Chief commercial officers · the role
What does a chief commercial officer do?
The short answer · updated
A chief commercial officer (CCO) is the executive who owns how a company earns money from its markets. The CCO sets the commercial strategy, pricing and revenue model, leads sales and often marketing, owns the largest accounts and partnerships, and reports commercial performance to the chief executive and board. In smaller companies the job is often called commercial director.
What is a chief commercial officer?
CCO stands for chief commercial officer. A chief commercial officer is the member of the executive team who answers for revenue and margin across the business: which markets and customers to pursue, at what price and on what terms, and through which channels and partners.
The CCO usually reports to the chief executive and sits on the executive committee, and sometimes on the board. Below the CCO there may be several commercial directors, each running a division, region or channel, with sales, marketing and key account teams reporting in. In a smaller business one person does all of it, and whether the title is chief commercial officer or commercial director is a matter of choice.
Watch the abbreviation. CCO also stands for chief compliance officer, a regulatory role, and chief customer officer, a customer experience role. A job advert or salary table labelled CCO may mean either.
What a CCO is responsible for
There is no statutory job description. The Institute of Directors describes the commercial director’s job as planning, developing and implementing commercial strategies to support business development and growth, setting financial targets with the business and reporting commercial performance to the senior management team. A CCO does that across the whole company. The usual remit:
- Commercial strategy: which markets, customers, products and channels to pursue, and which to leave.
- Pricing and the revenue model: price lists, discount rules, contract terms and the margin the business will accept.
- Sales and key accounts: the sales leadership, the largest customers, major bids and renewals.
- Marketing and customer strategy: often reporting in, so that the market, the message and the sales plan agree.
- Partnerships: distributors, resellers, alliances and the commercial terms with key suppliers.
- The revenue plan: targets and budgets set with the finance director, and the forecast the board relies on.
- Commercial compliance: competition law, anti-bribery procedures and fair contract terms across the sales team.
Who a chief commercial officer reports to
In a company, the CCO reports to the chief executive. The finance director or CFO is the closest peer: pricing, discounts and targets all need finance’s view. Heads of sales, marketing, key accounts, partnerships and sometimes customer success or bids report into the CCO.
In the public sector the title means something different. The Government Chief Commercial Officer reports to the Chief Executive of the Civil Service and leads the Government Commercial Function, the cross-government function that buys goods and services. Its priorities include the relationship with strategic suppliers and improving contract delivery and management. A public-sector CCO is a buyer and contract manager, not a seller.
A CCO appointed to the board carries the general duties of a company director that Companies House sets out under the Companies Act 2006, including promoting the success of the company and exercising reasonable care, skill and diligence.
CCO vs CRO vs commercial director vs sales director
A sales director runs the sales team to a number: hiring and managing salespeople, the pipeline, forecasting and closing. See what a sales director does.
A commercial director owns the wider question of how the business makes money: pricing, terms, key accounts, partnerships and the plan sales and marketing work to. A sales director often reports to them. See what does a commercial director do.
A chief commercial officer does the commercial director’s job at executive-committee level and across the whole company, usually with one or more commercial directors reporting in. The CCO also owns the commercial model itself: what the company sells, to whom and how it charges.
A chief revenue officer (CRO) owns sales, marketing and customer success as one revenue engine, most often in subscription and software businesses where renewals matter as much as new sales. A CRO is usually narrower than a CCO on pricing, partnerships and the commercial model, and wider on customer success. Most companies have one or the other, not both. See fractional CRO for the part-week version of that seat.
Skills, qualifications and the rules a CCO works within
No qualification is required by law. Boards look for a record of growing revenue and margin at a comparable scale, pricing and negotiation at the size of deal the role will handle, and the ability to lead several commercial teams at once.
Two professional frameworks are useful signals. On the sales side, the Institute of Sales Professionals’ Sales Capability Framework is the basis of Ofqual’s specification of sales qualifications. On the marketing side, CIM’s Chartered Marketer status requires graded membership, continuing professional development and an assessment.
A CCO sets prices and negotiates with customers, suppliers and sometimes competitors, so competition law matters. The CMA’s short guide to competition law risk warns that price-fixing, bid-rigging and market sharing can lead to fines for the business and disqualification for directors, and that not knowing is no excuse. Under the Bribery Act 2010, a commercial organisation commits an offence if it fails to prevent bribery by people acting for it, unless it has adequate procedures in place. The sales team is where those procedures are tested.
Fractional, interim and permanent chief commercial officers
A permanent CCO suits a business where pricing, key accounts and the revenue plan need an owner every day, usually one with several commercial teams to lead.
A fractional CCO works a set number of days a week or month: setting the commercial strategy, resetting pricing, hiring the sales leader, then leaving the team to run it. It suits growing companies that need executive-level commercial judgement but not five days of it. Our page on the fractional chief commercial officer explains how the part-week role works.
An interim CCO works full-time for a fixed period, covering a vacancy, a turnaround or a sale of the business. A part-time CCO is usually employed on reduced hours.
Where a fractional or interim CCO works through their own limited company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply. Status turns on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
What a CCO earns, and how to hire one
Pay depends on the size of the organisation, the industry, the location and how much of the package rides on revenue. Our chief commercial officer salary page sets out the published ranges, each figure with its source.
Write the brief around the decisions the person will own: the commercial model, pricing, key accounts, the revenue plan. If the need is mainly running a sales team to a number, a sales director may be the better fit; if it is sales, marketing and customer success as one engine, look at chief revenue officer recruitment. The chief commercial officer job description template sets out the headings.
We recruit permanent, interim, fractional, part-time and temporary commercial leaders, and non-executive directors. To hire a chief commercial officer permanently, see commercial director recruitment; for part of the week, hire a fractional CCO. Every brief gets a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting. Open roles are on the chief commercial officer jobs page.
Questions people ask
What does CCO stand for?
In a company’s commercial team, chief commercial officer. The same letters are used for chief compliance officer, a regulatory role, and chief customer officer, so check the job description before you compare roles or pay.
Is a chief commercial officer the same as a commercial director?
Often the job is the same at different scales. A commercial director owns pricing, key accounts and the revenue plan; a CCO does that at executive-committee level, usually with commercial directors reporting in. See what does a commercial director do.
What is the difference between a CCO and a CRO?
A chief revenue officer runs sales, marketing and customer success as one revenue engine, most often in subscription businesses. A CCO is wider on pricing, partnerships and the commercial model. See fractional CRO.
Is a chief commercial officer the same as a sales director?
No. A sales director runs the sales team to a number. A CCO owns the commercial strategy, pricing and revenue model the sales team works within, and the sales director usually reports to the CCO or a commercial director.
Is a chief commercial officer a board-level role?
Usually executive-committee level, sometimes on the board. A CCO appointed to the board carries a director’s legal duties, set out by Companies House.
How much does a chief commercial officer earn?
It 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 with sources. On every shortlist we set out each candidate’s pay or day rate.
How do I hire a chief commercial officer?
Write the brief around the decisions they will own, choose permanent, fractional, interim or part-time, and test candidates on a real pricing or key-account problem. See commercial director recruitment; we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
