How to hire a commercial director

How to hire a commercial director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step commercial director hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a commercial director job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new commercial director
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a commercial director do?

Post a commercial director job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your commercial director job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a commercial director for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect commercial director also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list presents commercial director salaries for various positions.

   Type of Commercial Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Commercial Director	Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers plan programs to generate interest in products or services. They work with art directors, sales agents, and financial staff members.	$44-106
   Vice President & General Manager	A vice president and general manager's role is to implement policies and regulations while overseeing the business operations. Typically, it is their primary responsibility to devise training programs that would produce more efficient workforce members, create new strategies to boost sales and customer satisfaction, and participate in budget and goals creation... Show more	$51-131
   Sales And Marketing Vice President	A sales and marketing vice president is responsible for managing brand awareness, developing strategic promotional plans, and preparing marketing campaigns to attract existing. Potential customers increase sales revenues and improve the company's profitability... Show more	$47-138

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Project Management
   • KPIs
   • Healthcare
   • Business Development
   • Customer Service
   • Lead Generation
   • Revenue Growth
   • Market Research
   • Direct Reports
   • Digital Marketing
   • CRM
   • Real Estate
   • Account Management
   • Financial Analysis

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Monitor and manage budgets on each account to ensure high ROI and biggest bang for each buck.
   • Lead start-up of new far-east OEM partner, including selection process, technical & manufacturing management and relationship development.
   • Lead global project to commercialize expand portfolio of adhesive utilizing company synergies to establish a strong, highly-competitive distribution channel.
   • Define and implement the CRM and phone systems and infrastructure need to support commercialization efforts.
   • Create and maintain adoption measurement for SFDC resulting in increase usage of CRM tool, globally.
   • Institute metrics to document cost savings, purchase requisition turnaround, and number of POs issue.

   More commercial director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your commercial director job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A commercial director can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, commercial directors' average salary in hawaii is 42% less than in massachusetts.
   • Seniority. Entry-level commercial directors 58% less than senior-level commercial directors.
   • Certifications. A commercial director with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a commercial director's salary.

   Average commercial director salary

   $143,615yearly

   $69.05 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level commercial director salary

   $93,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 19, 2026

   Average commercial director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$178,796	$86
   2	Massachusetts	$176,436	$85
   3	Illinois	$162,819	$78
   4	Washington	$160,556	$77
   5	Michigan	$153,430	$74
   6	New Jersey	$152,300	$73
   7	Oregon	$149,819	$72
   8	New York	$149,509	$72
   9	North Carolina	$144,942	$70
   10	Minnesota	$142,567	$69
   11	Virginia	$139,712	$67
   12	Arizona	$135,808	$65
   13	Texas	$135,501	$65
   14	Connecticut	$134,796	$65
   15	Pennsylvania	$134,202	$65
   16	Utah	$132,510	$64
   17	Maryland	$132,469	$64
   18	Georgia	$132,038	$63
   19	District of Columbia	$128,987	$62
   20	Colorado	$127,302	$61

   Average commercial director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Emergent BioSolutions	$209,788	$100.86	2
   2	Integrated DNA Technologies	$205,659	$98.87
   3	First Republic Bank	$204,418	$98.28
   4	Novo Nordisk	$199,354	$95.84	1
   5	AstraZeneca	$198,133	$95.26	42
   6	Kaiser Permanente	$197,167	$94.79	16
   7	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$196,444	$94.44	1,208
   8	Brightstar	$191,020	$91.84	1
   9	Atlassian	$190,697	$91.68	5
   10	Acadia Pharmaceuticals	$189,338	$91.03	10
   11	Bain & Company	$188,546	$90.65	11
   12	Estée Lauder	$183,330	$88.14	12
   13	Amgen	$183,127	$88.04	23
   14	Organon	$182,243	$87.62	20
   15	Ernst & Young	$180,714	$86.88	114
   16	Novartis	$177,882	$85.52	11
   17	Microsoft	$175,438	$84.35	63
   18	Cytokinetics	$175,177	$84.22	3
   19	AbbVie	$174,938	$84.10	99
   20	Westlake Chemical	$174,815	$84.05

4. Writing a commercial director job description

   A commercial director job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a commercial director job description:

   Commercial director job description example

   When you join Ancestry, you join a human-centered company where every person's story is important We believe that by discovering the struggles and triumphs of our past, we can foster deeper bonds and more meaningful connections among families and communities. Our talented team of scientists, engineers, genealogists, historians, and storytellers is dedicated to empowering customers around the world from all backgrounds on their journeys of personal discovery.
   
   With more than 30+ billion digitized global historical records, 125+ million family trees, and 22+ million people in our growing AncestryDNA database, Ancestry helps customers discover their family story and gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Passionate about dedicating your work to enriching people's lives? You belong at Ancestry.
   
   As Director of Product Commercialization - Genealogy, you will help lead strategic, cross-functional projects to success. You will understand and evaluate our business to develop revenue generating commercialization strategies. In order to be successful, you will have a wide range of skills, including: evaluating consumer monetization, analyzing our subscription business performance and identifying opportunities to enhance purchase and retention. A well-rounded consulting mindset set, collaborative nature, analytical skills and deep B2C subscription brand experience will be highly valued.
   
   This role will be a key member in Product Commercialization, a highly visible, high performance team requiring a relentless pursuit for excellence and ability to navigate large sets of information to drive the company mission. You will influence our enterprise product and commercialization strategy by collaborating closely with our Product, Engineering, Marketing, Legal, Communications and Finance teams. This role will report to our Senior Director of Product Commercialization and Operations.
   
   What You Will Do:Develop and drive revenue generating strategies with a customer-centric perspective and contribute to roadmap creation Develop business cases and implementation plans for global commercial and go-to-market strategies including, market analysis, messaging, positioning, customer segmentation, pricing and packaging strategies Generate new ideas for customer acquisition and retention initiatives based on analysis of internal, customer, and third-party research/data Be recognized as an expert of our products and build strong partnerships with cross-functional teams including Product Management, Science, Operations, Market Research, Finance, Creative, CRM, Public Relations, Customer Research and Legal.
   
   Who You Are:A collaborative leader with proven success in developing and implementing cross-functional strategy, go-to-market planning and/or customer experience programs8+ years of product or marketing experience, with the ability to create a work plan, manage scope, collaborate with multiple stakeholders, and take ownership - driving a project from start to finish4+ years experience in financial and/or data driven roles, building hypotheses, identifying data needs and analyzing data to define strategies for businesses (subscription businesses, ideally) Enthusiasm in collaborating across functions, managing stakeholders across the organization and influencing without formal authority Demonstrated experience developing and presenting clear, concise recommendations, outlining alternatives, financial implications, and key decision criteria Well-rounded business acumen and ability to connect disparate data points into a meaningful story Thrives working in a fast paced and quickly changing environment with ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously with minimal mentorship Relevant experiences: Pricing & Packaging Strategy, Testing & Optimization, Business Consulting/Development, Marketing Planning, Consumer and Marketing/Analytics
   
   (Colorado only*) Minimum salary of $134,000/year + eligible for bonus, equity, and comprehensive benefits including health, dental and vision. Read more about our benefits HERE.
   *Note: Disclosure as required by sb19-085(8-5-20) #LI-Remote Additional Information: Ancestry is an Equal Opportunity Employer that makes employment decisions without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, mental or physical disability, medical condition, military or veteran status, citizenship, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. In addition, Ancestry will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. All job offers are contingent on a background check screen that complies with applicable law. For San Francisco office candidates, pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Ancestry will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Ancestry is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at Ancestry via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of Ancestry. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Ancestry as a result of the referral or through other means.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right commercial director for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with commercial directors they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit commercial directors who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your commercial director job on Zippia to find and attract quality commercial director candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as swipe files, exit five, marketinghire, american marketing association.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit commercial directors, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new commercial director

   Once you've decided on a perfect commercial director candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new commercial director. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a commercial director?