Commercial Director Recruitment | Hire a Commercial Director

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a commercial director

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Commercial Director 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

Commercial director jobs on the board

0 Commercial director · 9 fractional executive

No Commercial director roles on the board in the last three months. Showing fractional executive roles instead.

Browse every role on the board →

Live commercial and revenue leadership roles

Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Commercial Director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.

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01/ the role

What a commercial director does, and when you need one

A commercial director owns how the business makes money from its market.

The Institute of Directors describes the job as planning, developing and implementing commercial strategies to support business growth: researching the market, managing key stakeholder relationships, setting financial targets and budgets with the rest of the business, and reporting commercial performance to the senior team.

In practice that usually means pricing, key accounts, partnerships and the plan that sales and marketing deliver against.

When a company needs a commercial director

The usual triggers: pricing and discount decisions are being made deal by deal with no owner; sales and marketing report separately and plan separately; a large customer or partner wants a senior counterpart; or the board wants one person accountable for the revenue plan.

If the need is mainly running the sales team to a number, a sales director may be the better fit (see the comparison below).

The title and the law

"Commercial director" is a job title.

It does not by itself make someone a director of the company in law; appointment to the board does.

But GOV.UK guidance on being a company director notes that the legal duties still apply to someone who acts as a director without being formally appointed.

Decide at the start whether the seat carries a board role, and say so in the brief.

Pricing is where commercial leaders carry personal risk.

The CMA’s short guide to competition law risk says rival businesses must set prices independently, must never exchange competitively sensitive information, and that directors involved in a breach may be disqualified.

It adds that not knowing is no excuse.

Ask candidates how they have handled trade-association meetings and competitor contact.

02/ scope

How to hire a commercial director

1. Write the brief around the revenue problem

Set out what the commercial director will own (pricing, key accounts, partnerships, the sales and marketing plan), what they inherit, what stays with the CEO, and what should be different after the first year.

A commercial director for a founder-led business with one sales motion and one for a group with several channels are different jobs.

2. Choose the route: permanent, fractional or interim

A permanent commercial director suits a business where commercial decisions need an owner every day.

If you need senior commercial judgement for part of the week, hire a fractional CCO.

If the revenue engine itself is the job, across sales, marketing and customer success, look at a Chief Revenue Officer: hire a CRO on a permanent basis, or hire a fractional CRO for part of the week.

3. Assess against evidence, not titles

Commercial titles vary widely between companies, so test the work.

The CIPD’s guidance on selection methods favours clear, objective and structured processes: the same questions for every candidate, in the same order, and skill-based exercises, which it notes predict performance better than traditional approaches.

Give a real pricing or key-account problem from your business.

Professional standing is one signal among several: CIM describes Chartered Marketer status as the mark of a professionally certified marketer, and the Institute of Sales Professionals’ Sales Capability Framework sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours for sales roles and underpins the Ofqual specification of sales qualifications.

4. Run the checks before the offer

For an employee, you must check their right to work before they start.

Past and current directorships, and disqualified directors, can be searched on the Companies House register.

Take references from a CEO and a finance lead who worked alongside the candidate.

What we do on a commercial director brief

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

Every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.

03/ the board

What the board holds.

A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.

On this board, last 90 days · 9 roles · fractional executive

Engagement

Fractional9

Seat

CFO3
Financial controller1
CTO1
Other1
CHRO1
General counsel1
Other seats1

Days a week

Stated in the posting3
Not stated6

Day rate

Verified rate1
Estimated (est)3
Rate not stated5

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote1
Hybrid6
On-site2

Newest posting on the board: 8 Oct 2026.

Postings per week on this board, last 90 days

9 postings on this board in the last 90 days, counted by the week each was published.

04/ the route

Fractional, interim or permanent?

Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.

How much of the week does the work fill?

Is there a fixed end or a programme?

Does the seat sit on the board for years?

Is the need now, or can it wait for a search?

The route · Fractional

A fractional commercial director.

The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.

A fractional commercial director holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.

The fractional commercial director route Talk it through

05/ comparison

Commercial director, sales director or chief commercial officer?

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

Commercial directorSales directorChief commercial officer

OwnsCommercial strategy: pricing, key accounts, partnerships and the revenue planThe sales team and its numberThe whole commercial function at executive-committee level

Typically reports toThe CEO or managing directorThe commercial director, CRO or CEOThe CEO

Judged onRevenue quality: margin, mix, retention and growthBookings, pipeline and win ratesCommercial performance across every channel and market

SuitsA business whose commercial decisions need one ownerA business with a clear offer that needs selling at scaleA larger or multi-market business with several commercial teams

06/ vetting

How we vet commercial directors

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

01
Qualification screen
Verify Commercial Director 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

07/ chief commercial officer recruitment

Chief commercial officer recruitment: CCO or commercial director?

Chief commercial officer recruitment follows the same steps as commercial director recruitment, at a more senior level.

The CCO usually sits on the executive committee and owns commercial performance across the business; a commercial director may report to them, or may be the most senior commercial leader in a smaller company.

Many companies use the two titles for the same seat, so fix the scope before the title.

On pay, 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.

That is a CCO range; we have no published commercial director figure we can cite, so we set out pay for each candidate on the shortlist instead.

If what you need is part-week CCO cover rather than a permanent search, the hire chief commercial officer guide sets out the fractional route.

08/ commercial director vs sales director

Commercial director vs sales director: which seat do you need?

The commercial director vs sales director question comes down to scope.

A sales director runs the sales team to a number: recruiting and coaching sellers, managing the pipeline, forecasting and closing.

A commercial director decides what the business sells, to whom and at what price, and joins up sales, marketing and partnerships behind that plan.

In a small company one person may do both; as the business grows, the roles separate.

Choose a sales director when the offer and pricing are settled and the constraint is selling it.

Choose a commercial director when pricing, channels or key accounts need a senior owner.

The IoD’s description of the commercial director role puts working with marketing, financial targets and stakeholder partnerships inside the job, which is broader than a sales remit.

For part-week sales leadership, see fractional head of sales roles.

Whichever seat you fill, if the person works through their own company on a contract, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply.

A medium or large client decides the worker’s status; for a small client outside the public sector, the worker’s own company decides.

Status turns on how the engagement runs in practice.

Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

09/ questions

Commercial director recruitment FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a commercial director.

Scope the seat first: what the commercial director will own, what they inherit and whether they join the board. Then choose the route (permanent, fractional or interim), assess candidates with structured interviews and a real pricing or key-account exercise, take references yourself, and check right to work and past directorships before the offer. For senior commercial judgement for part of the week, hire a fractional CCO instead.

Our commercial director salary page sets out the published pay figures, each with its source. For the chief commercial officer seat, Robert Walters’ 2026 survey says UK salaries typically range between £100,000 and £281,000, depending on organisation size, industry and location (Robert Walters). On every brief we set out pay or day rate for each candidate on the shortlist, so you can compare like with like.

The same steps as any senior search: a written brief, a search that reaches people who are not looking, structured assessment and references. The difference is level. A CCO usually sits on the executive committee and owns commercial performance across the business, so references from a CEO and a finance lead matter most.

A sales director runs the sales team to a number. A commercial director decides what the business sells, to whom and at what price, and joins up sales, marketing and partnerships behind that plan. In smaller companies one person may do both.

Not because of the title. A person becomes a company director by appointment to the board. But GOV.UK notes that the legal duties still apply to someone who acts as a director without being formally appointed, so be clear in the contract which it is.

Permanent when commercial decisions need an owner every day. Fractional when you need senior judgement for part of the week: pricing, a new market, the first sales hires. Interim when the seat is empty and a full-time leader is needed for a fixed term. If the job is the whole revenue engine, hire a CRO instead.

Right to work for an employee (GOV.UK); directorships and any disqualification on the Companies House register; references from people the candidate reported to; and a conversation about competition law, since the CMA says directors involved in a breach may be disqualified.