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Quick answer: A commercial director owns how a company makes money from its market. They set commercial strategy, manage pricing and key accounts, align marketing sales and operations around revenue targets, and report results to the executive team. A strong commercial director job description makes that ownership explicit: which revenue lines, which teams, which numbers.
This page gives you a ready to use commercial director job description template, explains how the role differs from a sales director, and shows how to evaluate candidates so the person you hire can actually do the work you describe.
The commercial director sits where strategy meets revenue. Most companies hire for this role when growth stops coming from a single sales motion and starts depending on pricing, partnerships, new markets, and tighter coordination between teams.
Day to day, that looks like:
The job is less about closing individual deals and more about deciding which deals the business should chase, at what price, and with which team.
These titles get used interchangeably, and that causes bad hires. The difference is scope.
| Commercial director | Sales director | |
|---|---|---|
| Main focus | Overall commercial performance and profitability | Sales revenue and team quota |
| Owns | Pricing, commercial strategy, partnerships, sometimes marketing | Pipeline, sales process, sales team performance |
| Time horizon | Annual and multiyear plans | Monthly and quarterly targets |
| Typical reports | Sales director, marketing lead, account management, commercial analysts | Sales managers and account executives |
If the role you’re hiring for is mostly about running a sales team against quota, a sales director job description is the better fit. If it also covers pricing, margin, and cross functional planning, you need a commercial director.
Copy this commercial director job description into your applicant tracking system and edit the bracketed sections. Specific beats generic: name the revenue lines, team size, and markets.
We are looking for a commercial director to lead the commercial strategy for [company name] across [markets, regions, or product lines]. You will own revenue and margin targets, build business plans on commercial opportunities, and lead a team of [number] across sales, account management, and [marketing or commercial analysis]. You will report to the [CEO, COO, or managing director] and work closely with finance, product, and operations.
The right candidate has led commercial teams before, is comfortable with financial models, and makes clear decisions with incomplete data.
A long requirements list doesn’t tell you which skills predict success. For most commercial director roles, five carry the weight.
Commercial and financial judgment. Can they read a profit and loss statement, model a pricing change, and explain the tradeoff between volume and margin?
Strategic planning. Can they turn a broad growth goal into a plan with owners, budgets, and milestones?
Negotiation. Can they hold a position with a large customer or supplier without damaging the relationship?
Cross functional leadership. Can they get finance, product, marketing, and sales working from the same numbers?
Market analysis. Can they use research and data to decide where not to compete, not only where to grow?
Formal qualifications matter less than evidence. A candidate without an MBA who has run a regional profit and loss is usually a stronger bet than one with the degree and no budget ownership.
Senior commercial hires are expensive to get wrong, and a polished interview isn’t proof of commercial judgment. Build your process around work the candidate actually does.
1. Define the scorecard before you post. List the three or four outcomes the commercial director must deliver in their first year. Write interview questions and rubrics against those outcomes, not against the job title.
2. Use a structured interview. Ask every finalist the same core questions and score answers against the same rubric. Examples:
3. Add a case exercise. Give finalists a short commercial scenario, such as a declining product line or a new market entry, and ask for a one page plan. You’ll see how they structure problems, use numbers, and prioritize.
4. Test functional skills where they apply. Commercial directors who stay close to analysis, pricing, or forecasting can complete a short functional assessment. Glider’s skill assessment software includes question sets for non technical and functional roles, scored against rubrics, and behavioral and psychometric assessments can add structured signal on work style.
5. Verify identity in remote processes. If interviews run remotely, ID verification confirms the person in the final round is the same person who applied, with every check logged for audit.
6. Plan for the team they’ll build. A new commercial director usually hires next: account managers, sales representatives, commercial analysts. Those are high volume roles where AI interview software and structured assessments save hiring managers hours of first round screening. The job description library has templates for many of those roles.
A commercial director sets and runs the commercial strategy of a business. They own revenue and margin targets, pricing, key partnerships, and the coordination of sales, account management, and often marketing.
A sales director focuses on sales revenue, pipeline, and the sales team. A commercial director has a wider remit that includes pricing, profitability, partnerships, and commercial planning across functions. Many sales directors report to a commercial director.
Most employers ask for a bachelor’s degree in business, finance, economics, or marketing, and many value an MBA. Proven experience leading commercial or sales teams and managing a profit and loss matters more than any single credential.
Usually the CEO, COO, or managing director. In larger groups, a commercial director for a region or division may report to a chief commercial officer.
Commercial and financial judgment, strategic planning, negotiation, cross functional leadership, and market analysis. Add industry knowledge if your market has long sales cycles or regulated pricing.
Use a scorecard tied to first year outcomes, a structured interview with consistent rubrics, and a short case exercise. Functional assessments can add evidence for analysis heavy roles, and identity checks protect remote processes.
Use the commercial director job description template above, tighten it to your scope, and decide how you’ll assess each requirement before you post it. When you’re ready to bring structure to screening and interviews across your commercial team, see how Glider AI combines skills validation, AI interviews, and identity verification in one platform.
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