Commercial director salary · base, bonus and package, 2026

What a commercial director earns, in base, bonus and package

A commercial director salary in 2026 centres on about £100,000.

IT Jobs Watch puts the median advertised salary at £100,000 in IT-sector job ads over the six months to 5 October 2026.

Coburg Banks, a sales recruiter, gives a typical base of £75,000 to £135,000, with a median of around £100,000.

Exec Capital’s 2026 guide puts mid-market base pay at £90,000–£170,000, with variable pay of 25–50% of base on top.

The seat usually owns sales, pricing and margin together, so a large part of the package is variable.

When you hire a commercial director through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Brief us on a commercial director 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
Leaders disagree on when a fractional hire makes sense and when a seat needs a full-time owner. Read it before you commit to a permanent commercial director and the salary that goes with one.

£100,000

Commercial director salary, median · advertised, IT-sector job ads, six months to 5 Oct 2026

IT Jobs Watch, 2026

£75,000–£135,000

Typical base · median around £100,000

Coburg Banks, 2026

£90,000–£170,000

Mid-market base · plus variable pay of 25–50% of base

Exec Capital, 2026

3–5

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

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 on the board · 0 confirmed open

No Commercial director 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 Commercial director roles appear here as our pipeline finds them.

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

Commercial director roles on the board

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.

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 strategies that support business development and growth.

In practice the seat spans sales, pricing, key accounts and partnerships, and often marketing.

For the full remit, see what a commercial director does.

Scope sets the pay more than the title does.

In one business the commercial director 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.

Experience comes next.

Coburg Banks puts a newly appointed commercial director at £75,000–£90,000, an experienced one at £90,000–£115,000 and a senior or lead commercial director at £115,000–£140,000, all base.

Sector moves the number too.

Advocate Group, a recruiter, publishes figures for FMCG and consumer products: a commercial director with 10–15 years’ experience earns £100,000–£140,000 in London and £85,000–£120,000 elsewhere in the UK.

At a blue-chip FMCG business it gives £120,000–£160,000 in London.

02/ scope

How to set the pay when you hire a commercial director

1. Scope the seat before the salary

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 brief that does not say whether margin is in scope draws a sales director shortlist.

2. Choose the route

A permanent appointment suits a business that needs a senior commercial owner every day: read how commercial director recruitment runs.

If the seat needs cover for a fixed period, see interim commercial director salary for the day rates.

If the work fits into part of the week, see fractional commercial director jobs.

For the permanent salary spread across part-week days (our arithmetic, not a market rate), see fractional commercial director salary.

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.

Coburg Banks says bonus and equity commonly add 30–40% at commercial director level, linked to margin and profit rather than revenue alone.

Tie the variable part to what the role controls, 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 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.

Roles on the board are listed on commercial director jobs.

03/ 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

04/ rates by stage

Commercial director salary by source, place and company size

Permanent commercial director pay as each publisher states it, base salary unless the row says otherwise. IT Jobs Watch counts salaries in IT-sector job ads; PayScale’s figures are self-reported; the ONS figure covers a broader occupational group. Coburg Banks, Exec Capital and Advocate Group are recruiters.

SeatPayBasisSource

Commercial director, UKMedian £100,000Advertised salary, IT-sector permanent job ads, six months to 5 Oct 2026IT Jobs Watch, 2026

Commercial director, UK£75,000–£135,000, median around £100,000Typical baseCoburg Banks, 2026

Commercial director, UK£55,000–£123,000, average £83,584Base, 114 self-reported profilesPayScale, 2026

Commercial director, London£84,000–£151,000, median £112,000Typical baseCoburg Banks, 2026

Commercial director, London£67,000–£144,000, average £94,357Base, 31 self-reported profilesPayScale, 2026

Commercial director, mid-market£90,000–£170,000Base; variable pay of 25–50% of base on topExec Capital, 2026

Commercial director, larger businesses£160,000–£280,000Base; larger and commercially competitive businessesExec Capital, 2026

Commercial director, newly appointed£75,000–£90,000Base, by experienceCoburg Banks, 2026

Commercial director, senior or lead£115,000–£140,000Base, by experienceCoburg Banks, 2026

FMCG commercial director, London£100,000–£140,000Base, 10–15 years’ experience; blue chip £120,000–£160,000Advocate Group, 2025/26

FMCG commercial director, rest of the UK£85,000–£120,000Base, 10–15 years’ experience; blue chip £100,000–£140,000Advocate Group, 2025/26

Marketing, sales and advertising directors (ONS group 1132)Median £94,135; middle half £65,527–£134,962Full-time gross annual pay, 2025 provisional; a broader group than the titleONS ASHE, 2025

05/ economics

What the salary costs the business, beyond the base

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).

On a £100,000 base that is £14,250 a year (our arithmetic).

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.

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/ commercial director salary uk

Commercial director salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side

The national figures measure different things.

IT Jobs Watch’s commercial director salary UK median, £100,000, counts salaries quoted in IT-sector job ads: 35 of them in the six months to 5 October 2026.

Coburg Banks’ £75,000–£135,000 is a recruiter’s published range.

PayScale’s range, £55,000 to £123,000, comes from 114 profiles people report themselves.

For an official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings puts the median full-time pay of marketing, sales and advertising directors (occupation code 1132) at £94,135 in 2025, with the middle half of jobs between £65,527 and £134,962.

That group is broader than the commercial director title, so read it as the market around the seat, not the seat itself.

08/ average commercial director salary

Average commercial director salary, by company size and sector

The average commercial director salary depends on whose average you use.

PayScale’s average base is £83,584, from 114 self-reported profiles updated in April 2026.

Coburg Banks gives a median of around £100,000, the same figure IT Jobs Watch finds in job ads.

Company size pushes the number up.

Exec Capital puts base pay at £90,000–£170,000 in a mid-market business and £160,000–£280,000 at larger businesses and in commercially competitive sectors.

In FMCG, Advocate Group gives £120,000–£160,000 in London for a commercial director at a blue-chip business.

09/ commercial director salary london

Commercial director salary London, and the regions

The commercial director salary London employers pay sits above the national figures.

Coburg Banks puts the London median at £112,000, with a typical range of £84,000–£151,000, and says London and the South East add 10–20% to base.

PayScale’s London average is £94,357, from 31 profiles.

In FMCG, Advocate Group gives £100,000–£140,000 in London for a commercial director with 10–15 years’ experience.

Outside London, Advocate Group’s FMCG figures run £85,000–£120,000 in Manchester and the North West, £82,000–£112,000 in Leeds and Yorkshire and £80,000–£110,000 in the East Midlands.

IT Jobs Watch records the same £100,000 median for UK job ads outside London as for the UK as a whole.

10/ the seat above, and the other routes

Salary, day rate or a seat above: where to look next

Read this sectionClose this section

A chief commercial officer usually sits on the executive team above the commercial director, and is paid accordingly; see chief commercial officer salary for those benchmarks.

For the sales seat beside this one, see sales director salary.

An interim commercial director is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim commercial director salary.

The bases differ, so compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.

11/ questions

Commercial director salary FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a commercial director.

PayScale’s average base for a commercial director is £83,584, from 114 self-reported profiles (PayScale). Coburg Banks gives a typical base of £75,000–£135,000, with a median of around £100,000. IT Jobs Watch records a £100,000 median advertised commercial director salary in IT-sector job ads over the six months to 5 October 2026.

Coburg Banks puts the London median at £112,000, with a typical range of £84,000–£151,000. PayScale’s London average is £94,357, from 31 self-reported profiles. See commercial director salary London, and the regions for the other figures.

Exec Capital’s 2026 guide puts the commercial director salary at £90,000–£170,000 base in a mid-market business, with variable pay of 25–50% of base. At larger businesses and in commercially competitive sectors it gives £160,000–£280,000.

On the £100,000 median that IT Jobs Watch and Coburg Banks both report, a commercial director earns about £8,330 a month before tax (£100,000 ÷ 12, our arithmetic). Bonus and benefits are on top.

Start with base: Coburg Banks gives £75,000–£135,000, and Exec Capital £90,000–£170,000 in the mid-market. Add the bonus, employer’s National Insurance at 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (£14,250 on a £100,000 base, our arithmetic) and at least 3% pension on qualifying earnings. We set out pay for every candidate on the shortlist.

Exec Capital puts variable pay at 25–50% of base in mid-market businesses. Coburg Banks says bonus and equity commonly add 30–40%, linked to margin and profit rather than revenue alone. HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, taxed through payroll.

Often, because the remit is wider: a commercial director usually answers for pricing and margin as well as sales. The overlap is large, and a sales director in a big business can out-earn a commercial director in a small one. See sales director salary for that seat.

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

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