Head of Sales: Role, Salary & Job Description
What a Head of Sales owns, who they report to, and when a fractional sales leader makes sense.
Even with the most compelling product, customers don't just appear out of thin air and pipelines don't magically fill themselves. Behind every record-breaking quarter and every market expansion, there's usually a Head of Sales: a senior leader orchestrating everything from outbound strategy to high-stakes negotiations.
Still, this role isn't just about hitting quotas or managing a team of account executives. It's about building a revenue engine. A great Head of Sales designs the playbook, motivates the team, and chooses the right tools to make sure the company consistently closes business in the right markets.
In this guide, we'll cover what a Head of Sales does, how much they get paid, how the role compares to a VP of Sales or CRO, and how to hire one.
What Is the Head of Sales?
The Head of Sales is the executive responsible for overseeing all revenue-generating efforts for a company, whether that's outbound prospecting, inbound qualification, partnerships, or enterprise deal-making.
They may be called VP of Sales, Sales Director, or Sales Lead, but the scope is largely the same: they build and manage strategies and teams to meet your bottom line. And they're responsible for ensuring sales outcomes are tied directly to company goals.
For startups, specifically, hiring a Head of Sales might be the difference between "founder-led selling" and building a scalable sales machine. For more established companies, it's what supercharges growth and keeps competitors on their toes.
What Does the Head of Sales Do?
Day to day, the job is about more than picking up the phone and closing deals. The Head of Sales sets the tone, pace, and culture of the sales team all while never losing sight of results.
Their core responsibilities include:
- Crafting the revenue strategy: Define target markets, design sales processes, and set quotas that meet business objectives.
- Building and scaling teams: Recruit, train, and mentor account execs, SDRs, and managers.
- Forecasting sales and measuring performance: Own the sales pipeline and leverage CRM data to report to project and analyze sales results.
- Leading major deals: Guide strategic accounts or enterprise negotiations to close high-value opportunities.
- Collaborating with cross-functional teams: Partner with marketing for lead gen, product for customer feedback, and finance for pricing strategies, keeping everyone on track to meet sales goals.
- Establishing repeatable processes: Beyond just landing one-off deals, build frameworks and playbooks that make success scalable.
- Driving culture and motivation: Create a culture of accountability and productivity to help teams consistently crush targets.
Experienced Sales Executive with significant background building winning teams and gaining new distribution with priority retail accounts
Who Does the Head of Sales Report To?
In many companies, the Head of Sales answers directly to the CEO. In others, the role sits under another C-suite leader like Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) or Chief Operating Officer (COO). The setup mirrors other functional leaders, like a Head of Operations, who report to the CEO at smaller companies and to a C-level executive at larger ones.
When reporting directly to the CEO, the Head of Sales often has strategic authority to shape go-to-market direction and influence high-level decisions. Under a CRO, their role may be more focused on execution across markets or divisions. In either scenario, the Head of Sales is positioned as a primary driver of revenue and key advisor for business growth strategy.
What Skills Should a Head of Sales Have?
This isn't a gig for someone who only knows how to sell. It requires leadership, analytics capabilities, and operational excellence. The most effective Heads of Sales bring a toolkit that blends strategy and vision with hands-on execution.
Here's a closer look at the key skills they should have:
- Strategic thinking: Heads of Sales must be able to design and adapt go-to-market strategies that match company goals.
- Leadership and coaching: They should have the leadership experience needed to inspire, mentor, and scale high-performing teams.
- Analytics and forecasting: Sales leaders should be comfortable with KPIs, pipeline management, and revenue modeling.
- Negotiation: Putting boots on the ground, they must be skilled at closing complex enterprise deals and communicating company value.
- Cross-functional collaboration: Heads of Sales often have to partner with marketing, product, and customer functions across the org.
- Adaptability: They should be able to pivot according to changing sales markets, and thrive in both scrappy startup environments and structured organizations.
Full-Time, Fractional, or Interim Head of Sales?
You can bring on a Head of Sales in four ways, and the right one depends on how much hands-on management you need and for how long.
- Full-time Head of Sales: a permanent, salaried leader who owns the number every day. This fits when you have a repeatable sales motion and a team large enough to need daily management.
- Fractional Head of Sales: an experienced leader who works part-time on an ongoing retainer. This fits when you need senior strategy, hiring, and process work without needing someone 40 hours a week, such as when you're moving past founder-led sales.
- Interim Head of Sales: a full-time leader for a defined period, often after a departure or during a reorganization. This fits when the seat is empty and the pipeline can't wait for a permanent search.
- Contract-to-hire Head of Sales: a leader who starts on contract with a path to a permanent role. This is the best choice when you want to see how someone runs your team before making a full-time offer.
How Much Does a Head of Sales Make?
Hiring the right Head of Sales is a serious investment, but one that should pay for itself. According to Glassdoor, a Head of Sales in the U.S. typically earns between $208,097 and $387,727 annually. depends on many factors like company size and candidate experience. Also, remember to account for performance incentives, commissions, and equity grants, since the Head of Sales role is directly tied to revenue generation.
On a fractional basis, you pay for a portion of a senior sales leader's week. The closest benchmark we publish is for fractional CROs: as of October 2026, Go Fractional's CRO rate data shows an average of $200 an hour, with the middle 50% of rates landing between $150 and $250 an hour. At a typical scope of 7 hours a week, that's a monthly retainer of $4,200 to $7,000. Our State of Fractional Work report compares rates across every fractional role.
Fractional Head of Sales & CRO | Pre & Post-Acquisition Revenue Integration
Is a Head of Sales the Same as a CRO?
It's easy to mix up Head of Sales and CRO since they both take leadership over sales and revenue. Smaller companies, for example, may use "Head of Sales" as the most senior sales title, while larger organizations differentiate the CRO for broader commercial strategy.
But the truth is they're not exactly the same. While the titles sometimes overlap, there's an important distinction between them:
- Head of Sales: As a strategist and manager, they are primarily focused on overseeing sales operations, team performance, and quota attainment. They might also be responsible for managing a specific sales function and ensuring strategy execution.
- Chief Revenue Officer (CRO): As a C-level executive, they oversee all revenue streams (sales, marketing, partnerships, and customer success). They also work with the C-suite to develop the sales strategy for the entire organization.
How to Become a Head of Sales
As with most leadership roles, there's no prescriptive path to becoming Head of Sales. Still, many professionals reach the role by climbing the ranks within sales organizations and proving themselves as both top sellers and capable team managers.
Here are the typical steps to being hired as Head of Sales:
- Earn a relevant degree: Complete at least a bachelor's degree in business administration, marketing, communications, or a related field. Some companies prefer candidates with a master's degree, such as an MBA, especially for top leadership roles.
- Start in sales roles: Build foundational experience as a sales development rep, business development rep, or account executive.
- Move into management positions: Begin leading small teams, owning targets, and mentoring junior reps.
- Strengthen strategic skills: Expand your specialized skills by learning forecasting, budgeting, and territory planning.
- Develop executive experience: Build influence with C-suite leadership and investors, not just with sales reps. Demonstrate the ability to scale revenue across regions and industries.
Head of Sales Job Description Template
Use this template as a starting point for your Head of Sales job description. Swap in your company details, sales needs, and team size, and cut any line that doesn't match the role you're hiring for.
Job title: Head of Sales
Reports to: CEO or Chief Revenue Officer
About the role: [Company] is hiring a Head of Sales to own revenue strategy and lead our sales team. You'll build the playbook, manage the pipeline, and close strategic deals as we grow from [current stage] to [next stage].
Responsibilities:
- Set the sales strategy, target segments, and quotas that support company revenue goals.
- Hire, train, and manage account executives, SDRs, and sales managers.
- Own the pipeline, forecast, and CRM reporting, and present results to the leadership team and board.
- Lead negotiations on strategic and enterprise accounts.
- Partner with marketing on lead generation, with product on customer feedback, and with finance on pricing.
- Document repeatable processes and playbooks the team can scale.
Qualifications:
- [X]+ years in B2B sales, including [X]+ years managing sales teams.
- A track record of hitting team quota at a company of similar size or stage.
- Experience building or scaling a sales process, ideally in [your industry].
- Comfort with CRM tools, forecasting, and pipeline analytics.
- Clear communication with executives, investors, and customers.
Hiring part-time or on an interim basis? The same template works for a fractional sales leader. Adjust the reporting line and add expected hours per week.
How to Hire a Head of Sales
A traditional search for a Head of Sales takes months. You write the job description, source candidates, run several rounds of interviews, and get buy-in from your leadership team before anyone starts. In the meantime, founders or senior account executives cover the gap.
Go Fractional shortens that process. You tell a talent specialist what your sales team needs, and we introduce pre-vetted sales leaders from our network of 17,000+ executives, often within 48 hours. Interview the candidates you like, and we handle the paperwork once you choose one.
To get the most out of that first conversation, define the scope: the sales motion you run (inbound, outbound, enterprise, or product-led), the size of the team the leader will manage, and the revenue target they'll own. The job description template above gives you a head start.
You can also bring a sales leader on as a fractional executive, an interim executive, or on a contract-to-hire basis, and the engagement can change as your team grows.
Hire Your Next Sales Leader
A Head of Sales owns the revenue plan, the team that delivers it, and the forecast the rest of the company relies on. Whether you need that leader full-time, part-time, or for a defined stretch, getting the right person in the seat sooner keeps the pipeline moving.
Go Fractional can introduce you to vetted sales leaders in as little as three days. Tell us what you need to get started and match with talent.
If you're a sales leader looking for fractional or interim work, apply to join Go Fractional and browse open fractional roles.
