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Role-level hiring

Sales Leadership Hiring in India. Sales Head, AVP, VP and CRO Searches

Confidential searches for the person who will own your number. Assessed on operating rigour, hiring judgement and the ability to build a team, not on the logos in their history.

Start a leadership searchSee our hiring approach
  • Evidence of building teams, not just carrying quota
  • Structured assessment of forecasting and coaching rigour
  • Confidential process with a shortlist you can defend to the board
Overview

The most expensive sales hire you will make

A wrong sales leadership hire costs a year of growth, the good people who leave under them, and the credibility of the next hire. Our leadership searches assess what actually predicts success in the seat: whether the candidate has built and retained a team, run a forecast they were willing to defend, and coached managers rather than closing every deal themselves.

Searches run confidentially, with a written success profile agreed with the founder or board before we approach anybody.

Roles
Head → CRO

Sales head, AVP, VP, CRO

Shortlist in
3–5 weeks

Confidential, evidence-backed

Assessed on
Operating rigour

Hiring, forecasting, coaching

The challenge

Why senior sales hires fail

The interview tests storytelling. The job tests systems.

01

Logo bias

A brand on the CV gets mistaken for the ability to build from where you actually are.

02

Individual closer, not a builder

Great sellers get promoted into leadership and keep selling instead of building a team.

03

No operating evidence

Nobody asks to see how they forecast, ran pipeline reviews or handled underperformance.

04

Stage mismatch

A leader who scaled a mature engine often cannot operate without one.

Our approach

How we run a leadership search

Structured, confidential and evidence-led.

  1. Step 1: Mandate definition

    Success profile written with the founder, CEO or board.

  2. Step 2: Market mapping

    A mapped universe of candidates, not a database search.

  3. Step 3: Confidential approach

    Discreet outreach that protects both sides.

  4. Step 4: Operating assessment

    Deep-dive on hiring, forecasting, coaching and turnaround evidence.

  5. Step 5: Reference triangulation

    References from people who reported to them, not only to peers.

Who it is for

Who we search for

Companies making a defining leadership appointment.

Founder-led companies

Hiring the first sales leader to take over from the founder.

Scaling teams

Adding an AVP or VP layer between managers and the CEO.

PE and VC-backed businesses

Board-driven CRO appointments with a clear mandate.

Turnarounds

Replacing a leader after a missed year.

Programs and services

Ways to work with us

Retained search, or a second opinion on your own process.

Most comprehensive

Retained leadership search

End-to-end confidential search for the seat.

Start a leadership searchSee our hiring approach

Assessment-only

We assess finalists you have already sourced.

Learn more

Succession mapping

A bench view of internal and external successors.

Leadership certification

Develop the leaders you already have.

Learn more

Need a custom solution?

Talk to our strategy team.

Contact us

FAQ

Sales Leadership Hiring questions we get asked

Three to five weeks to a shortlist for most mandates, longer where the market is narrow or the role requires a specific vertical background. We share the market map early so you can see progress before candidates arrive.

We run a structured operating deep-dive: how they hired and exited people, how they built a forecast, how they coached managers, and what they inherited versus what they built. References come from direct reports as well as peers.

Yes. Most leadership searches happen while the incumbent is still in the seat, so outreach is discreet and your company is only named at the appropriate stage.

Yes, our coaching and consulting practices often support a new sales leader through the first two quarters, especially where the operating cadence has to be rebuilt.

Related

Where to go next

Related parts of the Simpli5Sales ecosystem, plus the latest resources from our team.

Sales recruitmentThe wider hiring practice across every sales role.SDR hiringBuild the pipeline layer under the new leader.Sales consultingFix the operating system the leader inherits.Sales coachingSupport the new leader through their first quarters.

Next step

Talk to us about sales leadership hiring

Tell us where the number is slipping. We will come back with a short, specific recommendation, not a brochure.

One of our team responds within one working day.

Request a conversation

Secure & private. We reply within one business day.