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Explore our vision: Incredible, effortless recruitment
£80k-£130k
Typical base salary
12 wks
Replacement guarantee
P&L ownership
Real commercial directors carry a number and understand the whole margin, not just top-line revenue. Ask what they've owned end to end.
Cross-functional pull
They influence marketing, product and operations without owning them. That soft power is hard to fake, so probe for examples.
Strategic and operational
You need someone who can set a three-year plan and still fix this quarter's pipeline. Plenty can do one or the other.
How to run the hire
1. Scope the remit in writing.
Commercial Director can mean sales, or sales plus pricing, marketing and P&L. Agree the boundaries with your board first, because most failed hires here are scope mismatches.
2. Build a scorecard around ownership.
Weight P&L responsibility and cross-functional influence, not just revenue.
3. Source at the right altitude.
Approach people who've carried a real commercial number, ideally in a business your size.
4. Use a strategy presentation.
Have the shortlist present a commercial plan for your business to your leadership team.
5. Reference the P&L.
Confirm they owned margin and outcomes, not just a sales figure someone else was accountable for.
Fees are typically 20-25% of first-year salary for a role this senior and broad.
It's capped and agreed upfront, with nothing due until your hire starts. For the most senior or confidential briefs we can discuss a retained approach, but most are handled on contingency.
Around 8-14 weeks. Broad, senior roles take longer to get right, and rushing them rarely pays off.
The biggest variable is scope clarity - the more precisely you've defined what the role owns, the faster and cleaner the search runs.
Often, yes. The remit usually stretches beyond sales into pricing, margin, partnerships and sometimes marketing, with real P&L ownership.
But it varies a lot by business - in some companies it's effectively a Sales Director with a wider title. We scope the true remit before searching so you get the right calibre.
Yes. We handle discreet and replacement searches at Director level regularly, approaching candidates directly rather than advertising.
That protects your existing team and the market's perception while we quietly build a shortlist of people who fit the mandate.
A Commercial Director owns the commercial performance of the business, which usually stretches beyond sales into pricing, margin, contracts, partnerships and sometimes marketing.
They carry P&L responsibility, set the commercial strategy, and influence functions they don't directly manage. The exact scope varies a lot by company, so it's worth defining precisely.
Ask:
What commercial P&L have you owned, and what did you do with it?
Tell me about a pricing or margin decision that changed the business.
How have you aligned sales and marketing behind one plan? and Where would you focus first in our business? You want P&L specifics, not just revenue anecdotes.
Tell us about your role and a specialist sales recruiter will call you. No fee until your hire starts.
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