SaaS Salary Benchmarks

Head of Sales Salary Benchmarks

Compensation data for the Head of Sales role at US SaaS companies, based on 149 verified salaries.

Updated September 2026
Quartile breakdownAll SaaS roles
Base salary · US SaaS149 salaries
$150,000
Median base salary
Bottom 25% avg$92,789Top 25% avg$5,346,220
Average base salary
$1,478,762
Typical range (P25–P75)
$132,500–$185,000
Salaries analyzed
149

Hiring for this role? At the median, one Head of Sales costs $150,000 a year in base salary.

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Overview
149 salaries

Head of Sales Salary Overview

Bottom 25% AverageAverage of the lowest-paid quarter · 35 salaries
$92,789
Middle 50% AverageAverage of the middle half · 77 salaries
$149,908
Top 25% AverageAverage of the highest-paid quarter · 39 salaries
$5,346,220

Median Head of Sales base pay by pay period

Per year
$150,000
Per month
$12,500
Every two weeks
$5,769
Per hour
$72.12
Base-pay equivalents before tax; hourly assumes 2,080 working hours a year.

Heads of Sales at SaaS companies own the entire sales function, from strategy to execution. They manage Directors of Sales, Sales Managers, and cross-functional partnerships with Account Management. The role typically reports to the CRO or CEO.

Head of Sales compensation combines a strong base with significant variable pay tied to company-level revenue targets. The role is a direct path to VP of Sales or CRO. View all SaaS salary benchmarks.

Quartile bands
Employees · annualized base

Detailed Head of Sales Compensation Breakdown

Head of Sales base salary by percentile band
Percentile BandSalary rangeAverage Base Salary# of salaries
Top 25%$185,000 and up$5,346,22039 salaries
Middle 50%$132,500–$185,000$149,90877 salaries
Bottom 25%Under $132,500$92,78935 salaries
Hiring budget
Base salary · fully loaded

What Does a Head of Sales Cost to Hire?

Budget for Head of Sales hires at the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile of this benchmark, as base salary and as fully loaded cost.

Pay level
Hires
1

One Head of Sales hire at the median: $150,000 a year in base salary, $187,500–$210,000 fully loaded.

Cost of one hire by pay level
Per hireP25MedianP75
Base salary / year$132,500$150,000$185,000
Base salary / month$11,042$12,500$15,417
Fully loaded / year1.25–1.4× base$165,625–$185,500$187,500–$210,000$231,250–$259,000
Fully loaded / month1.25–1.4× base$13,802–$15,458$15,625–$17,500$19,271–$21,583
Fully loaded adds employer payroll taxes, health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment at 1.25–1.4× base salary. That multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonus, equity, and recruiting fees are not included.

Fund this hire from revenue: see what your ARR qualifies for.

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Key insights

What Drives Higher Head of Sales Pay?

  • Total revenue responsibility and quota ownership
  • Organization size and number of direct/indirect reports
  • Company stage — growth-stage values sales leadership most
  • Enterprise sales track record and deal complexity

Head of Sales Compensation Structure

  • Base salary is 50–60% of OTE (on-target earnings)
  • Variable pay tied to company revenue and growth targets
  • Equity grants significant at growth-stage (0.1–0.5%)
  • Accelerators for exceeding annual revenue targets
FAQ
Head of Sales salary

The median SaaS Head of Sales base salary is $150,000, with a typical range of $132,500–$185,000. The average base is $1,478,762 across 149 verified salaries. Total on-target earnings including variable pay typically exceed base by 50–80%.

The titles are often used interchangeably at growth-stage SaaS companies. At larger organizations, VP of Sales is more senior with broader scope and higher compensation. Head of Sales may focus on a specific segment (e.g., mid-market), while VP of Sales owns all segments. Both report to the CRO or CEO.

Common progressions include VP of Sales (broader scope), CRO (full revenue ownership including CS and partnerships), or CEO at sales-led companies.

Yes. Our data shows a $132,500–$185,000 typical range across 149 salaries. Series B–D companies often pay the highest premiums for Head of Sales as they scale go-to-market teams aggressively.

On a median base salary of $150,000, a Head of Sales at a US SaaS company makes about $12,500 a month, $5,769 every two weeks, or $72.12 an hour over 2,080 working hours a year. The middle half of salaries (25th–75th percentile) works out to $11,042–$15,417 a month. These are base-pay equivalents before tax, and they leave out bonus, commission, and equity.

Expect the lower half of this benchmark. Across 149 verified SaaS Head of Sales salaries, the 25th percentile is $132,500 and the median is $150,000. A Head of Sales at a seed or Series A startup, or at a bootstrapped company under roughly $10M ARR, will often land between those two figures. Base pay typically moves toward and past the $185,000 75th percentile as the company adds headcount and ARR. Those stage bands are a rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a breakdown by company size, which the dataset does not report.

Budget for more than base salary. On a median base of $150,000, the fully loaded cost of a US Head of Sales is roughly $187,500–$210,000 per year once employer payroll taxes (~7.65% FICA plus federal and state unemployment), health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment are added. That 1.25–1.4x multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to the benchmark on this page, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonuses, and equity sit on top where the role carries them. Also budget one-off hiring costs: agency recruiting fees commonly run 15–25% of first-year base, and a new hire takes weeks to months to reach full productivity.

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