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Explore our vision: Incredible, effortless recruitment
£65k-£95k
Typical base salary
12 wks
Replacement guarantee
Player-coach instinct
The best Heads of Sales still love the deal. They lead from the front and lift the people around them rather than just managing a spreadsheet.
Process without bureaucracy
They can build pipeline discipline and forecasting the team actually uses. Ask what they'd change in your first 90 days.
Hiring and retention
A big part of the job is building the bench. Look for someone who's recruited and kept good sales people, not just inherited them.
How to run the hire
1. Decide how hands-on you need them.
A Head of Sales usually still sells and coaches daily, so be clear where the balance sits before you brief.
2. Score for coaching, not just quota.
Build a scorecard that weights their ability to lift a team, because that's the multiplier you're paying for.
3. Source through referral and approach.
Strong sales leaders are rarely applying, so go and find them.
4. Run a live coaching test.
Ask them to pull apart a stalled deal or run a mock pipeline review. Ten minutes tells you more than any competency form.
5. Check retention.
Reference how many of their team stayed and progressed, which is the truest sign of a good leader.
Fees typically run 18-23% of first-year salary. It's agreed and capped before we start, so there are no surprises later.
You pay nothing until your hire begins, which means the risk of the search sits with us rather than you.
Usually 6-10 weeks, with a shortlist inside the first fortnight.
The main things that move the timeline are notice periods and how much you weight sector experience. If you're open on background and focused on coaching ability, it tends to move faster.
A Head of Sales is usually more hands-on - still coaching and often still selling - and reports into a Director or MD.
A Sales Director owns strategy and sits closer to the board. The titles blur between businesses, so we always pin down the actual remit before we search rather than trust the label.
Yes. We handle both permanent and interim Head of Sales appointments.
Interim can be the right call when you need to steady a team quickly, cover a gap, or bring in leadership while you decide on the permanent shape of the role. We'll advise on which fits your situation.
A Head of Sales leads the day-to-day sales team - setting activity standards, coaching reps, managing pipeline and forecasting - while often still closing deals themselves.
They usually report to a Sales Director or MD and act as the bridge between strategy set above them and execution on the floor.
Try:
How do you coach a rep who's missed target three months running?
What does your weekly pipeline review look like?
Tell me about someone you developed from average to top performer. and What would you change in our sales process in your first 90 days? Listen for a real method, not generic motivation talk.
Tell us about your role and a specialist sales recruiter will call you. No fee until your hire starts.
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