Average CRO Salary Expectations (Chief Revenue Officer)

The CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) is expected to be paid well because it is more demanding, complex and challenging than either a Sales VP or a Marketing VP role. As we review compensation, it is helpful to remember that titles are not always a representation of responsibility. CROs who finds themselves closing the initial sale, then outsourcing the upsell, cross-sell and renewal processes to functional peers, might find 'VP of Sales' to be a better title.

The CRO’s purpose is to align and optimize the
entire customer experience with the aim of increasing revenue.

PayScale

According to PayScale, a Chief Revenue Officer earns an average salary of $198,408 per year. Rarely is an answer that simple or easy to come by. Considering the variables, this may or may not be true. The compensation of a Chief Revenue Officer depends on:

Geography (City & State)
Experience level (Number of years)
Skills
Role and responsibilities
Size of company (Revenue, geography, employees, etc)
Maturity of company
Additional compensation (Bonus, profit sharing, commission, other)

With a quick click to New York, the story changes dramatically:

Glassdoor

Glassdoor offers data for Seattle in the follow graph showing the Chief Revenue Officer average annual salary is $149,920.

The trend to add or hire a Chief Revenue Officer continues. Here are companies looking forward to adding a new Chief Revenue Officer to their team:

Chief Revenue Officer Salaries | More details for Chief Revenue Officer Jobs | Salary

Yelp CRO

The total compensation of the Chief Revenue Officer at Yelp, Inc. in 2015 was $3,167,118.

Other Examples

Other example salaries paid by companies in the United States:

$250K LocalCoupons.com's Chief Revenue Officer Salary

+$85K (40%) more than national average Chief Revenue Officer salary ($165K)
Equal to average LocalCoupons.com salary ($250K)

$180K American Laser Centers' Chief Revenue Officer Salary

+$15K (8%) more than national average Chief Revenue Officer salary ($165K)
+$137K (122%) more than average American Laser Centers salary ($43K)

$150K Air Jamaica's Chief Revenue Officer Salary

-$15K (9%) less than national average Chief Revenue Officer salary ($165K)
+$110K (115%) more than average Air Jamaica salary ($40K)

LinkedIn - Salary Data

LinkedIn offers a salary review option. As an example, click here to review the Chief Revenue Officer salary ranges for Los Angeles and other cities along with job openings. This is a LinkedIn Premium feature and may be worth the additional monthly fee.

A sample screenshot from LinkedIn is available below:

Source: LinkedIn

Nexstar Media Group News

Recently, Nexstar Media Group announced an amended deal with their Chief Revenue Officer, Thomas O'Brien through October 2021. A screenshot of the press release and link follows:

Chief Revenue Officer compensation for startups

The question about Chief Revenue Officer’s compensation for startups is one I hear frequently. This report from Advanced-HR offers insights. The table below shows median (50th percentile) cash compensation for select non-founder positions in the 2014 survey and the graph shows comparative data between 2014 and 2013.

Source: Advance-HR - 2014 Venture Capital Executive Compensation Survey

This outline of Chief Revenue Officer responsibilities is a starting point but as you can see, the compensation offered to each ranges widely.

If you are developing a new CRO role at your organization, you are welcome to contact me directly to learn of experiences and success I have seen over the last 20 years. There is a list of responsibilities and characteristics here that you might find helpful when recruiting.

If you have been promoted into this role or interested, be sure to read this article about the responsibilities of a CRO.

The job of a CRO is more than just a glorified VP of Sales, and this free eBook offers a detailed overview of the role and responsibilities.