Chief commercial officer recruitment · CCO recruiters and headhunters · CCO executive search

Hire a chief commercial officer · CCO recruitment, fractional to permanent

To hire a chief commercial officer, first decide what the CCO will own: pricing, partnerships and the revenue plan across sales, marketing and customer success.

Then choose the route (fractional, interim or permanent), search beyond the people who are already looking, and test each candidate on a real pricing decision, their forecasting record and a commercial plan.

We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors.

On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

Brief us on a CCO hire →See the roles

How a brief runswhat we undertake

01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief

Shortlist3–5

In the press

Fast Company 16 leaders on when fractional C-suite hires make sense · 24 Jun 2026
Useful before you choose between a permanent CCO and a part-week one. Leaders here set out when a fractional executive suits a defined commercial mandate and when the seat needs someone in it every day.

3–5

Shortlist · with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 set out

Vetting · stages before a candidate reaches you

£100,000–£281,000

CCO salary range · Chief Commercial Officer, 2026

Robert Walters, 2026

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a chief commercial officer

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Chief Commercial Officer candidates, their day rates and availability.

0115 minutes, video or phone
02We scope the role and the days a week
03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs

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On the board · last 3 months

Chief commercial officer roles jobs on the board

0 on the board · 0 confirmed open

No Chief commercial officer roles roles on the board right now.

We only show real vacancies from the last three months, each marked whether we could confirm it is still open — we never pad the board. New Chief commercial officer roles roles appear here as our pipeline finds them.

Browse every role on the board →Talk to us about hiring

Live commercial and revenue leadership roles

Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a Chief Commercial Officer brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.

01/ the role

What the CCO owns, and how the seat differs from a CRO, commercial director or CMO

A chief commercial officer owns how the business earns its revenue: what it sells, to whom, through which channels and at what price.

In most companies that puts sales, marketing, partnerships and customer success under one executive who answers to the CEO.

The title varies between companies (chief revenue officer, chief growth officer, chief commercial officer) while the responsibilities often overlap: one revenue engine, from lead generation to closing the sale.

So write down the scope before you settle the title.

CCO, CRO, commercial director or CMO

A CCO usually carries pricing, partnerships and the terms of large contracts as well as the revenue number.

A chief revenue officer is more often judged on the engine itself: pipeline, conversion, bookings and renewals.

A commercial director often does similar work one level down, reporting to a CCO or the CEO; the Institute of Directors describes that job as planning and implementing commercial strategies, setting financial targets and managing key stakeholder relationships.

A CMO owns the brand, demand and the customer insight behind the plan, but rarely pricing or the sales team.

Titles are used loosely, so the table below sets out the usual split.

Duties and risk that come with the seat

If the CCO joins the board, the seven general duties of a company director come with the seat.

Companies House notes they also apply to someone who acts as a director without being formally appointed.

Pricing carries personal risk as well.

In its short guide to competition law risk, the CMA says it now considers, in every case where competition law has been broken, whether to seek the disqualification of the directors involved.

02/ scope

Hire a chief commercial officer: the steps

1. Write the brief around the revenue problem

Before you hire, set out what the CCO will own (pricing, partnerships, sales, marketing, customer success), what they inherit and what stays with the CEO.

Then say what should be different after the first year: a new market entered, prices reset, a sales team rebuilt.

Turn that into a chief commercial officer job description before anyone is approached.

2. Choose the route: fractional, interim or permanent

Permanent suits a business whose commercial decisions need an owner every day, for years.

An interim chief commercial officer covers a vacancy, a turnaround or a sale full-time for a fixed term.

A fractional chief commercial officer gives senior commercial judgement for agreed days a week: to go that way, hire a fractional CCO.

If the job is mainly the revenue engine, compare a fractional CRO.

3. Test the work, not the title

Give every candidate the same three tasks: a pricing decision from your own business, a walk through their last forecasts against what actually closed, and a first-year commercial plan.

Score the answers against criteria agreed in advance, with a panel rather than one interviewer.

Our chief commercial officer interview questions set out what to ask and what a strong answer shows.

Professional standing is one signal among several.

CIM describes Chartered Marketer status as the mark of a professionally certified marketer, and the ISP Sales Capability Framework defines the knowledge, skills and behaviours that sales roles need.

4. Take references and run the checks

Take references yourself from a CEO and a CFO who worked beside the candidate, and ask about forecasts and price changes rather than personality.

A finance lead will know whether the numbers held.

Search past directorships and disqualified directors on the Companies House register before the offer.

What we do on a CCO brief

We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.

03/ comparison

CCO, CRO, commercial director or CMO?

Four seats that are often confused. Choose by what the person will own, not by the title.

Chief commercial officerChief revenue officerCommercial directorChief marketing officer

OwnsPricing, partnerships, large contracts and the revenue planThe revenue engine: pipeline, conversion, bookings, renewalsCommercial strategy, key accounts and targets, often one level downBrand, demand and customer insight

Usually reports toThe CEOThe CEOThe CCO, CEO or managing directorThe CEO or CCO

Judged onRevenue quality: growth, margin and mixBookings, forecast accuracy and retentionCommercial performance against planPipeline contribution and brand health

SuitsA business whose pricing and channels need one senior ownerA business whose sales, marketing and success teams pull apartA business that needs commercial leadership below the executive teamA business whose growth depends on demand and brand

04/ vetting

How we vet chief commercial officers

What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.

01
Qualification screen
Verify Chief Commercial Officer tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING
02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING
03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY
04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5

05/ chief commercial officer recruitment

Chief commercial officer recruitment: what it involves

Chief commercial officer recruitment runs the same steps as any senior search, at executive-committee level: a brief, a search, structured assessment and references.

What changes is who must be in the room: the CEO, the CFO and usually a non-executive director or investor.

On pay, Robert Walters’ 2026 salary survey says Chief Commercial Officer salaries in the UK typically range between £100,000 and £281,000, depending on organisation size, industry and location.

Its London band is £208k–£281k.

Robert Walters is a recruitment firm, and these are its published figures.

For more, see chief commercial officer salary.

06/ chief commercial officer recruiters and headhunters

Chief commercial officer recruiters and headhunters: what to agree first

Chief commercial officer recruiters and headhunters map the market, approach people who are not looking, assess them against your brief and bring back a shortlist.

An advert that says “hire chief commercial officer” mostly reaches people already on the move, and many strong CCOs are in post, so someone has to go to them.

The same law covers recruiters and headhunters alike.

GOV.UK’s guidance on the Conduct Regulations says the Employment Agencies Act applies to executive search consultants, that agencies must not charge work-seekers for finding them work, and that the Act does not regulate what the hirer pays.

So agree the terms in writing before the search starts: who runs it day to day, which companies are off limits for approaches, and which references the firm takes itself.

A firm that cannot approach your competitors’ commercial teams is running a narrower search than it may look.

07/ cco executive search

CCO executive search: how a search runs

CCO executive search usually runs in four stages: the brief, a market map and approach, assessment, then references and the offer.

The brief is the stage most often rushed, and the one that decides whether the hire works.

The market map lists the people doing the job you need in businesses like yours, not everyone with the title.

Approaches stay confidential on both sides until a candidate agrees to go forward.

If the CCO will work through their own company on a fractional or interim contract, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply.

Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination; our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

For the seat one level down, see commercial director recruitment.

Live chief commercial officer jobs show how other businesses are framing the role.

08/ questions

Chief commercial officer recruitment FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a chief commercial officer.

Write the brief first (what the CCO will own, what they inherit, what should change in the first year), then choose fractional, interim or permanent. Assess every candidate on the same pricing, forecasting and commercial-plan tasks, take references from a CEO and a CFO yourself, and check directorships before the offer.

Robert Walters’ 2026 survey says Chief Commercial Officer salaries in the UK typically range between £100,000 and £281,000, depending on organisation size, industry and location, with London at £208k–£281k. On every brief we set out each candidate’s pay or day rate on the shortlist, so you can compare like with like.

A written brief, a search that reaches people who are not looking, structured assessment against the brief, and references taken by the hirer. At CCO level the CEO and CFO should both sit on the panel, because the seat changes how revenue and margin are planned.

They map the market, approach CCOs who are not looking, assess them against your brief and bring back a shortlist. The Employment Agencies Act covers executive search consultants and bars charging candidates for finding them work (GOV.UK), so agree what you will pay, and how the search runs, in writing first.

In four stages: the brief, a market map and confidential approach, structured assessment, then references and the offer. The market map should list people doing your job in businesses like yours, not everyone who holds the title.

A CCO usually owns pricing, partnerships and large contracts as well as the revenue number; a CRO is more often judged on the revenue engine itself, from pipeline to renewal. Many companies use the titles for the same seat, so compare the scope rather than the title.

Permanent when commercial decisions need an owner every day; interim when the seat is empty or a turnaround or sale needs a full-time leader for a fixed term. Fractional when you need senior commercial judgement for agreed days a week: hire a fractional CCO.

A pricing decision from your own business, the candidate’s past forecasts against what actually closed, and a first-year commercial plan. Then ask referees about those same three things, and search the candidate’s directorships on the Companies House register.

Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5

Bring the brief. We architect the team.

A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

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