The impossible hire

What we found

If you're about to hire your first or next revenue leader, this is what your peers are asking for. We read 145 job postings for the top sales or revenue role, whatever the title, at U.S. B2B firms with 10 to 200 employees. All were posted between September 3 and November 2, 2026. 59 came from software companies. The other 86 came from manufacturers, service firms, builders, logistics companies, lenders and clinics.

3 things to settle before you hire

Each one comes from a gap that shows up again and again in these postings. The pages that follow show the evidence.

1. Pick the 1 job that matters in year 1. 48% of postings want a closer, a manager, a process builder and a forecaster in 1 person. A player-coach can be the right call at 20 people. Make it a choice: rank the 4, and put the top one first in the posting. Page 3
2. Build the sales system before you ask for a forecast. 23 of 26 firms with no sales system still want the new leader to own the forecast. If you don't have defined stages, a clean CRM and a repeatable process yet, make building them the first job, and judge the forecast after. Pages 4 and 5
3. Write the finish line. 79% of postings don't say when results are due. The best ones do, in a sentence, like this software company: "First 90 days: You've reviewed every live deal, put a weekly operating rhythm in place, and agreed a hiring plan with the CEO." Page 6

Then 3 smaller calls. Decide whether you're buying market relationships or a system (page 7). Price base pay against the median, then compete on the job itself (page 8). Name the tools you actually run, and leave out the ones you won't fund (page 9).

The posting is only the start. Carry the same decisions into your interview scorecard and into a 90-day plan you and the new leader both sign.

Nearly half want 1 person to close, manage, build and forecast

98 of 145 postings (68%) want the leader to keep closing deals personally. 69 (48%) ask for all 4 at once. That's slightly more common at firms with 10 to 50 employees (29 of 57) than at 51 to 200 (40 of 88). It is mostly a software pattern: 39 of 59 software postings ask for all 4, against 30 of 86 from other industries. And of the 98 that want the leader to sell, we found only 1 that says how the week should split between selling and leading.

Every duty that came up, by share of postings

We listed each separate duty in every posting's responsibilities section. The typical posting lists 8 distinct duties. The median is 8 at both 10 to 50 and 51 to 200 employees. 78 postings ask the leader to grow existing customers, but only 29 of those 78 say how that will be measured.

Forecast before foundation

A forecast is a prediction built from deal stages, clean CRM data and a repeatable process. 106 of 145 postings (73%) ask the new leader to own it. In this sample, the firms with the least of that system ask most often.

Ask the new leader to own the forecast, by what's in place today

How we counted. 92 of the 145 postings describe the sales system the new leader will inherit. Nothing in place: the posting says it isn't built yet, as in "the commercial playbook hasn't been written yet" (26). Partly in place: some pieces exist and others are missing (52). Established: a working team, CRM and process (14).

No defined stages, clean CRM or weekly pipeline review yet? That's the first job. Talk to Ali.

51 postings name forecast accuracy as a measure. 14 name win rate.

Measures of success named in the posting

79 postings tie the role to a revenue target or quota. Forecast accuracy comes next, in 51. Conversion rates appear in 29, sales cycle length in 15 and win rate in 14. 31 of the 51 that name forecast accuracy name none of those 3, so nothing that shows whether selling is improving. 25 postings name no measure at all.

Software and other industries test differently. Forecast accuracy appears in 28 of 59 software postings and 23 of 86 others. Margin or profit runs the other way: 5 of 59 software postings, 28 of 86 others.

79% of postings don't say when results are due

When the posting expects results

30 of 145 postings give a timeline. 9 set a 90-day mark, 3 a 6-month mark and 9 a first-year mark. The other 9 use longer or looser horizons, like 2 to 3 years out. Of the 57 postings that want the leader to own both the forecast and the revenue number, 43 give no date. The best ones say what done looks like:

Postings for a firm's first revenue leader, or a newly created role, do better: 9 of 21 give a timeline, against 21 of the other 124. But 15 of those 21 still ask for all 4 jobs, and 10 have no sales system to inherit.

72% want someone from their own industry

What postings require of the candidate

The median ask is 10 years of experience (111 postings state a number). 104 of 145 name an industry or market the candidate must come from, from "B2B SaaS" to "commercial banking" to "foodservice". 23 want the candidate to bring existing customer relationships. The firms with the least in place narrow the pool most: 21 of 26 with no sales system require industry background, against 8 of 14 with an established one.

Median base is $225K, under 50 employees or over

How we counted. 62 of 145 postings state a base salary range. Each dot is 1 posting, placed at the middle of its range. The line marks each group's median; a dashed line means fewer than 10 postings, so read it as a rough guide. This is base pay only. 45 postings mention on-target earnings, and those that list only on-target earnings are left out.

Base pay by U.S. region

Base pay by industry

Company size doesn't move the median: $225K at 10 to 50 employees (28 postings) and $225K at 51 to 200 (34). California's median is $275K (19 postings) and New York's is $203K (16). 10 of the 19 California postings are software companies, against 5 of 16 in New York, so part of that gap is industry mix.

Most postings that mention a CRM don't name one. Few ask the leader to use AI.

83 postings mention a CRM, and 47 of them don't say which one. When a brand is named, HubSpot is the one firms say they run today (12 postings, against 5 for Salesforce). Salesforce shows up mostly as a skill the candidate must bring (10 postings). 56 postings mention no software at all.

Sales frameworks named in postings

11 postings name a sales framework, 21 times in all. 20 of those 21 mentions are offered as an example, with "such as" or "e.g.", and none says the firm uses the framework today. 2 firms say they run on EOS, a business operating system.

AI

48 firms sell an AI product. 17 postings ask the leader to use AI in how they sell, and only 9 of those come from the 48 AI sellers. Outside software, 6 of 86 postings ask for it.

Who is in the sample, and how we read it

57 postings came from firms with 10 to 50 employees and 88 from firms with 51 to 200.

Method

• Sample. Active U.S. postings on LinkedIn and Indeed, September 3 to November 2, 2026. B2B firms with 10 to 200 employees, top revenue role only. We removed regional heads, VPs who report to an existing sales chief, sellers with no team, subsidiaries, public companies and recruiter posts.
• Coding. Each posting was read in full and coded against a written codebook: 19 duties, 17 measures of success, what's in place, tools, requirements and pay. Coding was AI-assisted, and every code keeps the exact sentence from the posting that supports it.
• Checks. 30 postings were coded twice, independently; the 2 passes agreed on a median of 97% of codes. A separate audit then rechecked every figure in this report against the source sentences.
• Limits. Postings show what firms ask for, not how the hire turns out. Percentages are shown only for groups of 30 or more postings. 1 firm lists no headcount and is counted with 10 to 50 employees.

All 145 companies

Every company in the sample, with the role it posted and a link to the posting. Employee counts come from the company's LinkedIn page (134 companies) or from Indeed and other company data (11). 1 firm has no headcount listed on LinkedIn. Postings close; some links may no longer work.