Sales Director
Job description, salary, sourcing, interview questions and a 30/60/90 plan to hire a Sales Director in a German SMB.
Compiled by the Join team from public data and our hiring experience.
Updated
At a glance
- Median salary€83,000€70,000 – €98,000
- Time to fill50–80 days
- Experience5–8 years
How to hire a Head of Sales
A sales leadership at an SMB is the most expensive and most consequential hire many managing directors make in their growth phase. Before the posting, settle three questions. They decide whether a new hire is the right lever and which profile you actually need.
Do you really need a sales leadership, or an experienced Sales Manager? The threshold is not primarily revenue, but span of control and complexity. If you lead 1 to 8 salespeople, a sales manager reporting directly to the managing directors or CEO is enough. From 2 sales managers or from 10 people, the span becomes too large for CEO direct management, and a true sales leadership becomes necessary. Substantive triggers: several markets, planned internationalization, several segments. If you hire below these thresholds, you pay 125 k€ for a profile that sells 60 percent of the time themselves, because no real org work arises, and both sides end up frustrated.
A first or a second sales leadership? A first sales leadership builds the sales organization: defines the ICP, establishes the cadence, decides on compensation and the stack, hires the first leadership team. You need a profile with build experience, one that tolerates ambiguity and shapes, not one that fine-tunes existing structures. A second or third sales leadership takes over an existing organization. You need a profile that can diagnose and change in a targeted way without rebuilding everything from the ground up. Both profiles cost differently and are recognized differently; settle the choice before the posting.
Full-time, fractional or interim? For an SMB at the transition from 3 to 8 salespeople, with 5 to 10 M€ ARR and no clear mandate for internationalization, a fractional sales leadership (0.4-0.6 FTE through an experienced advisor) is often the better choice: 60-90 k€ per year, an operational frame without a full-time commitment, a clear transition path to the internal full-time role after 12-18 months. An interim sales leadership (3-9 months, roughly 800-1,500 € day rate) suits crisis setups (an acute revenue drop, a change of managing directors) or handover during an extended search. Full-time from 10+ people or with a strategic mandate.
An indicative capacity calculation: a sales leadership leads 3-5 sales managers or, in flatter structures, up to 12-15 direct reports. Beyond that you need an intermediate level (a director-of-sales layer) or a second sales leadership per segment. A single person over 25 direct reports is a warning flag.
JD template
Head of Sales (m/w/d): build and scale sales
[Company name], a B2B SMB in [sector] based in [city], [X] employees, [X] M€ ARR, is looking for a Head of Sales to lead and scale the entire sales organization, currently with [X] sales managers and [X] salespeople.
Mission
As Head of Sales you own the sales performance of the entire organization: quarterly and annual revenue, team building, GTM strategy and executive alignment with the managing directors and the advisory board. You report to the [CEO / managing director] and work closely with [CMO, CFO, CTO].
Key responsibilities
- Strategic sales steering: ICP definition, segmentation, GTM bets, market-entry sequencing in [market A, market B].
- Leading the sales managers: weekly 1:1s, a monthly org review, individual development plans, coaching at the manager-of-managers level.
- Forecast and pipeline discipline: a quarterly forecast with plus-minus 5 to 10 percent accuracy, monthly reporting to the managing directors and the advisory board.
- A hiring pipeline for sales managers and senior salespeople, including a scorecard and interview process.
- Compensation-plan design for the entire sales organization in coordination with the CFO and People.
- Responsibility for the sales stack (CRM, sales engagement, forecasting, enablement) and the annual stack budget.
- Executive alignment with Marketing (pipeline generation, ICP sharpening), Product (roadmap input from customer insights), Customer Success (expansion strategy).
Profile
- [8 to 15] years of experience in B2B sales, of which at least [5] years in a sales-manager or director role and at least [2] years of responsibility over several sales managers or a comparable function (team-of-teams experience).
- A demonstrable track record of building or rebuilding a sales organization in a phase comparable to ours ([revenue phase, sector context]).
- Strategic GTM experience: ICP sharpening, segmentation, ownership of at least one market entry or one major function introduction (e.g. SDR, Customer Success).
- Very good forecast discipline: you can explain the math of a quarterly landing in 5 minutes.
- A hiring and development track: at least [3-5] sales managers or senior salespeople successfully hired and developed over 24 months.
- Plus: experience in [our or an adjacent sector], experience with our CRM and stack ([Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, Gong]), business-fluent English.
What we offer
- Gross annual compensation: fixed [95-170] k€ + variable [40-75] k€ at OTE (70/30). The variable is tied to team revenue, gross margin and strategic goals; details of the plan are shared in the interview.
- [VSOP program with a 0.5-2 percent share depending on stage, vesting over 4 years with a 1-year cliff].
- Model: [full-time, hybrid 2-3 days / week on-site, based in [city], travel roughly 20-30 percent].
- Senior-executive status with the corresponding contractual consequences (working time, dismissal protection).
- Benefits: [company pension, bike leasing, employee shares or VSOP, vacation, home-office policy, professional development, an executive-coaching budget].
- Stack: [CRM, sales engagement, pipeline intelligence, forecasting].
Salary band
Base salary, gross annual
- 25th percentile
- €70,000
- Median
- €83,000
- 75th percentile
- €98,000
Variable at OTE€30,000 – €42,000OTE 70/30 (fixed/variable). Variable tied to team revenue, gross margin and strategic goals (hiring, expansion).
Gross fixed salary per year for a Sales Director who owns a region, channel or product line rather than the entire sales organization (often leading 1 to 2 sales managers, or a subset of accounts directly), one step below full Head of Sales ownership. This level typically reports into a Head of Sales or directly to the managing directors, and does not yet own company-wide compensation-plan design or GTM strategy. Berlin and Munich pull the range up; regional Mittelstand locations trend downward. Variable pay follows a similar OTE logic to the Head of Sales level (see the base guide) but is tied to a narrower book of revenue.
Sources: Stepstone Gehaltsdaten Head of Sales Deutschland 2026; Stepstone Gehaltsdaten Regional Sales Director Deutschland 2026; Kienbaum Vergütungsstudie Führungskräfte 2025
Where to source this role
LinkedIn (Executive Search)
Recruiter Pro from €1,100 / month plus InMail creditsBy far the most important channel for sales-leadership profiles in Germany, but almost exclusively through active sourcing (Recruiter Pro or Lite plus an InMail sequence). Pure job posts deliver little signal at this level, because the target group rarely searches actively. Expect 70-80 percent of serious applications from this channel when you source and pre-qualify actively over 6-8 weeks.
XING Executive
ProBusiness Premium from €49 / month plus ProJobs from €195 / monthStill strong for the classic Mittelstand outside the tech and Berlin-startup scene, especially for profiles over 40 and in the NRW, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg regions. XING ProBusiness with ProJobs is the usual configuration; active sourcing via the premium search delivers better results than purely passive job ads. Particularly relevant for industry, mechanical engineering, wholesale and product-oriented Mittelstand companies.
Executive search / headhunters
30-50 k€ fee per mandate (retainer model)For an SMB sales leadership from roughly 130 k€ fixed or with sector depth (medtech, industry, regulated sectors), often the only channel that delivers in 8-10 weeks. Kienbaum, Heidrick and Struggles, Egon Zehnder and Spencer Stuart cover the upper segment; for the Mittelstand and scale-ups, boutiques such as i-potentials or Heads make sense. Expect 25-33 percent of the annual fixed salary as the fee, staged by milestones.
Personal network and referrals
At the sales-leadership level, structurally the channel with the highest hit rate. Activate your own network (board, advisory board, former managers, former sales managers), the network of your VP Sales or CEO, and industry circles (Bundesverband Vertrieb, German Sales Network, sales communities such as Surf and Sales DACH). For a role open longer than 12 weeks, almost always the channel that brings the final hire.
Evaluation playbook
At the sales-leadership level, no single evaluation stage delivers a clear signal. Validation comes from accumulation across four stages, with particular weight on the case study and the backchannel references.
Stage 1: CV and first screen (45 min)
A first conversation to clarify three points: the size of the most recently owned organization (number of sales managers, number of reports, ARR size), the career trajectory (from IC to sales leadership in what sequence, with what gap story), and the motivation to change. Look for consistent tenure of at least 24 months in previous sales-leadership or sales-director roles. Be cautious with more than two moves at this level in the last 5 years without a plausible story.
Stage 2: Structured interview with the executive team (2 hrs)
Work through the 15 structured questions above, alternating behavioral, situational, case, technical and values. At least three interviewers: the CEO or a managing director, a peer C-level (CFO ideal for forecast discipline and compensation-plan depth), and an external sparring person (advisory board or an experienced VP Sales from the network). Independent scoring on the rubric before the debrief.
Stage 3: GTM-strategy case study (90 min presentation plus 30 min Q&A)
Give the person 5-7 days to prepare on a realistic brief: current ARR, team setup, three to five concrete challenges that actually occupy you. The person presents a 90-day and a 12-month plan to the managing directors and one of your sales managers. Assess: the quality of the clarifying questions beforehand, the structure of the plan, awareness of own assumptions, handling of push-back in the Q&A.
Stage 4: Backchannel references (3-4 structured conversations)
At this level, by far the most important signal. Call 3-4 references: a former CEO or managing director (supervisor), a former sales manager or senior AE (direct report), and a peer C-level (CFO ideal). Prefer backchannel over the person's official reference list. The same 5 questions to all: What is the biggest strength? In which setup would you not hire this person again today? How are they under pressure? An example of a difficult decision under your observation? Would you yourself work for or with them again?
Structured interview questions
BehavioralScalable team leadership Describe the sales organization you most recently built or rebuilt. What did the structure look like before and after your takeover, and which three decisions had the biggest leverage?
What a strong answer surfacesThe ability to connect organizational decisions to impact (segmentation by account size, separating hunter/farmer, introducing an SDR function, re-cutting geography). Maturity: three clear decisions with reasoning, rather than a long list of cosmetic changes. Be cautious with candidates who only describe processes (CRM hygiene, new templates) and cannot name a real structural decision.
BehavioralSales hiring and enablement Tell me about a sales manager you hired and developed. What stages did the development have, and where did the person stand after 18 months?
What a strong answer surfacesA concrete example of hiring plus active development, not just hiring. A structured onboarding plan, regular 1:1s, documented expectations for 6 and 12 months, clear escalation or success moments. Weak signal: blanket statements such as she was great or I give my people room, with no traceable coaching footprint.
BehavioralForecast and pipeline discipline Describe a quarter in which your organization missed the revenue target significantly. What was the main cause, what did you communicate to the managing directors and the advisory board, and what did you change?
What a strong answer surfacesDiagnostic maturity at the org level (a pipeline-generation problem vs. a closing deficit vs. a hiring gap vs. a market shift), clean upward communication (numbers before explanation, clear next steps) and at least one lasting change as a result. Anyone who has never meaningfully missed the target has either run too-conservative targets or has not led at this level long enough.
SituationalStrategic GTM vision You take over our sales organization with 18 people and three sales managers. The last two quarters were 25 percent below plan. What do your first 90 days look like?
What a strong answer surfacesSequencing: diagnosis first (pipeline audit, 1:1s with each sales manager, listening to calls, reading the CRM for stage conversion and velocity), then hypotheses, then structural decisions. Anyone who starts week 1 with major reorganizations signals a lack of maturity. Bonus point for explicit expectation management toward the managing directors and the advisory board in the first 30 days.
SituationalExecutive alignment The managing directors announce that the sales budget for the coming year will be cut by 20 percent, while revenue is to grow by 15 percent. How do you structure this discussion and which decisions do you make?
What a strong answer surfacesThe ability to spell out trade-offs openly rather than either defending reactively or agreeing preemptively. A clear framework: which levers produce revenue per euro of cost most strongly (expansion before new business, higher lead quality before more volume, pipeline hygiene before hiring)? Which bets get parked? Anyone who keeps everything and cuts nothing has not understood the question.
SituationalSales hiring and enablement One of your sales managers, with five reports, has been underperforming for two quarters. She has strong personal quota attainment, but the team under her regularly misses its targets. How do you proceed?
What a strong answer surfacesDifferentiating between individual performance and leadership performance: recognizing the player-coach trap, addressing it clearly, working with a documented action plan and a deadline (typically 60-90 days). Clarity on two scenarios: the leadership upgrade succeeds, or a downgrade to a senior IC role or an amicable separation. Weak: just keep coaching with no deadline or no clarity on consequences.
CaseStrategic GTM vision We currently do 12 M€ ARR, with 80 percent from the German market. The managing directors want to reach 25 M€ ARR in 24 months and expand into at least two additional markets (plan: Austria and the Netherlands). Build the sales plan for this at a high level.
What a strong answer surfacesA structured plan with clear phases: a diagnosis phase in the home market (Is 25 M€ from Germany alone achievable? Pipeline math, capacity, win rate), then a market-entry decision per secondary market (local team vs. from Germany vs. reseller), a hiring sequence (which roles when), and risk assumptions. Anyone who simply scales proportionally (more reps equals more revenue) without market-entry logic is below the level.
CaseForecast and pipeline discipline Our win rate is 22 percent, the sales cycle is 110 days, average deal size 35 k€, pipeline coverage 3.5x. We are missing the quarterly target by 18 percent. What are your hypotheses, and which two measures would you implement in the next 30 days?
What a strong answer surfacesNumerical plausibility check: 3.5x pipeline coverage at a 22 percent win rate should arithmetically hit the target, so the gap is probably in closing weakness, in pipeline quality (inflated values) or in a velocity deterioration. A clean list of hypotheses with test logic, then two clearly prioritized measures, not ten. Anyone who does not compute out loud has not really steered a pipeline.
CaseStrategic GTM vision You are to decide whether we introduce an SDR function (inbound qualification plus light outbound) or invest the existing budget in two more Account Executives. What data do you need to decide, and how would you test it?
What a strong answer surfacesA clear decision framework: the current inbound-to-outbound ratio in the pipeline mix, the MQL-to-SQL conversion rate, AE utilization (do they spend more than 30 percent of their time on qualification?), median ACV. Pilot logic with 2-3 SDRs for one quarter before scaling. Anyone who argues for or against without data (SDRs always work / SDRs don't work in Germany) shows a lack of analytical discipline.
TechnicalForecast and pipeline discipline Which metrics do you review weekly with your leadership team (the sales managers), and which monthly or quarterly with the managing directors and the advisory board? Why this split?
What a strong answer surfacesWeekly: pipeline movement (new, won, lost, slipped), forecast update on the current quarter, individual 1:1 insights, hiring-pipeline status. Monthly or quarterly: ACV, win rate, CAC, velocity, magic number, the pipeline-generation source mix, cohort retention. Anyone who does everything weekly drowns the leadership team in reporting; anyone who steers only monthly loses the quarter.
TechnicalScalable team leadership How do you structure compensation-plan design for the salespeople and sales managers under you? How do you balance complexity, incentive effect and comprehensibility?
What a strong answer surfacesExperiential knowledge: simple plans beat complex ones. Typically salespeople at 60/40 or 70/30 OTE, linear commission over plan attainment with an accelerator above 100 percent, clear spiff mechanics used sparingly only. Sales managers usually at 80/20 with team revenue as the main component plus 20-30 percent strategic goals. Anyone who packs ten components into one plan has not seen in practice how a plan with eight variables paralyzes salespeople.
TechnicalScalable team leadership What requirements do you place on a sales stack (CRM, sales engagement, forecasting, enablement)? Which tools have you most recently introduced or removed, and why?
What a strong answer surfacesA pragmatic view: a minimal stack that carries the cadence. Salesforce or HubSpot as the single source of truth, Outreach or Salesloft for sales engagement with more than 10 reps, Gong or Clari for forecasting and call intelligence from a certain size. A concrete tool removal is a positive signal (it shows discipline against stack sprawl). Anyone who names 12 tools without explaining why they work together has not yet thought the stack through.
ValuesExecutive alignment Describe a set of managing directors or a CEO you worked closely with. What worked well in the collaboration, and what was challenging?
What a strong answer surfacesMature reflection on the sales-leadership-to-CEO axis. Naming strengths plus concrete friction points without blame. Anyone who only praises or only criticizes is not yet sufficiently calibrated at the executive level. Bonus: self-observation of where their own patterns contributed to the friction.
ValuesStrategic GTM vision What is your reading of sales work for the next 3 to 5 years? How, in your view, does the role of a sales leader in a mid-sized B2B company change?
What a strong answer surfacesA current view: buyers arrive better informed, expect price transparency and honest advice, are fatigued by automated outreach sequences. AI changes SDR work and research, but not closing. Data discipline and forecast quality become more important. Anyone still thinking in the language of closing and persuading is outdated. Anyone who bets everything on AI has not understood the profession.
ValuesExecutive alignment What was the hardest feedback you received in the last 12 months (from the managing directors, the team or the advisory board)? How did you react, and what changed as a result?
What a strong answer surfacesCoachability at the executive level: a concrete example, an honest emotional reaction (rather than practiced composure), a traceable behavioral change with an observable effect. Anyone who cannot name a piece of hard feedback either received none (which is rarely good) or filters it out. Both are warning signs.
How to recognize a great hire
| Trait | Below bar | On bar | Above bar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scalable team leadership | Leads a single team directly, has not yet led sales managers below them. Thinks in IC output, not team-of-teams output. Compensation and stack decisions are inherited, not designed. | Has led 2-3 sales managers with a total of 10-20 reports. Maintains a recognizable leadership cadence (weekly 1:1s with sales managers, a monthly org review). Has owned a compensation plan and a tool stack in live operation. | Has built an organization of 25+ across several sales managers and led it through a scaling phase (10 M€ to 25 M€+ ARR). Compensation-plan and stack decisions are documented bets with an observable effect. Develops sales managers themselves rather than only hiring them. |
| Strategic GTM vision | Reacts to set targets with no own thesis on the market or segment choice. SDR introduction, market entry or the segmentation question are answered by gut feel, not data. | Formulates a coherent view of ICP, pipeline mix and market-entry sequencing. Can defend or reject an SDR-pilot decision in a data-driven way. | Has owned at least one successful market entry (geography or segment). Makes GTM bets in 90-day steps with clear success indicators. Recognizes when the current model hits its limit before the numbers show it. |
| Forecast and pipeline discipline | Forecast swings by plus-minus 25 percent versus the landing. Pipeline math is not computed out loud. CRM hygiene is left to the sales-manager level, with no own audit cadence. | Forecast accuracy at plus-minus 10 percent over the quarter. Knows the status of the top-10 deals by heart and can explain the math of the quarterly landing in two minutes. | Clearly separates no-decision from delay, parks stagnant deals with discipline. Forecast accuracy at plus-minus 5 percent. Has established an own audit routine (spot checks on individual deals, a monthly deal review with the sales managers) that runs on without their presence. |
| Sales hiring and enablement | Hiring by gut feel, no documented scorecard or interview process. Onboarding is a mix of peer mentoring and learning by doing. Ramp time is not measured. | A structured hiring process with a scorecard and a multi-stage interview. An onboarding plan with clear milestones for 30, 60 and 90 days. The ramp-time median is known and stable. | Has run, over at least two years, a hiring funnel that predicts actual performance. An internal enablement program with documented playbooks (discovery, demo, negotiation). At least one internally developed sales manager in the track record. |
| Executive alignment | Communication to the managing directors is reactive and mostly defensive. Difficult messages (a forecast miss, a hiring need, a budget request) are delayed or wrapped up. | Established monthly or quarterly routines with the managing directors and the advisory board. Delivers numbers before explanation, with a clear thesis and next steps. Carries bad news early. | Used by the managing directors as a sparring partner for whole-company questions, not just sales questions. Own blind spots are nameable, feedback loops with the CEO are established and productive. |
30 / 60 / 90 day success plan
By day 30
- 1:1 with each sales manager (three meetings in the first two weeks), listening to at least three calls per sales manager and one call from each of their reports
- A full pipeline audit at the organization level: stage conversion, velocity, win rate, pipeline coverage per sales manager, the top-20 deals of the quarter with an own risk rating
- A structured conversation with the managing directors, the advisory board and peer C-level (CFO, CMO, CTO) on the current view of sales, identified friction points and explicit expectations for the first 90 days
- A diagnosis memo with 3 hypotheses on the main cause of under- or over-performance, explicitly without solution proposals at this phase
By day 60
- An operational steering cadence established: a weekly 45-minute pipeline review with the leadership team, a monthly 90-minute org review with the managing directors, a 1:1 cadence with each sales manager firmly anchored
- A documented action plan for each sales manager who is above or below plan, with clarity on consequences after a further 90 days
- A first robust forecast delivery to the managing directors with clear plausibility logic and risk assumptions
- A strategic recommendation on at most two structural decisions (e.g. SDR introduction, a segmentation pilot, a hiring sequence) for discussion with the managing directors
By day 90
- A sales plan for the next 12 months approved: hiring sequence, ICP refinement, pipeline-generation mix, compensation-plan adjustments if needed
- At least one major structural decision implemented or started as a pilot (a reorganization, a new segment, a function introduction)
- A hiring pipeline for the next two open sales-manager or senior-AE roles actively built
- A first observable improvement on a core metric that can be causally attributed to your own measures (not a market effect, but a leadership effect)
Common hiring mistakes for this role
Sales-leadership hires are expensive and hard to reverse. Four recurring mistakes lead to the wrong decision in 80 percent of mis-hires.
Hiring the best sales manager instead of a real leader
The most common mis-hire: an excellent sales manager with 6-8 reports is promoted or hired into a sales leadership over 20 reports and three sales managers. The jump from direct management to team-of-teams is a different discipline. Compensation-plan design, stack strategy, GTM bets, market entry and executive alignment are skills that are not developed in the pure sales-manager role. Filter explicitly in the case study for org design and multi-manager experience, not just for operational sales steering.
Not clarifying the difference between Sales Manager and Head of Sales in the ad
If the ad does not clearly distinguish whether you are looking for a player-coach with 60 percent of their own pipeline (a Sales Manager) or a true sales leadership with no own quota, you attract applications from both camps and disappoint both. Candidates with a clear lead profile walk away when the ad has player-coach language; sales managers with a growth wish apply for a role they cannot yet fill. Make the choice explicitly before the posting.
Not checking the candidate's own hiring track record
A sales leadership will most likely hire 3-5 sales managers and 10+ salespeople over the next 24 months. If the person has not demonstrably done this well in the past (retention of sales managers over 24 months, documented onboarding successes, ramp-time data), you are buying hiring problems for the next two years. Ask concretely: How many sales managers have you hired in the last 3 years? How long did they stay? Which did you develop yourself?
Setting up the variable and equity components wrongly
At this level the compensation structure is a filter: too defensive a fixed with too large a variable deters experienced profiles (who know that org-building takes 12-18 months before variable kicks in); too high a fixed with no strategic-goal component attracts profiles with no skin in the game. The norm is OTE 70/30 or 75/25 with variable on team revenue plus 20-30 percent strategic goals (hiring, expansion). An equity or VSOP component is added at a scale-up, not expected in the classic Mittelstand.
Frequently asked questions
What does a Head of Sales earn at an SMB in Germany?
The reference range for a sales leadership at a B2B SMB in Germany is 95-170 k€ fixed salary per year (median around 125 k€), plus a variable component of 40-75 k€ at OTE (typical 70/30 structure). The anchors are Berlin and Munich; Frankfurt and Hamburg are comparable, NRW slightly below. In the classic Mittelstand, equity or VSOP components are rarely offered; in a scale-up, 0.5-2 percent VSOP is part of the usual configuration.
What is the difference between a Head of Sales and a Sales Manager?
Sales managers lead a single team of 3-8 salespeople and usually carry a partial own quota (player-coach, 30-50 percent personal closing). A sales leadership (Head of Sales) leads several sales managers, owns the entire sales organization (typically 10-30 people), no longer carries a personal closing quota and designs compensation, the stack, GTM strategy and market entry. The role is a different discipline, not an extended sales-manager role. Anyone who mixes the two in one posting attracts neither one profile nor the other.
How long does it take to hire a Head of Sales in Germany?
Expect 80-120 days between the active start of sourcing and a signed contract. Executive-search mandates deliver in 8-12 weeks, an in-house search via LinkedIn and network usually takes 12-16 weeks. Sourcing is typically followed by 4-6 weeks of selection process (first screen, executive interview, case study, backchannel references) plus a 4-6-week notice period with the current employer, often longer (3-6 months is standard at this level). Plan for onboarding on top of that.
When do we need a sales leadership, and when is a Sales Manager enough?
Rule of thumb: up to 8 salespeople, a sales manager reporting directly to the managing directors or CEO is enough. From 8-10 people, at the latest from 2 sales managers, the span of control becomes too large for CEO direct management, and a standalone sales leadership becomes sensible. In substance, complexity decides more: several markets, several segments, or planned internationalization make the role necessary even with smaller teams. The transition from CEO-led sales to a sales leadership should start 6-9 months before the operational need.
Should a Head of Sales still sell personally?
At the pure sales-leadership level, no. A personal closing quota distracts from the real levers (org design, hiring, GTM bets, forecast discipline). A 0-10-percent involvement in strategically important large deals (from 250 k€ ACV or for key accounts) is possible and sensible, but as an ad-hoc contribution, not as a measured quota. If your reality still requires the sales leadership to own pipeline themselves, the organization is still too small for a true Head of Sales role, and you are probably looking for a senior sales manager with a growth track.
What legal requirements apply to Head of Sales job postings in Germany?
Four central requirements: (1) a gender-neutral job title with (m/w/d) or colon spelling (§ 11 AGG), (2) the obligation of pay transparency in the ad or before the first interview (EU Pay Transparency Directive 2023/970, implementation by 7 June 2026), (3) clarification of the senior-executive status in the employment contract with consequences for the Working Hours Act, overtime pay and dismissal protection, (4) transparency about the use of AI tools for pre-selection and guaranteed human oversight (EU AI Act, from 2 August 2026).