Head of sales · job description template

Head of sales job description

The short answer · updated 3 October 2026

A head of sales job description sets out the senior role that leads the sales team and owns the number it delivers. The core responsibilities are the sales plan and targets, leading, hiring and coaching the team, pipeline and forecasting, key deals and accounts, and reporting results to the sales director, chief revenue officer or chief executive.

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Job purpose

Start with why the role exists now. A head of sales makes sure the business wins the customers and revenue in its plan, through a team that sells well and a forecast that leaders can trust. For the role itself, see what does a head of sales do.

Then name the sales problem the next head of sales has to solve: a founder who still closes every deal, a team missing its targets, a new market or product to sell, or a pipeline nobody believes. Acas publishes an outline job description template whose headings (the main duties and who the post reports to) suit the role.

Key responsibilities

Order the duties by importance and start each with a verb. A typical head of sales job description covers:

turning the revenue plan into a sales plan, with targets by team, territory or segment;
leading, hiring and coaching the sales team, and managing performance;
building and inspecting the pipeline, and producing a forecast the leadership team can rely on;
running the sales process, from qualification to close, and the tools that support it;
leading or supporting the largest deals and the key accounts;
setting quotas and helping design the commission plan with finance and HR;
working with marketing on lead definitions and hand-offs, and with customer success on renewals;
bringing what customers say back into product, pricing and positioning;
keeping the team within the company’s anti-bribery procedures, which are its defence to the failure-to-prevent offence under the Bribery Act 2010;
reporting sales performance to the leadership team.

Reporting line and scope

A head of sales usually reports to a sales director, a chief revenue officer or, in a smaller company where they are the most senior seller, to the chief executive or founder. Account executives, business development and sales development teams report in, and sometimes account management or partnerships. List what reports to the role and what stays elsewhere.

Say whether the role sits on the leadership team. Where the brief covers every revenue team and a seat at the top table, it is closer to a sales director’s: our sales director job description covers the seat above, and the sales director role explains the difference.

Skills, experience and qualifications

No qualification is required by law to be a head of sales. Ask for experience of the sales problem the company has now, described specifically, rather than a count of years.

experience leading a sales team at a comparable scale, selling a comparable product to comparable buyers;
a record against the specific problem: a team rebuilt, a new market opened, a founder-led sale handed over, targets recovered;
pipeline management and forecasting that leaders could rely on;
hiring and coaching sellers, with evidence of who they developed;
designing or running a commission plan the team understood;
sales capability against a recognised standard where it helps, such as the Institute of Sales Professionals’ Sales Capability Framework, which underpins Ofqual’s specification of sales qualifications;
ethical selling, in line with codes such as the ISP Code of Conduct: behave with integrity, sell suitable solutions, act lawfully.

Fractional head of sales job description

A fractional head of sales works a set number of days a week or month, so the job description narrows. Name the days, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months (a sales process in place, a forecast the board trusts, the first sellers hired and ramped, the founder out of day-to-day selling), what the role owns and who runs the team on the days they are not there.

Our page on how to hire a fractional head of sales sets out how the engagement works and lists the open roles.

A fractional head of sales working through their own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35). Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, not on the wording of the job description, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

Interim and permanent versions

Interim. An interim head of sales works full-time for a fixed period, so the job description leads with the situation (a team without a leader, a turnaround, a launch, or cover while the permanent search runs) and the date or event that ends the assignment. See interim sales director jobs for the senior version of that brief.

Permanent. The permanent version looks further ahead: the team, the territories and the sales model over several years. When the head of sales is hired as an employee, the job title or a description of the work goes into the written statement of employment particulars they must have on the first day. Acas says an employee’s entitlement to commission should be in that statement too, and the contract should say what happens to commission when employment ends. See head of sales jobs for the roles open now, and chief revenue officer recruitment where the seat sits under a CRO.

We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors. For a head of sales brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.

A template you can copy

Copy these headings and write one short block under each. Keep pay out of the job description and state it in the offer.

Job title: head of sales, and whether the role is fractional, interim, part-time or permanent.
Reports to: the sales director, CRO, managing director or chief executive; list the teams that report to the role.
Purpose: two or three sentences on why the role exists now and the sales result it must deliver.
Responsibilities: eight to twelve duties, each starting with a verb, in order of importance.
Requirements: essential and desirable experience, described specifically, and a qualification only where the job needs one.
Terms: full-time or days a week, territory and travel, start date, fixed term or permanent, and the pay basis (salary, commission or day rate).

Questions people ask

What should a head of sales job description include?

The job title and type of engagement, who the role reports to and which teams report in, the purpose, the key responsibilities, the experience and skills required, and the terms. Put the sales problem the role must solve at the top.

How long should a head of sales job description be?

Long enough to cover purpose, responsibilities, reporting line, requirements and terms, and short enough to read in a few minutes: one to two pages is usually enough. Quotas, territories and the commission plan belong in the candidate pack and the offer.

What is the difference between a head of sales and a sales director job description?

A head of sales usually leads the selling team and its pipeline and reports to a sales director, CRO or chief executive; a sales director usually owns sales strategy across the business and sits on the leadership team. In a smaller company one person does both. See the sales director job description.

How is a fractional head of sales job description different?

It names the days a week or month, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months and who runs the team in between. See how to hire a fractional head of sales.

What does a head of sales earn?

It depends on the size of the team and the number, the sector, the location, the split between base and commission, and whether the role is permanent, interim or fractional. We publish no head of sales figure because we have no sourced one; our sales director salary page sets out pay for the seat above, each figure with its source.

How do I hire a head of sales?

Define the sales problem, choose between permanent, interim, part-time and fractional, write the job description around that problem, and test every candidate against it. We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out; to start, see head of sales jobs.