Head of sales jobs · Vacancies · Permanent first

Head of sales jobs · permanent, interim and fractional

Head of sales jobs are roles that lead a company’s sales team day to day: hiring and coaching the reps, running the pipeline and the weekly forecast, and owning the team’s number. In a smaller business the head of sales is the most senior sales leader; in a larger one the seat reports to a sales director or chief revenue officer. The board below shows the head of sales roles on our board, permanent roles first where the posting says full-time.

We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time sales leaders, and the SDRs and BDRs who work for them. Hiring rather than looking? On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Brief us on a head of sales 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

3–5

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

Vetting · stages before a candidate reaches a client

£75,000

Head of sales, median advertised · IT-sector permanent job ads

IT Jobs Watch

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a head of sales

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with head of sales 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

Prefer email? Use the booking page →

Pick a day that suits · live availability

Open the booking calendar →

On the board · last 3 months

Head of sales jobs jobs on the board

0 on the board · 0 confirmed open

No Head of sales jobs 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 Head of sales jobs roles appear here as our pipeline finds them.

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

Full-time · permanent as posted · last 3 months

Permanent head of sales jobs

5 live

Full-time head of sales roles, posted by the employer as full-time and listed as the posting states them. We recruit permanent head of saless as well as fractional and interim. Hire a head of sales.

Current head of sales roles on our board

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

01/ the role

Head of sales jobs: the seat and what the board holds

The board on this page holds the head of sales roles on our board, from first sales leader in a start-up to a regional head of sales in a larger group. Roles whose posting says full-time come first; interim and fractional roles follow under their own labels. When there are few, the board widens to the revenue leadership seats around it, chief revenue officer, chief commercial officer and founding GTM lead, and says that it has.

What the seat does

The National Careers Service describes the work of a sales manager: recruiting and training sales staff, allocating territories, setting targets and identifying new business. A head of sales does that for the whole team, and in a business without a sales director, sets the sales plan and reports it to the CEO. Much of the team’s outbound work is direct marketing, so the seat answers for the ICO’s rules on business-to-business marketing, which apply to calls, emails and the personal data of business contacts.

Head of sales or sales director? Often the same job under a different title. Where a business has both, the sales director owns the strategy and the forecast to the board, and the head of sales runs the team that delivers it. See what a sales director does for the seat above.

02/ scope

How to get a head of sales job

1. Be the rep others learn from

Most heads of sales were account executives or sales managers who hit their number and coached others to hit theirs. The National Careers Service says employers often weigh sales and management experience and a record of achieving targets above academic qualifications. Keep the evidence: your number against target, by period, and the reps you brought on.

2. Add a management qualification

Sales qualifications follow the ISP’s Sales Capability Framework, the basis of Ofqual’s specification for the subject; the Institute of Sales Professionals is the membership body for the profession. The sales executive apprenticeship covers the rep’s craft, and CMI management qualifications run from first-line manager to director level for the people side of the seat.

3. Pick the route in

Not every head of sales job is permanent. A start-up may first hire the seat for set days a week: see fractional head of sales jobs, or fractional sales director for the senior version. Interim cover sits under interim sales director jobs. If you work through your own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply: status turns on how the engagement runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination.

03/ related roles

Head of sales jobs by type

Every page we keep for the head of sales seat and the seats beside it. We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time sales leaders.

Fractional head of sales jobsFractional sales director jobsInterim sales director jobsHead of sales salarySales enablement jobsFractional SDR jobsGTM jobs

04/ vetting

How we vet heads of sales

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

01
Qualification screen
Verify head of sales 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

05/ vacancies

Head of sales vacancies: three seats under one title

Head of sales vacancies cover at least three different jobs. In a start-up, the head of sales is often the first sales hire after the founders, selling as well as building the team. In a scale-up, it is a team leader with a defined number and reps to hire. In a larger group, it is often a regional or product-line seat reporting to a sales director.

Read the posting for the split between selling and managing. A seat with a personal target and no reps is a senior account executive role with a bigger title; a seat with a team of eight and no personal target is a management job. Both are fair; they need different evidence at interview.

Ask too what the team inherits. A head of sales hired to run SDRs, BDRs and account executives needs the pipeline those teams feed. Sales development and enablement are often hired at the same time: see sales enablement jobs and GTM jobs for the seats around this one.

06/ permanent jobs

Permanent head of sales jobs: what the seat pays

Permanent head of sales jobs are full-time employed roles, and they are the ones listed first on this page. IT Jobs Watch puts the median advertised head of sales salary at £75,000, with the 10th percentile at £65,000 and the 75th at £100,000, from IT-sector permanent job ads. Those are advertised base salaries, not on-target earnings.

Commission usually sits on top. Acas explains that entitlement to commission should be in the written statement of employment particulars, and that the contract should say what happens to commission earned but unpaid when the job ends. Your employer must give you a written statement on your first day.

For base, commission and the seat above, see head of sales salary on our sales director pay page.

07/ questions

Head of sales jobs FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a head of sales.

On this page: the board shows the head of sales roles on our board, permanent roles first where the posting says full-time, then interim and fractional. For the seat part of the week, see fractional head of sales jobs.

Roles leading a sales team day to day: hiring and coaching reps, running the pipeline and forecast, and owning the team’s number. In a start-up the head of sales may also sell; in a larger group the seat often reports to a sales director.

IT Jobs Watch puts the median advertised salary at £75,000, with the 10th percentile at £65,000 and the 75th at £100,000 (IT-sector permanent job ads). Commission usually sits on top. See head of sales salary.

Hit your own number as an account executive or sales manager, then show you can coach others to hit theirs. Keep the evidence by period, and add a management qualification if you have not run a team before. The ISP’s framework sets out what a sales leader is measured on.

Often only the title. Where a business has both, the sales director owns the strategy and reports the forecast to the board, and the head of sales runs the team. See what a sales director does.

Yes. Early-stage businesses often bring in a head of sales for set days a week to build the playbook and hire the first reps. See fractional head of sales jobs. If you work through your own company, IR35 status turns on how the engagement runs.

Write down what the seat owns, the number it carries and whether it sells as well as manages. To hire a head of sales part of the week, start with that page. On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

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.

Book a call →Submit a brief