, and equity in UK private companies is often granted through EMI or other option schemes.
Exec Capital's 2026 guide puts mid-market (£15m–£100m revenue) sales director OTE at £160k–£260k and enterprise at £240k–£450k, and says CRO OTE typically sits 20–40% above a comparable sales director. Bravado reports a London VP Sales average base of about 166k and total compensation of about 292k, but displays it in dollars without stating whether it was converted, so we treat it as directional.
Hiring in the UK →Market notes
US VP Sales searches are usually retained and confidential. Investors and board members often join the final interviews.
In the US, VP of Sales and CRO searches are most active in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Boston and Austin, with many companies open to leaders based elsewhere who travel. Equity is a major part of senior packages, and candidates will look closely at vesting, strike price, refresh grants and acceleration on change of control.
RepVue's 2025 median for sales managers is $135k base / $255k OTE. Bravado reports a New York VP Sales average base of about $169k and total compensation of about $285k. The BLS median for all sales managers across industries is $148,270 (May 2025), below software-company levels. CRO ranges are our derivation from VP Sales data plus the 20–40% CRO premium; few public sources report CRO pay directly.
Hiring in the US →Sales leadership recruitment: CROs, VPs of Sales and sales directors, UK & US
Skills in demand
- Sales team leadership
- Forecasting
- Capacity and quota planning
- Territory design
- Sales methodology rollout
- Pipeline and deal inspection
- Coaching and manager development
- Hiring and onboarding
- Board reporting
- SaaS metrics (CAC payback, magic number, NRR)
- Cross-functional leadership
- Market entry
- Compensation plan design
What sales leaders do at each level
A first-line sales manager runs a team of typically six to ten AEs or SDRs. Their job is to hire, coach and hold the team to a number: weekly pipeline reviews, deal inspection, call coaching, forecasting and performance management. They are the most important and most under-invested role in many sales organisations, because the quality of front-line management sets the quality of execution.
A director or VP of sales owns a larger target, often across several teams, segments or regions. They design territories and quotas with RevOps, decide how to segment the market, build the hiring plan, set the sales process and methodology, and report the forecast to the executive team and the board. In a scale-up the VP of sales is often the first senior sales hire after the founders.
A chief revenue officer owns the company’s whole revenue engine. In many SaaS companies that means sales, and also some or all of marketing, customer success, partnerships and revenue operations, with one plan for new and existing revenue. The CRO sits on the executive team, presents to the board and is judged on growth, efficiency and predictability.
- Hire, coach and develop sellers and managers
- Build territory, quota and capacity plans with RevOps and finance
- Set the sales process, methodology and deal inspection rhythm
- Own and present the forecast to the executive team and board
- Align sales with marketing, customer success and product
Roles we recruit
We recruit across sales leadership: first-line sales managers and team leads, regional and area sales directors, heads of sales at early-stage companies, VPs of sales, SVPs and chief revenue officers. We also recruit country managers and general managers who lead a market entry, such as a US company opening in the UK or a UK company launching in the US.
The right profile depends heavily on stage. A head of sales at a company with one to three million in ARR needs to sell, build and hire at the same time; a VP of sales at a company scaling from ten to fifty million needs to build managers, process and predictability; a CRO at a later-stage company needs to run a large, multi-function organisation efficiently. We start every leadership search by agreeing which of those problems you are hiring for.
For senior roles we usually run a retained search, with a full market map, a structured assessment and close involvement from your CEO, board or investors where appropriate.
- Sales manager and team lead
- Regional, area or segment sales director
- Head of Sales and VP of Sales
- Chief Revenue Officer and SVP Sales
- Country manager and GM for market entry
The numbers a sales leader is judged on
A sales leader’s record should be measured on team results over time, not just individual deals. We look at team quota attainment, the percentage of reps at or above quota, growth in bookings and ARR during their tenure, and forecast accuracy, which is often the first thing a board judges a new sales leader on.
Efficiency is now as important as growth. Many boards and investors look at measures such as the SaaS magic number, CAC payback and sales efficiency, and expect sales leaders to understand them. We ask candidates how their organisation performed on these and what they did to improve them.
People results matter too. How many managers did they develop or promote? What was regretted attrition in their team? How long did new reps take to ramp under their leadership? Leaders who build strong teams leave behind organisations that keep performing after they move on.
- Team quota attainment and percentage of reps at target
- ARR and bookings growth during tenure
- Forecast accuracy against commit
- Sales efficiency, CAC payback and magic number
- Ramp time, regretted attrition and managers developed
What we assess in sales leaders
We assess four things. First, commercial judgement: how they set and allocate targets, build capacity plans and choose where to compete. Second, operating rhythm: how they run forecast calls, pipeline reviews and deal inspection, and how they use data and RevOps. Third, people leadership: how they hire, coach, manage performance and build managers. Fourth, cross-functional leadership: how they work with marketing, customer success, product, finance and the board.
In interview, we use a case exercise based on your real situation, such as a 90-day plan for your current pipeline, or a capacity and hiring plan for next year’s target. It shows how candidates think, what questions they ask and whether their approach fits your stage.
We take detailed references for leadership hires, including from people who worked for the candidate, not just above them. Former direct reports are often the best judges of how a sales leader really behaves under pressure.
- Commercial judgement and planning
- Operating rhythm and forecasting discipline
- Hiring, coaching and building managers
- Cross-functional and board-level leadership
- Case exercise on your real situation, plus 360° references
How we run a sales leadership search
Leadership searches start with a detailed brief involving the CEO and, where relevant, investors. We agree the problem to solve, the targets, the team, the budget, the reporting line and what success looks like after six and twelve months. We also agree the assessment process and who decides.
We then map the market thoroughly: leaders at competitors, at adjacent companies with similar motions, and at companies one or two stages ahead of yours that have solved the problems you face. We approach candidates confidentially and give you regular updates on who we have spoken to, what they think of the opportunity and how the market sees your company.
We support you through assessment, references, compensation and offer, including equity, and then stay close through the leader’s first 90 days. Senior sales leaders often fail because of misaligned expectations rather than lack of skill, so we work to make the expectations explicit before they start.
- Brief with the CEO and board: problem, targets, success measures
- Full market map and confidential direct approach
- Weekly progress and market feedback
- Structured assessment with case exercise and 360° references
- Offer, equity and onboarding support through the first 90 days
Hiring challenges and how to avoid them
The most common mistake is hiring a leader from the wrong stage. A VP of sales who built a 200-person team at a large public company may struggle in a 20-person scale-up without a large support function, and the reverse is just as true. We test explicitly for stage fit.
The second is unclear ownership. If a new CRO is expected to fix marketing as well as sales but does not have authority over marketing, they will be judged on results they cannot control. We help you settle the scope before the search starts.
The third is short tenure. Sales leaders in SaaS change jobs often, and a new leader who leaves within 18 months can set a team back a year. We look closely at why candidates left each role and at how they handled difficult periods, and we prioritise people who have built something and stayed to see it work.
- Hire for your stage, not for the biggest logo
- Agree scope and authority before the search
- Check tenure and reasons for leaving in detail
- Involve the board early for CRO searches
- Make the 90-day and 12-month expectations explicit
Career paths into and through sales leadership
Most sales leaders start as strong AEs, move into team lead or first-line manager roles, then become directors and VPs. Some take the step to CRO by adding responsibility for customer success or marketing; others become chief executives or general managers, especially at earlier-stage companies.
Increasingly, sales leaders also come through revenue operations or sales development leadership, bringing strong data and process skills. Those profiles can be very effective in companies that need predictability more than heroics.
For candidates, we help assess whether a leadership move makes sense, how the role is set up to succeed and what the equity and compensation really mean, so they can make a decision with the full picture.
- AE → Team Lead → Sales Manager → Director → VP Sales
- VP Sales → CRO
- CRO → CEO or general manager
- Head of SDR or RevOps → VP Sales
- Country manager → regional or global sales leadership
Sales leadership metrics explained
Boards and investors increasingly judge sales leaders on efficiency as well as growth. These are the metrics most often discussed in our CRO and VP of sales searches, and the ones candidates should be ready to talk about.
No single number tells the full story. A leader who grew bookings quickly while CAC payback stretched to several years may have bought growth the company could not afford; one who held efficiency steady through a difficult market may have done the harder job.
We ask leadership candidates to explain the trend in each metric during their tenure and what they personally changed.
- Forecast accuracy: how close the committed forecast was to the actual result
- CAC payback: months of gross margin needed to recover the cost of acquiring a customer
- Magic number: new ARR in a quarter relative to the previous quarter’s sales and marketing spend
- Capacity plan: the number of ramped reps needed to hit a target, given productivity and attrition
- Percentage of reps at quota: a key signal of whether targets and territories are realistic
Our advice before you hire
Decide what stage of leader you need before you start. A leader who scaled from $50m to $200m ARR rarely enjoys building from $5m, and the reverse is just as true.
Brief us on a Sales Leadership role →Sales Leadership recruitment FAQs
A VP of Sales owns the new-business sales team and its number. A Chief Revenue Officer owns the company’s total revenue, usually across sales and some or all of marketing, customer success, partnerships and revenue operations, and sits on the executive team.
Usually once there is a repeatable sales motion and early evidence of product-market fit, often after a few AEs have hit target with the same pitch. Hiring a VP to find product-market fit is a common and expensive mistake; a hands-on head of sales is often the better first hire.
A retained leadership search typically takes 10 to 16 weeks from brief to accepted offer, plus notice. Building a full market map, running structured assessment and involving the board all take time, and they reduce the risk of an expensive mis-hire.
We assess commercial judgement, operating rhythm, people leadership and cross-functional leadership. We use a case exercise based on your real situation, and take 360° references including from people who reported to the candidate.
Yes. First-line sales managers are some of the most important hires in a sales team, and we recruit them alongside directors, VPs and CROs, both as individual hires and as part of team builds.
Sales leaders usually have a base salary, a variable element tied to team or company revenue, and, at most scale-ups, equity. See our 2026 salary guide for indicative ranges by level in the UK and US.