Chief commercial officers · the career path
How to become a chief commercial officer
The short answer · updated
Most chief commercial officers come up through sales, marketing or key account management, then run a sales function as sales director and the wider commercial seat as commercial director before taking an executive-committee role. Boards look for a record of growing revenue and margin, pricing and negotiating at scale, and leading several commercial teams. No qualification is required by law.
The routes in: sales, marketing, commercial director, CCO
The National Careers Service sets out how sales management careers start: a degree followed by a graduate sales management trainee role, an apprenticeship, or working up from a sales supervisor role while taking professional qualifications. It adds that employers often rate sales and management experience, market knowledge and a record of achieving targets above academic qualifications.
The usual ladder is salesperson or account manager, sales manager, head of sales or sales director, commercial director, then chief commercial officer. Marketers take a parallel route: the NCS shows a marketing manager moving up to marketing director, and a marketing director who takes on sales and pricing is a commercial director in all but name.
A third route runs through buying rather than selling. In government, the commercial function is procurement and contract management, and its leaders come from that side: the Government Chief Commercial Officer built his career in commercial, procurement and supply chain management, and was previously chief commercial officer at the Department for Work and Pensions. If your background is in buying, that is the CCO seat the route leads to.
Qualifications: degrees, sales and marketing bodies, directorship
No law requires a qualification to be a chief commercial officer. The Institute of Directors treats a degree in business management, marketing, finance or business administration as the usual starting point for a commercial director, with a master’s showing deeper business knowledge. Robert Walters, a recruiter, notes that an MBA can help in larger and multinational organisations, but that a commercial track record matters more at this level.
The professional routes below are signals, not requirements. Choose the one that matches the side of the commercial function you come from.
- Sales. The Institute of Sales Professionals’ Sales Capability Framework sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours for sales roles and is the basis of Ofqual’s specification of sales qualifications. The NCS names a Sales Executive Level 4 apprenticeship and a Business to Business Sales Professional Level 6 degree apprenticeship as routes into sales management.
- Marketing. The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s qualifications run up to a Level 7 Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing and a Marketing Leadership Programme aimed at senior and board-level roles.
- Directorship. The IoD’s Chartered Director Programme runs from a Certificate in Company Direction to a Diploma, then chartered status after an interview and assessment of business experience. It suits a commercial leader preparing for a board seat.
The experience boards look for
A board hiring a CCO wants evidence that you have owned revenue and margin, not just a sales number. That means pricing decisions you made and what they did to margin, large contracts you negotiated or renewed, a market you entered or left, and a forecast the board relied on.
It also wants evidence that you can lead more than one commercial team: sales and marketing at least, often key accounts, partnerships or customer success. If your career has been in one of these, ask for the next one before you apply for a CCO seat.
Commercial leaders also answer for how their teams compete. The CMA’s short guide to competition law risk warns that directors involved in price-fixing, bid-rigging or market sharing can be disqualified, and that not knowing is no excuse. A candidate who can describe how they kept a sales team on the right side of those rules stands out.
The step from commercial director to chief commercial officer
The commercial director runs the commercial plan; the CCO decides what the plan should be across the whole company and defends it at the executive committee. The step up is usually about scope: more than one commercial director or region reporting in, a seat at the top table, and ownership of the commercial model itself.
Two moves help. Present to the board on commercial performance before you hold the seat, and take on a division or market with its own profit and loss. In a smaller company the step is often a change of title for the same job; in a larger one it is a new job. Our page on what a chief commercial officer does sets out the remit, and the chief commercial officer job description shows what boards write down.
Fractional and interim CCO work as a route in
Smaller and growing companies often need a chief commercial officer for a few days a week, not five. For an experienced commercial director, a fractional CCO role is a way to hold the full remit, including board reporting, sooner than a full-time promotion would allow. Our page on the fractional chief commercial officer explains how the part-week role works, and fractional CCO jobs lists the roles. Our guide on how to become a fractional executive covers the practical side.
Interim work is the other way in: full-time for a fixed period, covering a vacancy, a turnaround or a sale of the business.
If you work through your own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply. Status is decided by how each engagement runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
What a CCO earns, and where to find roles
CCO pay depends on the size of the organisation, the industry and the location, and much of the package is bonus and equity. Our chief commercial officer salary page sets out the published ranges, each figure with its source.
Open roles are on the chief commercial officer jobs page, and the step before is on the commercial director jobs page. We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives.
The step after CCO is often chief executive: see how to become a CEO.
Questions people ask
Do you need a degree to become a chief commercial officer?
No law requires one. The IoD treats a business, marketing or finance degree as the usual starting point for a commercial director, and an MBA can help in larger organisations, but boards weigh a record of growing revenue and margin more heavily.
What job comes before chief commercial officer?
Usually commercial director, sometimes sales director, marketing director or a divisional managing director. See what does a commercial director do.
Can a marketer become a chief commercial officer?
Yes, if they take on sales and pricing as well. A marketing director who owns pipeline and revenue, then a sales team, is on the commercial director route. CIM’s senior qualifications and leadership programme are aimed at that step.
Which professional body should a future CCO join?
The one that matches your background: the Institute of Sales Professionals for sales, the Chartered Institute of Marketing for marketing, and the Institute of Directors for board-level development. None is required.
How long does it take to become a chief commercial officer?
There is no set timetable. The IoD describes the commercial director role, the usual step before, as needing many years of relevant experience and a demonstrable record of success. A fractional CCO role in a smaller company can bring the full remit sooner.
How do you get your first chief commercial officer role?
Lead more than one commercial team, own a profit and loss, and report to the board before you apply. A fractional or interim CCO role in a smaller business is one of the faster ways in. See fractional CCO jobs.
