Do I need a VP of Sales or a Head of Sales?

If your team is under about eight people and the founder still closes the biggest deals, you need a Head of Sales who will sell alongside them. A VP is for when you are hiring managers rather than reps. Hiring a VP too early is the most expensive mistake we see in this category, because they arrive expecting infrastructure that doesn't exist.

How long does a sales leadership search take?

The search runs 5–10 working days to a shortlist and 3–6 weeks from brief to offer, same as an AE search. The pool is smaller, the candidates are employed and cautious, and the process involves more people on your side. Notice periods at this level are usually three months; that's what extends the start date, not the search.

Can you run a confidential search?

Yes, and most leadership searches are. We approach candidates without naming you until there is genuine interest on both sides.

Yes. That search runs differently from a VP search, because the candidate pool is small enough to map exhaustively and the decision usually involves the board.

Do you place sales leaders outside the UK?

Yes, across Europe and the US. The figures on this page are UK figures and don't translate directly — send us the market and we'll benchmark it properly.

Do you only recruit junior sales roles?

No. The SaaS desk runs from graduate SDR through to CRO. Leadership hiring is a smaller volume of searches at a higher value, and it is the part of the desk least visible from our job board.

SaaS Recruitment

Sales leadership
recruitment.

We hire sales leaders for venture-backed SaaS companies: SDR Managers, Heads of Sales, VPs of Sales and CROs. Most of these searches start when a founder stops being able to run the sales team personally.

Brief us on a role Looking for a role instead?

Not one job

What's the difference between a Head of Sales, VP of Sales, and CRO?

The titles blur and the roles do not — see the table below for what each job actually does and when you need it. Founders often brief a VP of Sales when the problem calls for a Head of Sales, or a Head of Sales when it calls for a first-line manager. The titles blur and the roles do not. The most common misfire is hiring a VP into a Head of Sales job. A VP who has built teams at Series C arrives at a Series A company expecting managers to hire, a budget to deploy and a playbook to scale. What they find is eight people and a founder who still closes the biggest deals. In our experience, most don't last a year.

Role	The actual job	When you need it
SDR Manager	Coaching reps daily, fixing messaging, running the pipeline meeting	Three or more SDRs and nobody listening to their calls
Head of Sales	Running a team of closers, owning the number, still selling personally	Founder-led sales is capping out and the team is under about eight
VP Sales	Building the org, hiring managers, designing comp and territory	Multiple teams, or scaling past the point one person can coach
CRO	Owning all revenue including marketing, CS and partnerships	Series C and beyond, or a board that wants one throat to choke

What sales leaders cost

What should I pay a VP of Sales in the UK?

Role	Base	OTE
SDR Manager	£60,000 – £85,000	£95,000 – £130,000
Head of Sales	£85,000 – £110,000	£140,000 – £190,000
VP Sales (Series A)	£95,000 – £125,000	£155,000 – £230,000
VP Sales (Series B/C)	£115,000 – £155,000	£210,000 – £310,000
CRO	£130,000 upwards	£250,000 upwards, usually with meaningful equity

Sources: RepVue UK Sales Development Manager data gives a median base of £77,340 and OTE of £127,496, updated August 2026. PayScale's UK VP of Sales range runs £74,000 to £164,000 base with a median near £109,000. Ranges last checked September 2026.

Equity matters more at this level than base does. At Series B and beyond, 0.1% to 0.5% in options is typical in our searches for a VP, and a candidate weighing two offers will usually decide on the equity and the story rather than on £10,000 of base.

The screen

What do you screen for in a sales leadership hire?

Five things, screened the same way we screen AEs.

Whether they have built or inherited

Running a team someone else hired is a different job from building one from two people. Ask which they have done and how recently.

Stage fit, the same way we screen AEs

A leader who scaled from 40 reps to 90 inside a well-known company may never have hired a first SDR, written a comp plan from scratch, or sold without a brand behind them.

Whether they still sell

At Head of Sales level in a company under 50 people, a leader who has not personally closed a deal in three years is a risk. Ask when they last ran a full cycle themselves.

How they handle a rep who is missing

The answer tells you whether they coach or whether they replace, and both are legitimate. You need to know which one you are buying.

What they inherited on attainment

Team-level numbers, not personal ones. RepVue's UK SDR data shows 57.9% of reps hitting quota, so a leader claiming their whole team hit target needs a follow-up question.

How we work

Can you run a confidential sales leadership search?

Yes, and most leadership searches are. Same process as the rest of the desk, run with more depth and more discretion. Leadership searches are usually confidential, often while an incumbent is still in seat, and we treat them that way.

Three CVs per placement. At this level that means we have had long conversations with each of them and turned down more people than we sent.

Tell us the stage, team size and what the founder wants to stop doing

We'll tell you which of the four roles you're actually hiring. Back within 24 hours.

Key facts

How we measure

Roles

SDR Manager, Head of Sales, VP of Sales, CRO

Markets

UK, Europe and the US

Timeline

5–10 working days to shortlist, 3–6 weeks to offer

Salary

£60k–£155k+ base depending on level

FAQ

Common questions

Hiring a sales leader?

Tell us the stage, the team size and what the founder is currently doing that they want to stop doing.

Start a brief Hiring an AE too?

By Rupert Deering, Co-Founder

Last updated 1 October 2026

Sales leadershiprecruitment.