Sales manager job description: what sales managers do, what postings ask for and what the seat pays

A sales manager runs a team of sellers and is measured on the team's number: they hire and coach the reps, inspect the pipeline, commit the forecast and step into the deals that matter. Directors and vice presidents of sales do the same one or two levels up, leading managers instead of reps. This guide describes the job as real postings describe it: what sales managers do, what postings ask for, what the seat pays, and a job description a hiring team can adapt.

On 2 November 2026 this board had 1,341 open US roles titled sales manager or sales director, with a median posted pay of $170,000 a year, and 195 vice president of sales roles at $244,211; 251 manager, director and vice president postings had requirement lines read from the posting itself, the sample for the requirements below. Pay figures are the midpoint of each posting's own range on a full year's scale (base or on-target earnings, as the posting states it), one per posting after repeats of the same title at the same company are merged. The sales leadership jobs page lists every open seat.

Contents

1. What a sales manager does
2. What postings ask for
3. How many years postings ask for
4. What the seat pays
5. A job description to adapt
6. How these figures were counted
7. Quick answers

1. What a sales manager does

• Hires and builds the team. Writes the profile for each seat, interviews and onboards reps, and decides who stays.
• Coaches. Rides along on calls, reviews deals and recordings, and helps each rep improve the part of the cycle where they lose deals.
• Inspects the pipeline and forecasts. Reviews every rep's deals and stages each week and commits the team's forecast to the director or vice president.
• Steps into deals. Joins the largest and hardest deals, approves discounts and terms, and brings in executives when a buyer needs them.
• Carries the team's quota. Most sales manager plans pay a base salary and a variable part on the team's attainment.

First-line managers lead reps; second-line managers and directors lead managers; a vice president of sales leads the whole sales organization or a region. The guides Sales manager salary, Sales director salary and VP of sales salary break the pay down by level.

2. What postings ask for

The share of the 251 US manager, director and vice president postings whose leading requirement lines name each:

Half of the postings ask for management experience in their leading lines, and a third for a record against quota.

3. How many years postings ask for

The median is eight years, and some postings split it into years of selling and years of leading a team ("5+ years in sales, 3+ years managing").

4. What the seat pays

5. A job description to adapt

A posting that states the size of the team, the number it carries and how the manager is paid attracts leaders who fit. A starting point:

Sales Manager, [segment or region]

The role. You will lead a team of [number] [account executives or SDRs] selling [product] to [buyer], with a quota of [amount], reporting to [title].

What you will do. Hire, coach and develop the team; run weekly pipeline reviews and commit the forecast; join and help close the team's largest deals; work with marketing and sales development on pipeline; report on the team's results in [CRM].

What we ask for. [N] years in [market], including [N] years leading a quota-carrying team, with the team's results you can show.

Pay. Base [range], on-target earnings [range], variable paid on the team's attainment [monthly or quarterly].

Fifteen US jurisdictions require a pay range in the posting itself; the guide Which sales jobs show their pay lists them.

The guide How to hire a sales manager, director or VP of sales covers the rest of the hire: scoping the seat, pricing it, what to verify about a leader's team results and how leadership searches run.

6. How these figures were counted

• The roles: every open role on this board on 2 November 2026 open to US candidates whose title names a sales manager or director (1,341), or a vice president or chief revenue officer of sales, revenue, business development, partnerships or channel (195), read from each company's own careers system and checked every hour. Account managers are left out.
• The requirements: the leading requirement lines read from 251 of those postings (about three lines each); a requirement counts when a line names it.
• The pay: the midpoint of each posting's own range on a full year's scale, one per posting after repeats of the same title at the same company are merged, and the median across the US postings. "Up to" figures are left out.

7. Quick answers

What does a sales manager do? They lead a team of sellers: hire and coach reps, run pipeline reviews, commit the forecast and help close the largest deals, measured on the team's quota.

What qualifications does a sales manager need? On this board, 80% of US sales leadership postings lead with years (a median of eight), 49% with experience managing a sales team and 31% with a record against quota.

How much does a sales manager make? US postings titled sales manager or sales director state a median of $170,000 a year, and vice president of sales postings $244,211 (2 November 2026).

How do you become a sales manager? Usually from a successful seller's seat: postings ask for years of selling first and a record against quota, then experience coaching or leading others.

Where can I see sales manager jobs? The sales manager jobs page lists every open seat titled sales manager with the pay it posts.