How to hire a CRO · CRO, CCO or VP of sales · permanent, fractional or interim CRO
Hire a CRO · permanent, fractional or interim
To hire a CRO, first decide which revenue functions the seat will own (sales alone, or sales, marketing and customer success together) and the number it answers for.
Then choose the route, set the pay split, and test every candidate on your own pipeline.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors.
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.
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
Worth reading before you choose between a permanent CRO and a part-week one. Leaders here set out when a fractional executive suits a defined mandate and when the seat needs someone in it every day.
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.
Current revenue leadership roles
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
Hire a CRO: decide what the seat owns first
A chief revenue officer answers to the CEO and the board for the whole revenue number.
That usually means sales, and often marketing, customer success and revenue operations as well.
Whether the search reads "hire chief revenue officer" or "hire a chief revenue officer around me", the first question is the same.
Which teams will report to this person, and which number will they be judged on?
Signs the business needs one
Sales, marketing and customer success each report to the CEO and disagree about the pipeline.
The founder still closes most deals, and nobody owns a missed forecast.
If only the sales team needs a leader, the hire is one level down: a sales director or head of sales, not a CRO.
If the seat comes with a board place
A CRO appointed as a director takes on the seven general duties of a company director under the Companies Act 2006.
Companies House notes they also apply to someone who acts as a director without being formally appointed.
02/ scope
How to hire a CRO: the steps
1. Write the brief around the revenue problem
Set out the teams the CRO inherits, the systems and data they will rely on, and what should be different after twelve months.
"Grow revenue" is not a brief; "move from founder-led sales to a team that hits a forecast" is.
2. Set the pay split before anyone is approached
A CRO package splits between base, variable pay tied to revenue and, often, equity.
Agree the split and what the variable pay is measured on first, because candidates will ask in the first conversation.
If the plan pays commission, Acas says the entitlement belongs in the written statement of employment particulars.
The contract should also say what happens to commission earned when employment ends.
3. Search beyond the people who are looking
An advert headed "hire CRO" mostly reaches people already on the move.
Many strong revenue leaders are hitting their number in post, so someone has to approach them.
4. Test on your own pipeline
Give every candidate the same task: review last quarter’s pipeline and forecast, say what they would change in the first ninety days, and walk through a quarter they missed.
Ask for the numbers behind their own story, then check them with a CEO or board reference.
CIPD’s guidance on selection favours structured interviews: the same questions, in the same order, scored against criteria agreed in advance.
5. Check directorships before the offer
Search the candidate’s past directorships and the disqualified directors list on the Companies House register.
Take two references yourself rather than relying on the ones offered.
What we do on a CRO brief
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
Every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
03/ comparison
Permanent, fractional or interim?
Three ways to put revenue leadership in the seat. Choose by how much of the week the work needs, and for how long.
04/ 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
05/ CRO, CCO or VP of sales
CRO, CCO or VP of sales: which hire
CRO, CCO or VP of sales is a choice about scope, not seniority alone.
A CRO owns every function that produces revenue and the forecast that goes to the board.
A chief commercial officer usually owns pricing, partnerships and the largest contracts, and may sit above or beside a CRO.
If that is the gap, hire a chief commercial officer instead.
A VP of sales runs the sales team to a target and usually reports to the CRO or the CEO.
Exec Capital, itself a search firm, puts CRO on-target earnings typically 20–40% above a sales director’s at comparable scale.
To test a VP of sales or a CRO on the selling itself, the Institute of Sales Professionals’ Sales Capability Framework sets out the skills and behaviours by role.
Ofqual’s specification of sales qualifications is built on it.
If the job is mostly leading one team, the head of sales jobs on our board show how other businesses frame the seat below a CRO.
06/ permanent, fractional or interim CRO
Permanent, fractional or interim CRO: choosing the route
Permanent, fractional or interim CRO turns on two questions: how much of the week the work needs, and for how long.
A CRO for hire on a day rate suits a defined job; a permanent CRO suits a number that needs an owner for years.
Exec Capital’s 2026 C-suite salary guide puts revenue CROs at £120,000–£220,000 base at mid-market scale, with variable pay that can lift total pay well above base.
For a full search, see chief revenue officer recruitment, and chief revenue officer salary for pay.
A fractional CRO works agreed days a week, often to build the first repeatable sales motion.
To go that way, hire a fractional CRO.
An interim CRO works full-time for a fixed term, after a departure or through a defined change.
Open CRO jobs show how other businesses are framing each route.
Equity can decide the route.
Enterprise Management Incentives need the holder to work at least 25 hours a week, or 75% of their working time, for the company, which a part-week CRO may not meet.
A CRO working through their own company may fall under the off-payroll working rules (IR35).
Status depends on how the engagement runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination; our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
07/ questions
Hire a CRO 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.
