Sales manager career path: from account executive to VP of sales and CRO
Every step up the sales ladder, from closing your own deals as an account executive to leading all revenue as CRO, the chief revenue officer: what changes in the job, the gap to close, how to show it on your CV and in interviews, and a plan you can follow.
The cvscored team
Contents
The ladder at a glance
| Step | What you are measured on next | Typical time |
|---|---|---|
| Account executive to senior account executive | Larger, longer deals and steady attainment | 2 to 3 years |
| Senior account executive to sales manager | A team's quota, coaching and the forecast | 2 to 4 years |
| Sales manager to head of sales | The sales plan, several managers or regions | 2 to 4 years |
| Head of sales to sales director or VP of sales | A large organisation and the link to marketing and finance | 3 or more years |
| Sales director or VP of sales to CRO | All of the company's revenue, new and existing | 3 or more years |
In small firms one person may be head of sales and sales director at once, and in some groups a VP of sales leads a region rather than the whole company. Judge a job by the number it carries and the people it leads, not by its title.
Beside the account executives, many sales teams have sales engineers who own the technical side of each deal; their own ladder, up to head of presales, is on the sales engineer career paths.
After the signature, customer success managers keep the accounts that sales won and prepare their renewals; their ladder, up to chief customer officer, is on the customer success manager career paths.
Opening new markets and partners rather than growing current customers is the work of business development; its ladder, from business development representative to VP of business development, is on the business development manager career paths.
The list prices and discount limits a sales team works within are set by pricing managers, whose ladder up to pricing director is on the pricing manager career paths.
Your own number: account executive to sales manager
Account executive to senior account executive
What changes: larger customers, deals with many people on the buyer's side, longer sales cycles and a higher quota, often with the most important accounts of the territory.
The gap: qualifying large deals with MEDDIC, reaching the economic buyer, negotiatingAsked in 4% of sales manager ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Trade concessions for something in return, hold price, and close terms both sides will keep. with purchasing teams, and presentingGive a demo or a pitch that answers the buyer's problem, not a tour of every feature. a business case to leaders.
On the CV and in interviews: attainment for several years in a row, the largest deals you closed and how long they took. Expect a role play with a senior buyer.
Plan (6 to 12 months, on the job): ask for one larger deal with a senior colleague; write an account plan for your best customer; keep every deal fully up to date in the CRMAsked in 12% of sales manager ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Log every deal, contact and next step in the customer system, so the forecast rests on facts.; study the industry of your top accounts.
Senior account executive to sales manager
What changes: you stop being judged on your own deals and start carrying a team's quota: hiring, coaching, the weekly pipeline review and the forecast.
The gap: coaching sellersAsked in 31% of sales manager ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Hire, coach and keep sellers, run the weekly pipeline review, and carry the team's number. instead of taking over their deals, reading team figures with data analysisAsked in 2% of sales manager ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Read win rates, cycle length and deal size by segment, and act on what the figures show., forecasting, and difficult conversations about performance.
On the CV and in interviews: people you have already helped: new sellers you onboarded, colleagues you coached, a forecast you ran. Expect questions on a seller below quota.
Plan (9 to 12 months): onboard the next new seller; run the team's pipeline review when your manager is away; take a coaching course; keep your own attainment high while you do it.
The team's number: sales manager to CRO
Sales manager to head of sales
What changes: you answer for the sales plan, often with several managers or regions under you, and you agree targets with the company's leaders.
The gap: building the yearly plan, quotas and territories, the commission plan with finance, hiring at scale, and leading managers rather than sellers.
On the CV and in interviews: the team results you delivered over several years, people you promoted, a process you introduced. Expect a case: build next year's plan.
Plan (12 months or more): draft the next yearly plan with your leader; design a territory split in ExcelAsked in 7% of sales manager ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Build territory and quota models, commission checks and quick analyses of the pipeline.; develop one seller into a team lead; present results to the leadership team.
Head of sales to sales director or VP of sales
What changes: a larger sales organisation, sometimes several countries, and shared targets with marketing and finance.
The gap: a sales process that works the same in every team, hiring and keeping managers, pricing and discount rules, and figures leaders and finance trust.
On the CV and in interviews: growth across teams or countries, managers you developed, and how forecast accuracy changed. Expect talks with the CEO and finance.
Plan (12 months or more): own one cross-team project, such as a new qualification method; agree a shared pipeline target with marketing; prepare a successor for your role.
Sales director or VP of sales to CRO
What changes: you answer for all revenue, from new customers to renewals and growth in existing ones, usually with sales, customer success and often marketing reporting to you.
The gap: retention and expansion as well as new business, pricing, the board, and planning revenue several quarters ahead.
On the CV and in interviews: revenue growth you led, net retention, forecast accuracy and the organisation you built. Expect talks with the board.
Plan (2 years or more): take on renewals or customer success; prepare board reports with the CEO; lead one change in pricing or packaging.
Your CV for the next step
A step up in sales is judged on results at the level you want, so show them already, with quota attainment in every job. Three rules:
- Keep the titles you had. A seller who led onboarding is still an account executive; write the leading in the lines.
- Use the words of the next level. A sales manager role wants "team quota", "coaching", "forecast"; a head of sales role wants "sales plan", "territories", "hiring"; a VP or CRO role wants "revenue growth", "retention", "board".
- A figure in every line. Attainment, revenue, deal size, win rate, people promoted.
| Skill | Weak line | Strong line, with proof |
|---|---|---|
| Large deals | Closed big deals. | Closed the 2 largest deals in the region's history, worth 900,000 euros together, each with 6 people deciding on the buyer's side. |
| First teamAsked in 31% of sales manager ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Hire, coach and keep sellers, run the weekly pipeline review, and carry the team's number. | Moved into management. | Took over a team of 6 at 71 percent of quota; reached 103 percent in the fourth quarter. |
| Sales plan | Built the sales plan. | Built the yearly plan for 3 regions with finance; hired 11 sellers and hit the plan within 2 percent. |
| Revenue | Responsible for revenue. | Led sales and renewals as VP of sales; revenue up 38 percent in 2 years, net retention from 98 to 109 percent. |
Key takeaways
- The ladder runs account executive, senior account executive, sales manager, head of sales, sales director or VP of sales, then CRO.
- Senior account executives close larger, longer deals with many people on the buyer's side.
- Sales managers carry a team's quota; heads of sales the plan; directors and VPs a whole organisation.
- A CRO answers for all revenue, new and existing.
- Show the next level's results on your CV already, with quota attainment in every job.
Frequently asked questions
- What comes after sales manager?
- Head of sales, then sales director or VP of sales, then CRO, the chief revenue officer.
- Is a sales director the same as a VP of sales?
- The titles overlap: both lead a sales organisation. Which is higher depends on the company.
- Do the best sellers make the best sales managers?
- Not always. Managers win through their team, so coaching and patience count more than their own closing.
- How long does it take to become head of sales?
- Often eight years or more from the first sales job, with several years of leading a team.
- What should the CV show for a first management job?
- Your own attainment over several years, and proof that you already helped others: onboarding, coaching, running the pipeline review.