Chief commercial officer · job description template

Chief commercial officer job description

The short answer · updated 3 October 2026

A chief commercial officer job description sets out the executive role that owns how a company earns from its markets. The core responsibilities are the commercial strategy and revenue model, pricing and margin, leading sales, marketing and key accounts, negotiating major contracts and partnerships, and reporting commercial performance to the chief executive and the board.

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Job purpose

Start with why the role exists now. The Institute of Directors describes commercial leaders as responsible for planning, developing and implementing commercial strategies to support business development and growth. A CCO does that across the whole company, at executive-committee level. Name the commercial problem the next CCO has to solve: growth that has stalled, margin under pressure, a new market, a change of revenue model, or several commercial teams that do not pull together. For the role itself, see what does a chief commercial officer do.

Choose the title deliberately. If the role runs sales, pricing and key accounts for one business with no commercial directors below it, commercial director may be the honest title; the commercial director job description fits that brief. CCO also stands for chief compliance officer and chief customer officer, so spell the title out in full. Acas publishes an outline job description template whose headings (the main duties and who the post reports to) suit any of these.

Key responsibilities

Order the duties by importance and start each with a verb. A typical chief commercial officer job description covers:

setting the commercial strategy: the markets, customers, products and channels to pursue, and those to leave;
owning the revenue model, pricing, discounting and commercial terms across the company;
leading the commercial directors and the sales, marketing, key account and partnership teams;
setting revenue and margin targets with the chief executive and finance, and owning the forecast;
negotiating the largest contracts, renewals and partnerships;
researching markets and competitors, and deciding where to grow;
building the commercial team: hiring, structure and incentive plans;
reporting commercial performance to the executive committee and the board;
keeping commercial teams within competition law: no price-fixing, bid-rigging or market sharing with rivals;
owning the commercial side of the company’s procedures to prevent bribery, which are its defence to the failure-to-prevent offence under the Bribery Act 2010;
improving commercial systems, data and reporting.

Reporting line and scope

The chief commercial officer reports to the chief executive and sits on the executive committee. Commercial directors, the sales director or head of sales, the marketing director, key account and partnership leads, and any pricing or bid team usually report in; in some companies so does customer success. List what reports to the role and what stays elsewhere, and name the closest peer, usually the CFO or finance director.

Say whether the role carries a board seat. A CCO appointed to the board owes the general duties that Companies House guidance sets out under the Companies Act 2006, and the Competition and Markets Authority’s guide warns that a director involved in a competition law breach can be disqualified from managing a company. Name any board committees the CCO attends.

Skills, experience and qualifications

No qualification is required by law to be a chief commercial officer. Ask for experience of the commercial problem the company has now and describe it specifically, rather than counting years.

experience leading several commercial teams at a comparable scale, in a comparable market;
a record against the specific problem: growth, a new market, a margin recovery, a change of revenue model or a turnaround;
ownership of pricing and of a commercial profit and loss;
negotiation at the size of contract the role will handle;
forecasting and board reporting that a board can rely on;
working closely with finance, operations and product;
sales capability against a recognised standard where it helps, such as the Institute of Sales Professionals’ Sales Capability Framework, which underpins Ofqual’s specification of sales qualifications;
sector knowledge where the buyers, contracts or regulation are specialised.

Fractional chief commercial officer job description

A fractional chief commercial officer works a set number of days a week or month, so the job description narrows. Name the days, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months (a commercial plan agreed, pricing reset, a sales leader hired, a major contract won or renewed, a forecast the board trusts), what the role owns and who runs the commercial teams on the days they are not there.

Our page on the fractional chief commercial officer explains how the part-week role works; to hire a fractional CCO, see the hub.

A fractional CCO working through their own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35). Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, not on the wording of the job description, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

Interim and permanent versions

Interim. An interim chief commercial officer works full-time for a fixed period, so the job description leads with the situation (a turnaround, a change of revenue model, a sale of the business, or cover while the permanent search runs) and the date or event that ends the assignment. Where the remit is sales, marketing and customer success as one revenue engine, the brief is closer to an interim CRO.

Permanent. The permanent version looks further ahead: the markets, the teams and the commercial model over several years. When the CCO is hired as an employee, the job title or a description of the work goes into the written statement of employment particulars they must have on the first day, so keep the two consistent. For a permanent search, see commercial director recruitment, which covers the CCO seat.

We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors. For a chief commercial officer brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.

A template you can copy

Copy these headings and write one short block under each. Keep pay out of the job description and state it in the offer.

Job title: chief commercial officer, spelled out, and whether the role is fractional, interim, part-time or permanent.
Reports to: the chief executive, with any board seat; list the commercial directors and teams who report to the role.
Purpose: two or three sentences on why the role exists now and the commercial result it must deliver.
Responsibilities: eight to twelve duties, each starting with a verb, in order of importance.
Requirements: essential and desirable experience, described specifically, and a qualification only where the job needs one.
Terms: full-time or days a week, location and travel, start date, fixed term or permanent, and the pay basis (salary or day rate).

Questions people ask

What should a chief commercial officer job description include?

The title spelled out and the type of engagement, the reporting line and the teams that report in, the purpose, the key responsibilities, the experience required, and the terms. Put the commercial problem the role must solve at the top.

How long should a CCO job description be?

Long enough to cover purpose, responsibilities, reporting line, requirements and terms, and short enough to read in a few minutes: one to two pages is usually enough. Targets and account detail belong in the candidate pack and the interviews.

How is a CCO job description different from a commercial director job description?

The CCO version adds executive-committee membership, ownership of the commercial model across the whole company, and commercial directors reporting in. See the commercial director job description.

How is a fractional chief commercial officer job description different?

It names the days a week or month, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months, and who runs the commercial teams in between. See the fractional chief commercial officer page.

What does a chief commercial officer earn?

It depends on the size of the organisation, the industry and the location, and much of the package is bonus and equity. Our chief commercial officer salary page sets out the published ranges, each figure with its source.

How do I hire a chief commercial officer?

Define the commercial problem, choose between permanent, interim, part-time and fractional, write the job description around that problem, and test every candidate against it. See commercial director recruitment; we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.