What a VP Sales Job Description Should Actually Say (Based on 1,298 Real Postings)

We pulled 1,298 VP of sales job description postings and ran them through a structured analysis. Title variations, comp ranges, required tools, methodology buzzwords, red flag phrases, and trend terms. The goal was simple: figure out what the best VP sales job postings actually include, and what the worst ones have in common.

Most VP sales JD templates floating around the internet are generic fill-in-the-blank documents. They don't reflect what companies are really posting. They don't capture how the language has shifted in the last two years. And they definitely don't tell you which phrases should make a candidate close the tab.

Here's what 1,298 real postings show.

What the Best VP Sales Job Postings Include

After reading through hundreds of these, a pattern emerges. The strongest VP sales job descriptions share five characteristics that weaker postings consistently miss.

Specific Team Size

The best postings name the team. "Lead a team of 12 AEs, 4 SDRs, and 2 Sales Engineers" is a fundamentally different job than "build and scale the sales organization." One is inheriting. The other is building from zero. A candidate can't evaluate fit without knowing which one they're walking into. The postings that perform best with senior candidates state the current headcount and the expected headcount 12 months out.

Named Tools

Salesforce appears in 180 of 1,298 postings. Outreach shows up in 65. HubSpot in 48. Tableau in 11. ZoomInfo in 5. Gong in 4. When a VP sales job posting names the tools, it tells candidates two things: what the tech stack looks like, and how mature the sales infrastructure is. A posting that lists Salesforce, Outreach, Gong, and Tableau is describing a different operating environment than one that lists HubSpot and "various sales tools."

Clear Compensation Range

54.8% of postings now disclose salary. That's 739 of 1,349 postings with compensation data. The VP-level average base sits at $167K-$251K. Remote roles average $163K-$243K. On-site roles average $171K-$258K. Companies that post a number attract more qualified applicants and waste less time on misaligned conversations. The ones that don't are losing candidates before the first email.

Defined Scope

Building, inheriting, or scaling. These are three completely different jobs with three different skill profiles. Building means zero to one, probably with founder-led sales still in play. Inheriting means there's an existing team, existing pipeline, and existing problems. Scaling means the machine works and needs to get bigger. The best postings say which one this is. The worst postings describe all three simultaneously and hope for a unicorn.

Named Methodology Expectations

Consultative Selling appears in 172 postings. MEDDIC/MEDDPICC in 117. Enterprise Sales in 102. Channel/Partner in 87. When a company names the methodology, they're telling you how deals get run. When they don't, they either haven't formalized a process or they don't think it matters. Both of those are data points.

The Red Flag Lexicon

Certain phrases show up often enough in VP sales job postings that they've become their own vocabulary. Each one carries a signal about the company and the role. Here's what the data shows.

Phrase	Count	What It Usually Signals
"Fast-paced environment"	248	Understaffed, chaotic, or both
"Competitive compensation"	198	Won't disclose the number
"Self-starter"	85	Limited support infrastructure
Travel 50%+	45	Field sales role labeled as leadership
"Scrappy"	8	Early stage without admitting it
"Wear many hats"	4	You're the VP, AE, SDR, and ops

"Fast-paced environment" leads at 248 mentions across 1,298 postings. That's 19.1% of the dataset. Every company thinks they're fast-paced. The phrase has been diluted to meaninglessness. But when it appears in a VP sales job posting, it often correlates with high turnover, unclear priorities, and an expectation that the new hire will fix systemic problems by working harder. A well-run company with good process doesn't need to advertise that things move fast. Things just move.

"Competitive compensation" at 198 mentions is the second most common red flag. If the comp were genuinely competitive, they'd post the number. The 54.8% of companies that disclose salary are competing for the same candidates as the 45.2% that don't. Guess which group gets the first response.

"Self-starter" at 85 mentions sounds like a positive trait. Everyone wants a self-starter. But in a VP sales posting, it often means the company hasn't built the infrastructure a sales leader needs. No rev ops. No data team. No marketing pipeline. You're expected to build all of it while also carrying a number. That can be fine at the right stage, but the posting should say that directly instead of hiding behind a personality descriptor.

Travel 50%+ at 45 mentions is worth flagging. A VP Sales who's on the road half the time isn't leading a sales organization. They're working enterprise deals personally, attending QBRs with major accounts, and filling gaps the field team can't cover. There's nothing wrong with that role, but it's a player-coach at best. If the posting calls it "VP Sales" but requires 50%+ travel, ask what the actual team structure looks like.

"Scrappy" at 8 mentions and "wear many hats" at 4 mentions are rare but telling. These phrases almost exclusively appear in seed-stage or Series A postings from companies that want a VP title attached to a job that's really first sales hire. Again, that can be a great opportunity for the right person. The problem is when the posting doesn't acknowledge the stage honestly.

The Tool Stack Tells You About the Company

The tools named in a VP sales job posting aren't just requirements. They're signals about company maturity, sales motion, and culture.

Tool	Mentions	What It Signals
Salesforce	180	Enterprise, established infrastructure
Outreach	65	Outbound-heavy sales motion
HubSpot	48	Mid-market or growth stage
Tableau	11	Data reporting maturity
ZoomInfo	5	Prospecting and data enrichment
Gong	4	Data-driven, conversation intelligence

Salesforce at 180 mentions dominates, and that tracks with the seniority data. Of the 636 VP-level postings in our dataset, the majority come from companies large enough to run Salesforce. If the posting names Salesforce, you're likely looking at a company with an existing sales infrastructure, rev ops support, and a structured reporting cadence. The role is about optimizing and scaling, not building from scratch.

HubSpot at 48 mentions signals mid-market or growth-stage companies. HubSpot's CRM is popular with Series A through Series C startups that haven't yet made the jump to Salesforce. Nothing wrong with that. But if you're coming from a Salesforce environment and the new company runs HubSpot, expect differences in reporting depth, workflow automation, and integrations that you'll need to navigate.

Outreach at 65 mentions tells you the sales motion is outbound-heavy. If Outreach is in the stack, the team is running sequences, tracking email engagement, and measuring activity metrics alongside pipeline metrics. For VP Sales candidates who've built their careers on inbound or PLG motions, an Outreach-heavy shop will feel different.

Gong at only 4 mentions is surprisingly low. But those 4 postings tend to be from companies that care deeply about call analytics, deal intelligence, and coaching through data. Gong in the job posting is a signal that the company treats sales as a measurable, improvable process rather than a personality contest.

And then there are postings that don't mention any CRM at all. That usually means one of two things: the company is too early to have chosen a CRM (pre-revenue or very early revenue), or the hiring team didn't think to include it. Both are worth asking about in an interview.

Methodology Requirements Are a Signal

The sales methodology named in a VP sales job posting tells you more about the company's sales motion than almost anything else in the JD.

Methodology	Mentions	What It Indicates
Consultative Selling	172	Relationship-driven, solution selling
MEDDIC/MEDDPICC	117	Complex enterprise, multi-stakeholder
Enterprise Sales	102	Large deals, long cycles
Channel/Partner	87	Indirect sales motion

Consultative Selling at 172 mentions leads the pack. These companies sell complex products to buyers who need education and discovery before they'll commit. The VP Sales in a consultative environment spends more time on deal strategy, buyer enablement, and sales coaching than on activity metrics and outbound volume. If the posting says consultative, expect long sales cycles and relationship-heavy go-to-market.

MEDDIC/MEDDPICC at 117 mentions signals enterprise complexity. These companies have multi-threaded deals with procurement processes, legal review, security questionnaires, and multiple decision-makers. MEDDPICC gives the sales org a shared language for qualifying opportunities, mapping buying committees, and identifying deal risk. If you've never run MEDDPICC, that's fine, but know that 117 companies consider it important enough to name in their VP sales job posting.

Enterprise Sales at 102 mentions overlaps heavily with MEDDPICC. These are large-deal environments where ACV runs six or seven figures, the sales cycle stretches across quarters, and the VP Sales is expected to personally engage on the biggest opportunities. If the posting says enterprise and you've built your career in velocity or SMB sales, the transition is real.

Channel/Partner at 87 mentions is the outlier. A VP Sales overseeing channel sales is running a fundamentally different operation than one running direct sales. You're managing partner relationships, co-selling motions, deal registration, and partner enablement. The skill set overlaps with direct sales leadership, but the day-to-day is distinct. Some postings want both direct and channel experience in one person. That's a big ask.

The AI/ML Mention Surge

411 postings out of 1,298 mention AI or ML. That's 31.7%.

Three years ago, this number was close to zero in VP sales job descriptions. The surge comes from three distinct sources, and they mean different things for candidates.

The first source: companies selling AI products. SaaS at 262 mentions and AI/ML at 411 mentions overlap heavily. Many of these postings are from AI-native startups and established software companies that have added AI features to their platforms. "Experience selling AI/ML solutions" in a VP sales posting means the product itself involves AI, and the company wants a sales leader who can articulate AI value propositions to technical and non-technical buyers.

The second source: companies that want their VP Sales to use AI tools in the GTM stack. This is the "data-driven" (341 mentions) and "GTM" (488 mentions) cluster. These companies want leaders who can implement AI-powered forecasting, conversation intelligence, lead scoring, and pipeline analytics. The AI mention isn't about the product. It's about how the sales org operates.

The third source: companies building AI strategy into the sales org from the top. GenAI specifically appears in 21 postings. These companies want a VP Sales who can think about how generative AI changes prospecting, proposal generation, competitive intelligence, and buyer engagement. It's strategic, not just operational.

For candidates, the key question when you see AI/ML in a VP sales job posting: which of these three things does the company actually mean? Selling AI products, using AI tools, and setting AI strategy are three different skill sets. Most postings conflate them.

What a Good VP Sales JD Actually Looks Like

Based on patterns across 1,298 postings, a strong VP of sales job description includes these elements.

Clear compensation range. The VP-level average base is $167K-$251K. Remote averages $163K-$243K. On-site averages $171K-$258K. Posting the range puts you in the 54.8% that disclose salary and ahead of the 45.2% that don't. Include OTE or variable structure if possible.

Defined scope. State the current team size. Name whether this is a build, inherit, or scale role. Describe what exists today and what's expected in 12 months. A candidate reading "lead our 8-person sales team to $15M ARR" can self-select in or out. A candidate reading "drive revenue growth" has no idea what the job is.

Specific tools. Name the CRM, the engagement platform, the analytics tools. Salesforce, Outreach, Gong, Tableau, whatever the stack is. This tells candidates whether their experience maps to the infrastructure and saves everyone time.

Realistic methodology. If deals close through MEDDPICC, say so. If the motion is consultative, say so. If you need channel experience, say so. Listing every methodology under the sun reads as "we don't know what we want."

Honest stage description. The seniority data tells us the market is 636 VP roles, 37 SVP, 26 C-Level, and 5 EVP. But within VP alone, the variance is enormous. A VP Sales at a Series A startup with 3 AEs is a fundamentally different job than a VP Sales at a public company with 80 reps. The posting should make the stage unambiguous.

No filler phrases. Every "fast-paced environment," "competitive compensation," and "self-starter" that lands in the JD erodes credibility with experienced candidates. 248 postings use "fast-paced environment." The companies that don't use it stand out, and that's the point.