CRO salary 2026 · base, variable pay and equity
What a CRO earns, in base, variable pay and equity
A CRO salary runs from £160,000 to £260,000 in base pay, with a median of £205,000, in EQ Group’s count of chief revenue officer hires it closed in the twelve months to August 2026.
Exec Capital’s 2026 C-suite guide puts a revenue CRO’s base at £120,000–£220,000 at mid-market scale.
Variable pay and equity sit on top of both.
A chief revenue officer owns sales, marketing and customer success under one target, so the package carries a large variable part.
When you hire a CRO through us, permanent, interim or fractional, 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
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a CRO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with CRO 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
On the board · last 3 months
CRO roles jobs on the board
No CRO 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 CRO roles roles appear here as our pipeline finds them.
Roles on the board revenue leadership
How fractional recruitment agencies compare is set out in one place, including how we work: a CRO brief and a shortlist of three to five.
01/ the role
What sets a chief revenue officer salary
A chief revenue officer answers for the whole revenue number: new business, renewals and expansion.
Exec Capital describes the seat as one that unifies sales, marketing, customer success and revenue operations under a single executive, reporting to the CEO and the board.
The wider the remit, the higher the pay.
Stage moves the number most.
Exec Capital publishes CRO base pay by firm type: £175,000–£275,000 at a Series B to D technology firm, £200,000–£325,000 at a PE-backed mid-market platform, and £225,000–£400,000+ at a pre-IPO scale-up or an established enterprise software firm.
These are a search firm’s own ranges, not a survey.
For a cross-check outside recruitment, Ravio’s 2026 executive salary survey covers European tech.
It puts the base pay that only a quarter of companies exceed at £263,690 for a CRO, falling to £191,200 at companies under $10m in annual revenue.
It is a European figure, not a UK median.
Official data is broader.
The ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reports employee earnings by occupation, but it has no CRO line; the title sits inside wider director groups.
For the job itself, see CRO jobs.
02/ scope
How to hire a CRO and set the package
1. Scope the seat
Write down which functions report in: sales, marketing, customer success, revenue operations, partnerships.
Say whether the role owns the forecast and the pricing.
A brief that only covers sales draws a sales director shortlist, and a sales director’s pay.
2. Choose the route
A permanent hire suits a business that needs a revenue owner every day: hire a CRO on that basis, or read how CRO recruitment works.
If you need cover while you search, an interim CRO works full time for a fixed term.
If you need senior revenue leadership for part of the week, a fractional CRO fits.
3. Set base and variable pay together
Tie the variable part to what the role controls.
GOV.UK says performance-related pay should rest on clear, measurable targets, and separates short-term schemes such as bonus and commission from long-term schemes such as shares.
Put the targets and payment dates in the offer letter.
4. Assess against the number
Ask each candidate for the targets they were set and what they delivered, then check it with references.
A useful task is a real one: a review of your pipeline and forecast, and a plan for the first quarter.
What we do on a revenue leadership brief
We recruit permanent, interim, fractional, part-time and temporary executives, 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
CRO salary base and total cash, by source
Permanent pay only. EQ Group’s figures are base pay from its own closed placements, reviewed August 2026. Exec Capital’s are a search firm’s published ranges for 2026; its total cash figures are on-target. Ravio’s is a European tech survey. Each figure is quoted as its source publishes it.
04/ economics
What a permanent CRO costs on top of salary
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 pays at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings, and those earnings include bonuses and commission (GOV.UK).
The variable part costs the same way.
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.
Notice is a cost too.
Exec Capital says garden leave typically runs six to twelve months at CRO level, so a hire you want may not be free for a long time, and one who leaves may stay on the payroll while they wait.
05/ vetting
How we vet CROs
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify CRO 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 revenue officer salary UK
Chief revenue officer salary UK: national and regional bands
EQ Group puts the chief revenue officer salary UK band at £160,000 to £260,000 in base pay, with a median of £205,000.
The figures come from its own closed placements over the twelve months to August 2026, and exclude bonus and equity.
It is not a survey of advertised salaries.
Region moves the band.
EQ Group gives £180,000–£295,000 (median £232,000) for the South and London together, and £130,000–£215,000 (median £170,000) for the North and Midlands.
Exec Capital’s 2026 C-suite guide, a separate source, puts a revenue CRO’s base at £120,000–£220,000 at mid-market scale.
The two sources overlap more than they differ.
Each reflects one firm’s own hires.
07/ CRO salary London
CRO salary in London: what the sources show
We have not found a published London-only figure from a source we can check.
The closest is EQ Group’s South and London band: £180,000 to £295,000 in base pay, with a median of £232,000, against £205,000 for all regions.
Treat that as a regional pointer, not a London rate.
A London CRO salary depends more on the company’s stage and investors than on the postcode, and Exec Capital’s firm-type bands above are the better guide to that.
08/ chief revenue officer compensation
Chief revenue officer compensation: variable pay, equity and notice
Exec Capital puts variable pay for a CRO at typically 50–100% of base on target, and 75–125% at an established enterprise software firm.
That is why its total cash figures run well above base: £275,000–£550,000 on target at a Series B to D technology firm, for example.
Write the variable terms down.
Acas advises that commission entitlement belongs in the written statement of employment particulars, and that the contract should say what happens to commission earned but not yet paid when employment ends.
Equity is the long-term part, and at a growth company it can be the largest.
Qualifying companies can grant Enterprise Management Incentive options, which carry tax advantages, subject to company-size limits and a minimum working-time test for the employee.
09/ cro pay
CRO pay against a sales director’s
Exec Capital’s sales director salary guide puts a mid-market sales director’s on-target earnings at £160,000–£260,000, and says CRO on-target earnings typically run 20–40% above sales director level.
The gap is the remit: a sales director answers for new business, a CRO for all of the revenue.
For the seats around this one, see sales director salary, head of sales salary and chief commercial officer salary.
10/ other routes
Interim and fractional routes: paid by the day, not by salary
An interim CRO works full time for a fixed term and is paid a day rate, with no salary, bonus scheme or pension from you.
A fractional CRO works a few days a week on a day rate or monthly retainer.
Neither compares one for one with a salary, because the contractor funds their own holidays, pension and gaps between assignments.
For the figures, see interim CRO salary and fractional CRO salary.
For roles, see interim CRO jobs and fractional CRO jobs.
11/ questions
CRO salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a CRO.
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.
