Sales Director Recruitment for Business-Critical Sales Leadership Hires
Kingman Lennox recruits Sales Directors for UK businesses where the sales leader will set the revenue plan, build the team and answer for the number.
- Fixed fee agreed before the search starts
- Shortlist within two weeks
- 12-month replacement guarantee
We help growing UK businesses appoint Sales Directors who build strong teams, own the revenue plan and deliver the number.
A Sales Director is the most consequential commercial hire most growing businesses make. The right appointment builds a team that outperforms the plan. The wrong one can cost a year of pipeline before the problem is fully visible.
Every Sales Director search we run is built on direct headhunting and evidence-led assessment, so the decision rests on what a candidate has actually delivered rather than how well they interview.
Why Sales Director Recruitment Is So Hard to Get Right
Most Sales Director candidates interview well. Senior salespeople have spent their careers presenting with confidence, and by the time they reach director level they can talk fluently about strategy, forecasting and team culture. That fluency makes it harder to tell a leader who has genuinely built and run a high-performing team from one who inherited a strong team or rode a favourable market.
The cost of getting it wrong is also larger than it looks. A Sales Director sets the revenue plan, shapes the team and sets the standard every salesperson works to, so a mis-hire at this level is felt across the whole business: stalled pipeline, missed forecasts, months lost before the problem is recognised and a replacement is in post, and good salespeople who leave because of the leader rather than the business.
The strongest Sales Directors are rarely on the market. They are delivering somewhere else, usually well rewarded, and will only consider a move if the opportunity is put to them properly and discreetly. Reaching them takes direct search, and persuading them takes a clear, credible case for the role.
We are typically engaged when:
- A previous sales leader has not delivered, and the business cannot afford a second miss
- The business is appointing its first Sales Director and needs someone who can build a team as well as run one
- The sales team has outgrown its current leadership as the company scales
- The right candidate is performing elsewhere and will need to be approached directly
- The appointment needs to be handled confidentially
From a recent Sales Director assignment
A long-established family business in FMCG wanted to drive growth nationally and internationally, and its Sales Director of many years was due to retire. The business saw the appointment as the moment to accelerate, and wanted someone from its own market who had already led significant expansion. The search was sensitive: a family member working in the business wished to be considered, and was assessed by Kingman Lennox alongside the external candidates on exactly the same basis. The appointment went to an external candidate who brought extensive leadership and expansion experience to help transform the business.
“Kingman Lennox ran a thorough and fair process at a sensitive time for our business. The Sales Director we appointed has changed how we sell, at home and overseas.”
How We Recruit a Sales Director
Every Sales Director search starts with the brief. We work closely with your leadership team to define what the role has to achieve in its first twelve to eighteen months: the revenue plan, the team to be built or rebuilt, the markets to be opened and the way your business sells. That becomes the scorecard every candidate is measured against.
We then identify and approach sales leaders directly, including those who are not looking, and assess them in depth. Because our assessment is led by people who have run sales teams and owned a number themselves, candidates are questioned as commercial peers.
Your shortlist is a small number of candidates who have been properly tested, each with a written assessment. We stay involved through the offer, the resignation and the notice period, a stage that needs careful handling at this level. Read more about how we work.
Team building
Who they have hired, how those hires performed, and who they developed or moved on
Forecasting
How accurately they have called the number, and what they did when it slipped
Pipeline
Whether growth came from new business they created or from a market that carried them
Context
The team size, deal size and sales cycle behind their results, and how closely they match yours
Leadership style
Whether they lead from the front as a player-manager or lead other managers, and which your business needs now
Sales Director and Sales Leadership Roles We Recruit
Our sales leadership and sales management recruitment covers every stage of a growing business, from a first Head of Sales to executive search for Chief Revenue Officers.
Building a sales function
The first dedicated sales leader, who leads from the front while the team is built.
Leading an established team
Leaders who own the revenue plan and run managers or a larger team.
- Sales DirectorThis page
- Regional Sales Director
- National Sales Director
Executive and board level
Senior leaders responsible for revenue across the business.
Most Sales Director assignments sit in B2B environments where the sale is considered rather than transactional. At this level, the difference between an adequate sales leader and an excellent one shows up quickly in the numbers, and in the team they build.
Sales Director Recruitment Across B2B Sectors
Our focus is sales leadership rather than one industry, and we recruit Sales Directors across the UK’s main B2B sectors, including:
SaaS and technology
Financial services and fintech
Professional services
Industrial and engineering
Energy and sustainability
Healthcare and life sciences
Manufacturing and distribution
FMCG and consumer goods
What matters most at this level is whether a candidate has led a sales team in an environment like yours, with similar deal sizes, sales cycles and buyers. Sector knowledge helps, but a proven leader from a comparable B2B model will often outperform a sector insider who has never built a team.
Why Businesses Engage Kingman Lennox for Sales Director Recruitment
A Sales Director appointment shapes the revenue of a business for years. Our role is to make sure it is made on evidence, with a clear view of what the role needs and who can genuinely deliver it. What defines the way we work:
- Specialist focus on sales roles, and nothing else
- Leadership assessed by people who have run sales teams
- Direct, discreet approaches to sales leaders who are not on the market
- Close partnership with your leadership team from brief to start date
- A 12-month replacement guarantee on every placement
- Over 95% of placements still in role after 12 months
Sales Director Recruitment: Your Questions Answered
If your question is not answered here, the quickest route is a short, no-obligation discovery call.
How much does Sales Director recruitment cost?
Many agencies charge a percentage of the successful candidate’s first-year salary, which at Sales Director level is a significant sum and rises with the salary agreed. Every Kingman Lennox search is on a fixed fee agreed before it starts. A fixed fee removes any incentive to put forward candidates at the top of the salary range, and it lets us commit properly to the search. Every placement is also backed by a 12-month guarantee.
How long does it take to recruit a Sales Director?
A well-run search typically delivers a strong shortlist within two weeks, and most searches reach an accepted offer within four to six weeks. Sales Director searches usually sit at the longer end of that range. Senior candidates often have longer notice periods, so it pays to start the search earlier than you would for other roles.
What should we look for in a Sales Director?
The most useful thing to look for is evidence. Look for a record of building teams that hit their numbers, accurate forecasting over several years, and results achieved in a sales environment similar to yours. Be wary of success that came from a team or market the candidate inherited. We build a scorecard for every search, so each candidate is judged against what your role actually needs.
What is the difference between a Sales Director and a Head of Sales?
The titles are used differently from one business to the next. As a rule, a Head of Sales leads from the front and may still carry a personal target, while a Sales Director owns the revenue plan, leads managers or a larger team and sits closer to the board. The right choice depends on the size of your team and what the role must achieve in its first year, and we help you define that before the search starts.
Do you recruit Sales Directors across the UK?
Yes. We run Sales Director searches across the UK, covering London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Aberdeen, and we regularly place sales leaders in field-based and national roles. We also help international businesses appoint their first UK Sales Director.
What happens if the Sales Director you place does not work out?
Every placement is backed by a 12-month guarantee, which is considerably longer than the three months most agencies offer. If the person leaves or is let go within twelve months, we rerun the search at no additional fee. In practice this is rarely needed: over 95% of the candidates we place are still in role after twelve months.
Speak to a Sales Director Headhunter
If you are planning a Sales Director appointment, we would be glad to talk it through. An initial conversation is confidential and without obligation: you describe the role and what has to go right, and we tell you honestly whether and how we can help.