Commercial director salary · base, variable and day rates
What a commercial director earns, in base, bonus and day rates
A commercial director earns a median advertised salary of £100,000 in ITJobsWatch’s count of IT-sector job ads over the six months to 22 September 2026. Exec Capital’s 2026 director salary guide puts commercial director base pay at £90,000–£170,000 in mid-market businesses and £160,000–£280,000 at larger ones, with variable pay of 25–50% of base in the mid-market.
A commercial director usually owns sales, pricing and margin together, so the package tends to carry a large variable part. When you hire a commercial director through us, permanent, fractional or interim, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
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
Leaders disagree on when a fractional hire makes sense. Read it before you decide whether your commercial seat needs an owner every day or a senior lead for a defined mandate.
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
Pick a day that suits · live availability
Live roles · last 3 months
Live Commercial director jobs
No live Commercial director roles in the last three months. Showing live fractional executive roles instead.
- FractionalSyndicated
Fractional CISO (Contract / Project Based)
Cambridge Spark · United Kingdom
est £1,500/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Head of Medical Compliance, Governance & Diligence (Fractional)
CNX Therapeutics Ltd · Greater London
est £1,000/dayGreater London - FractionalSyndicated
Head of Applied Legal – AI Product (Fractional)
Stealth Startup · London
est £1,600/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Product Practice Leader - 9 Month Contract
Tails.com · London
est £1,000/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional CPO
Log my Care · City of London
est £3,250/day3 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Finance Directors
PWF Associates Limited · Manchester
est £750/dayManchester - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional legal counsel
Nifina · London
est £750/dayLondon - FractionalExclusive
Fractional COO
Confidential client (Fractional Quest mandate) · London
Rate n/aLondon - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Financial Controller
MarcoPolo Learning · City of Westminster
est £750/day2 d/wk
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 Commercial Director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
What a commercial director does, and what sets the pay
The Institute of Directors describes the commercial director as the person who plans, develops and puts in place the commercial strategy that supports business development and growth. In practice the seat spans sales, pricing, key accounts and partnerships, and often marketing. Success is measured in revenue and margin, not activity.
The title covers very different jobs. In one business it is a senior sales and marketing lead; in another it is close to a general manager with a profit and loss account. Exec Capital’s guide makes the same point, and it is why its ranges are wide: £90,000–£170,000 base in the mid-market, £160,000–£280,000 at larger businesses and in commercially competitive sectors. Scope sets the pay more than the title does.
Commercial director against sales director: in ITJobsWatch’s counts of IT-sector job ads, both titles carry a £100,000 median advertised salary. The difference is the remit. A sales director answers for the number; a commercial director usually answers for the number and the margin behind it. For the sales seat in detail, see sales director salary.
Commercial leaders have a professional body on the sales side: the Institute of Sales Professionals is the membership body for the sales profession. Membership is worth asking about. It is not a requirement for the role.
02/ scope
How to hire a commercial director
1. Scope the seat
Write down what the role owns: sales, pricing, marketing, partnerships, the profit and loss account, or some mix. Say who reports in and who the role reports to. A commercial director brief that does not say whether margin is in scope draws a sales director shortlist.
2. Choose the route
A permanent commercial director suits a business that needs a senior commercial owner every day: hire a commercial director on that basis. If you need board-level commercial leadership for part of the week, hire a fractional CCO. If the gap is in running the sales team through a vacancy, hire an interim sales director. Where the remit is sales, marketing and customer success under one lead, see CRO recruitment.
3. Set the base and the variable part together
The CIPD’s introduction to reward separates fixed base pay from variable pay, which is not guaranteed. For a commercial director, tie the variable part to what the role controls, often margin or profit as well as revenue, and write the targets and payment dates into the offer.
4. Assess against the work
Ask for the targets they were set and what they delivered, and check it with references. A useful task is a real one: a review of your pricing, your largest accounts or your pipeline, and a plan for the first quarter.
What we do on a commercial director brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary commercial leaders, and non-executive directors. We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
03/ rates by stage
Commercial director salary base, CCO pay and day rates
Advertised salaries from ITJobsWatch (IT-sector job ads, base pay only), ranges published by Exec Capital and Robert Walters, both recruiters, and the IIM’s 2026 survey of interim managers. Each figure is quoted as its source publishes it.
04/ economics
Salary or day rate: what the seat costs you
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee. For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds). Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings, and those earnings include bonuses and commission (GOV.UK). Many schemes pay more.
The variable part is pay too. HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
A day rate does not compare one for one with a salary: a contractor funds their own pension, holidays and gaps between assignments. Tax status is set by how the engagement runs in practice. Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), a medium or large client makes the status determination; for a small client outside the public sector, the worker’s own company decides. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
05/ 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
06/ chief commercial officer salary
Chief commercial officer salary: the seat above the director
Robert Walters puts the UK chief commercial officer salary at £100,000 to £281,000 in 2026, depending on organisation size, industry and location. By region, it gives £208,000–£281,000 in London, £110,000–£220,000 in the South, £100,000–£200,000 in the North and £100,000–£185,000 in the Midlands.
A Chief Commercial Officer usually sits on the executive team and owns commercial strategy across the business; a commercial director may report to them or, in a smaller company, do the same job under a different title. The top of the CCO range sits in London and in large or fast-growing organisations. Pay the scope and the reporting line, not the title.
For a wider official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reports employee earnings by occupation, although its groups are broader than either title. For board-level commercial leadership for part of the week, see fractional CCO jobs.
07/ interim commercial director day rate
Interim commercial director day rate: what full-time cover costs
Exec Capital publishes an interim commercial director day rate of £1,000–£1,500 at mid-market firms and £1,300–£2,000 at FTSE 250+ and major private-equity-backed firms. These are a recruiter’s published ranges, not survey results, and the page does not date them.
For the whole interim market, the Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey puts the average day rate at £907, and £1,004 in the private sector, across all functions. It is a market-wide average, not a commercial director rate, but it shows where the published ranges sit.
Interim cover suits a gap between permanent hires, a turnaround or a fixed-term change programme. If the gap is in the sales team rather than the wider commercial seat, see interim sales director jobs. For a revenue remit across sales, marketing and customer success, see CRO recruitment.
08/ questions
Commercial director salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a commercial director.
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.
