Sales director salary · base, commission and OTE, 2026
What a sales director earns, in base, commission and OTE
A sales director salary in 2026 has a median of £100,000 in IT Jobs Watch’s count of permanent IT-sector job ads, with the range running from £80,000 to £103,750 (six months to 5 October 2026).
The ONS puts the median for the wider group of marketing, sales and advertising directors at £94,135.
Exec Capital’s 2026 guide runs base pay from £70,000 in smaller businesses to £220,000-plus at enterprise level.
Base is only part of the offer: commission decides what the seat pays, and Exec Capital puts on-target earnings at typically 1.5 to 2 times base.
When you hire a sales director through us, 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
In the press
Fast Company 16 leaders on when fractional C-suite hires make sense · 24 Jun 2026
Leaders disagree on when a fractional hire makes sense and when a seat needs a full-time owner. Read it before you commit to a permanent sales director and the package that goes with one.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a sales director
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Sales Director 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
Sales leadership jobs on the board
No Sales leadership 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 Sales leadership roles appear here as our pipeline finds them.
Sales leadership roles on the board
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Sales Director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
01/ the role
What a sales director does, and what sets the pay
A sales director runs the sales team and answers for the number: targets, forecast, pipeline, territories and key accounts, and the hiring and management of the people who sell.
For the full remit, see what a sales director does.
Company size sets the base first.
Exec Capital’s 2026 guide puts a sales director at a business with revenue under £15m on £65,000–£95,000 base, with on-target earnings of £110,000–£160,000.
In the mid-market (£15m–£100m revenue) it gives £90,000–£150,000 base and £160,000–£260,000 OTE.
Above £100m revenue, it gives £140,000–£220,000 base and £240,000–£450,000 OTE.
Sector sets the variable part.
Exec Capital puts OTE at 1.8 to 2.5 times base at mid-market technology businesses, 1.4 to 1.8 times in financial services and 1.3 to 1.6 times in manufacturing, industrial and distribution.
Agency and media sales directors sit lower, at £80,000–£130,000 base and £130,000–£220,000 OTE.
Sales has its own professional body: the Institute of Sales Professionals offers qualifications and accreditation.
Membership is worth asking about.
It is not a requirement for the role.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a sales director
1. Scope the seat before the salary
Write down the target, the team, the channels and the pipeline the new person inherits.
Say whether the job is new business, account growth or both.
A brief that mixes the two without saying so draws the wrong shortlist and the wrong commission plan.
2. Choose the route
A permanent appointment suits a company whose sales team needs a senior owner every day: hire a sales director on that basis.
For senior sales leadership for part of the week, hire a fractional sales director.
For full-time cover over a fixed term, hire an interim sales director.
3. Set base, commission and benefits together
Agree the target, the commission rate, any accelerator and the payment dates before the offer.
Exec Capital says accelerators of 1.5 to 2 times the on-plan rate are common at technology businesses.
It puts a car allowance at £7,000–£12,000 a year where the role has a significant field or client-facing element.
4. Put the commission plan in writing
Acas says an employer should include commission entitlement in the written statement of employment particulars.
The contract should also say what happens to commission when employment ends.
What we do on a sales director brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary sales leaders, 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.
Roles on the board are listed on sales director jobs.
03/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional sales director.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional sales director holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim sales director.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim sales director takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent sales director after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim sales director holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent sales director.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
04/ rates by stage
Sales director salary by source, place and company size
Permanent sales director pay as each publisher states it. IT Jobs Watch counts salaries in permanent IT-sector job ads (advertised base, six months to 5 October 2026). The ONS figure is full-time gross annual pay for the wider occupational group (2025, provisional). Exec Capital is a recruiter publishing its own ranges for 2026; the Glassdoor figure is as Exec Capital reports it.
05/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
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).
On a £100,000 base that is £14,250 a year (our arithmetic).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must also pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings (GOV.UK).
Commission is pay too.
HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, and its National Insurance manual lists bonuses and commissions as part of gross pay.
Budget employer’s National Insurance on the OTE, not just the base.
Add the car allowance or company car where the role is in the field: Exec Capital puts the allowance at £7,000–£12,000 a year.
Private medical insurance, pension and life assurance are standard in its guide.
06/ vetting
How we vet sales directors
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Sales Director 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
07/ sales director salary uk
Sales director salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side
The national figures measure different things.
IT Jobs Watch’s sales director salary UK median of £100,000 comes from salaries quoted in permanent IT-sector job ads, so it is advertised base pay, before commission.
Outside London its median is £95,000.
The ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reports what full-time employees are actually paid.
For marketing, sales and advertising directors (SOC 1132) the median is £94,135 and the middle half runs from £65,527 to £134,962 (2025, provisional).
The group is broader than the sales director title, so read it as the occupation, not this seat.
The average sales director salary depends on whose figures you read: the ONS mean for the occupational group is £113,940, and Glassdoor’s median base, as Exec Capital reports it, is about £85,000–£95,000.
Exec Capital’s own ranges run from £70,000 to £220,000-plus base by company size.
08/ sales director salary london
Sales director salary London, and the regions
IT Jobs Watch puts the sales director salary London employers advertise at a median of £100,000, from 40 salaries quoted in the six months to 5 October 2026, with the range running from £98,250 to £130,000.
That is the same median as the national figure, with a higher top end.
By region, IT Jobs Watch gives a median of £90,000 in the South East and £100,000 in the Midlands.
None of the other sources we cite publishes a London or regional figure for this seat, so for a role elsewhere start from the national range and the company-size bands.
09/ sales director ote
Sales director OTE: base, commission and the plan
Sales director OTE is on-target earnings: base salary plus the variable pay earned by hitting target in full.
Exec Capital’s 2026 guide puts OTE at typically 1.5 to 2 times base, £160,000–£260,000 in the mid-market and £240,000–£450,000 above £100m revenue.
An OTE is worth only as much as the target behind it is achievable, so ask how recent targets were set and met.
GOV.UK separates short-term performance pay, such as bonus and sales commission, from long-term schemes such as company shares.
In a PE-backed business, Exec Capital notes, the main addition to base and OTE is management equity.
10/ head of sales vs sales director
Head of sales vs sales director pay: where the two seats sit
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In IT Jobs Watch’s count of permanent IT-sector job ads, the median head of sales is advertised at £75,000, against £100,000 for a sales director.
For the seat below in full, see head of sales salary.
The gap reflects scope.
A head of sales usually runs a team or a segment and carries a number; a sales director owns the whole sales function, the forecast and the plan.
In a smaller business the head of sales often does the director’s job without the title.
Pay the scope, not the title.
11/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or retainer: the other ways to pay for the seat
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A permanent salary buys a sales leader every day, with commission and notice on both sides.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim sales director salary for the day rates.
A fractional sales leader works part of the week on a day rate or monthly retainer; see fractional sales director salary.
Compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.
12/ questions
Sales director salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a sales director.
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.
