Sales leadership: managing teams, owning the forecast
Sales leadership covers everything from team lead to Chief Revenue Officer. Instead of closing deals yourself, a sales leader owns the output of an entire team: pipeline, forecast, people, and strategy.
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The job market right now
Atlas currently lists 4 open roles for sales leaders, posted by 3 employers.
Most openings are currently in Vienna.
One role is fully or mostly remote.
Employers hiring now
Mondi AG2 roles
Allane1 role
Oetker Gruppe1 role
By city
What sales leadership involves
Core responsibilities include managing people, forecasting, steering pipeline across the whole team, and owning the overall target. On top of that comes hiring and onboarding new reps, coaching existing team members, and aligning with marketing, product, and leadership.
The focus shifts with seniority: a team lead stays close to day-to-day deals and coaches individual reps, while a VP Sales or Chief Revenue Officer works more on strategy, sales org design, and budget.
Roles and levels
Common titles range from team lead and sales manager through head of sales and sales director up to VP Sales and Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Responsibility grows with seniority, from a single team to the whole revenue organization, sometimes including customer success and partnerships too.
Pay
Pay in sales leadership still splits into base and variable, but the variable share is usually tied to the overall result of the team or organization rather than individual deals. At more senior levels, additional components like equity sometimes come into play, structured very differently from company to company.
What's expected
The baseline is usually a proven track record as an individual contributor, often combined with some early leadership experience, such as team lead work or mentoring as a senior AE. More senior roles also expect experience building or restructuring sales organizations.
What to check in an offer
Pay attention to how the role sits organizationally: who it reports to, how much real budget and headcount authority comes with the title, and how realistic the overall target is given team size and market conditions.
- Actual budget and headcount authority
- Reporting line and decision-making scope
- Whether the overall target is realistic for team size
- Market conditions and competitive situation
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Sales Manager, Head of Sales, and VP Sales?
The titles mainly differ in scope of responsibility. A sales manager or team lead usually runs a single team, while head of sales and VP Sales own larger parts of, or the entire, revenue organization.
Do I need management experience for a sales leadership role?
For senior roles, yes, usually from prior team or divisional responsibility. For a first leadership step like team lead, proven experience as a senior rep with informal mentoring can sometimes be enough.
What does variable pay depend on in sales leadership?
Usually on the overall result of the team or organization you're responsible for, such as team-level target attainment, rather than individual deals.
How is a Chief Revenue Officer different from a VP Sales?
A Chief Revenue Officer often owns marketing, customer success, or partnerships alongside sales, essentially the whole revenue chain, while VP Sales usually focuses on traditional sales.
Conclusion
Sales leadership means shifting from closing your own deals to owning the results of other people's. Anyone making that move should look closely at actual decision-making authority and whether the overall target is realistic.
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