VP of Sales Salary: Base, OTE and Equity by Company Stage

A US VP of Sales earns a median base salary of about $161,000 in Payscale's data%2C_Sales/Salary) (September 2026) and an average base of $207,248 in Built In's (read November 2026). Variable pay adds a lot on top: Built In's average total pay is $350,465. Most of that gap is variable pay that depends on the team hitting quota.

The pages that rank for this search each show one number from one dataset. Some of those numbers are base only, some are total pay, and few say which. We read the top results on October 25, 2026. None of them puts the sources side by side, none shows what drives the variable half of the paycheck, and the one that gives figures by company stage has tables that do not add up. This page shows each source's range with its date, keeps base and total pay apart, and walks through how team quota and rep attainment set what a VP of Sales actually takes home.

How much does a VP of Sales make? Ranges by source

Published VP of Sales pay runs from about $157,000 (a ZipRecruiter median, seen in a Google result) to $350,465 (Built In's average total pay), and most of that spread comes from whether the figure includes variable pay. We do not blend these into one number. Each row is one source, with what it measures and when we read it. How to read the table:

• Base vs total. Payscale's median, ZipRecruiter and the CRO Report are mostly base. Built In's $350,465 and Glassdoor's $335,667 include variable pay. Comparing a base figure to a total figure makes the job look like it has a $190,000 range that it does not have.
• Who is in the sample. BLS has no VP of Sales code. Sales VPs fall under sales managers (11-2022), alongside regional and store-level sales managers in every industry, which is why its median is the lowest here. OEWS wages include commissions and production bonuses but leave out nonproduction bonuses, per the OEWS technical notes, and no source in the table counts equity.
• Self-reported vs posted. Built In, Glassdoor and Payscale rely on people reporting their own pay. The CRO Report uses job postings, which show what companies say they will pay, not what they paid.

What is a typical VP of Sales base, OTE and pay mix?

A VP of Sales plan is usually built on on-target earnings (OTE): base plus the variable paid at 100% of the team quota. JRG Partners, an executive search firm, cites a roughly 50/50 split between base and incentive for a standard VP of Sales role, with accelerators of 1.5x to 2x above plan, in its July 2026 salary guide. Built In's self-reported averages imply a lower variable share: $143,217 of additional cash out of $350,465 total is about 41%, or a 59:41 mix.

JRG's figures by company revenue are the only stage-level OTE data we found with a date. The firm calls them directional benchmarks from its search work and published data, and it does not publish a sample size, so read them as a recruiter's view rather than a survey.

Source: JRG Partners, VP of Sales Salary Guide 2026, posted July 7, 2026. JRG adds that first-time leaders tend to land in the lower half of a band.

Two things to notice. At the low end, JRG's total direct comp for $25M to $100M companies starts below the OTE floor, which only works if the VP misses plan. That is a fair picture of the job. And OTE roughly doubles base in every band, which is the 50/50 mix at work. For how base and variable split for other roles, see what OTE means in sales.

How does company stage change VP of Sales pay?

Earlier stage companies pay less cash and more equity, and the cash gap closes as revenue grows. In JRG's bands, the base midpoint rises from $175,000 under $25M in revenue to $262,500 at $100M to $500M. Posting data tells a similar story with a caveat: The CRO Report's February 2026 stage table covers 383 of its 704 disclosed postings, and several cells hold fewer than 40 roles, so we do not reproduce it here.

Stage changes the job as much as the pay. At a Series A company, the VP of Sales is often the first sales leader and still sells. At a $100 million company, the VP runs managers who run reps. For what those directors earn, see the sales director salary guide. The VP of Sales role covers that range under one title, which is one more reason a single average misleads.

Pete's view on what the money is buying

A great sales leader has usually built relationships strong enough that when they move companies, they can bring a team of reps with them, and often a Sales Ops team waiting in the wings to join. That is part of what a company pays for at the top of these ranges. What that ops team earns is in the sales operations manager salary guide.

The other part is capacity. From the data we see, it can take a seller 15 to 18 months to confidently hit quota. A VP of Sales hired to build a team will spend most of year one with reps who are still ramping, so a first-year number set as if the team were fully productive is a number the VP will miss. When I look at a VP offer, I look at the quota behind the variable before I look at the OTE.

How much equity does a VP of Sales get?

Published equity ranges for a VP of Sales run from 0.2% to 0.8% of the company at private, venture and PE-backed companies, by JRG Partners' estimate, and public companies grant equity as a multiple of base instead. None of these sources measures ownership directly, so treat them as rough guides. Equitybee's grant size is the option count times the 409A fair market value of common stock on the grant date, so it is not a cash value and not an ownership percentage. The ratio rising with stage means the gap between executive and employee grants widens as companies mature.

How quota and attainment drive the VP of Sales variable

The variable half of a VP of Sales plan is usually measured against a team number: the bookings the VP's whole organization closes against the VP's quota. So the VP's paycheck depends on how many reps hit their own quotas, and on how much buffer sits between the reps' quotas and the VP's.

That buffer is quota over-assignment: the sum of rep quotas is set above the VP's number, because some reps will miss, leave or still be ramping. Quota over-assignment explains how to size it from attainment history. The attainment data to size it against:

• Bridge Group, June 2026: 48% of account executives reached quota, down from 51% in 2024 (2026 AE report, 158 B2B companies).
• Pete's planning rule: plan for average attainment around 75% to 80% of quota, with a tail below and a tail above. If the growth target needs average attainment to fall to 50%, you have a capacity problem, not a quota problem.
• Pete on quota ranges: SaaS AE quotas tend to stay in established ranges, about $500,000 to $1 million for many AE roles and $1 million or more for enterprise sellers.

Worked example: one VP plan at four levels of rep attainment (illustrative)

The plan below is illustrative, not a benchmark. A VP of Sales has $400,000 OTE split 50/50: $200,000 base and $200,000 variable at 100% of a $12 million new-bookings quota. The team has 12 AEs at $1.1 million each, so rep quotas add up to $13.2 million, 10% above the VP's number. The variable pays in a straight line below plan and at 1.5x above plan, with no cap.

The check on the last row: $200,000 at plan, plus 10 points above plan paid at 1.5x (10% of $200,000 is $20,000, times 1.5 is $30,000), gives $230,000 of variable.

What the example shows:

• The VP can hit plan while reps miss. With 10% over-assignment, the team reaches the VP's $12 million when reps average 90.9% of their own quotas. The buffer protects the VP's number, not the reps' paychecks.
• Normal attainment pays below OTE. At the 78% average rep attainment that sits inside Pete's 75% to 80% planning range, this VP earns $371,600, about 93% of OTE. A candidate comparing OTE figures across offers should ask what attainment the team has produced, not only what OTE the plan promises.
• The company's cost per dollar falls as bookings rise. VP pay drops from 3.8% of bookings at 70% rep attainment to 3.3% at plan, because the base is fixed. The accelerator raises the VP's pay above plan without raising the cost per booked dollar.

For the rep side of the same math (rate, quota and accelerators for an AE), see the average sales commission guide.

VP of Sales salary by location

Location moves the median for sales managers by more than $80,000 between states in BLS data. BLS figures below are for all sales managers (SOC 11-2022), May 2025, pulled from the BLS public data API on November 2, 2026. Built In figures are average base for VPs of Sales, read the same day. California's state median sits below the US median because the BLS code includes sales managers in retail, wholesale and other lower-paying industries across the state. In software, BLS pay runs higher nationally: a $168,370 median at software publishers and $180,460 in computer systems design, against $148,270 for all industries. Built In's own pages also differ by view: its New York City page shows a $205,502 average base, while its national city list shows $221,443 for New York City.

How to set or negotiate a VP of Sales offer

Start from OTE and the quota behind it, then price the equity, then check the cost at the attainment the team really produces. Five steps:

• 1. Pick the band by revenue and scope. Use JRG's revenue bands for OTE and check base against at least two of the sources in the first table, matching base to base and total to total.
• 2. Set the mix. A 50/50 split is the common starting point in JRG's guide. A VP who still carries a personal number at an early company may justify more variable, and a VP of a large team with long cycles may justify more base.
• 3. Look at the quota before the OTE. Ask for the team quota, the sum of rep quotas, how many reps are still ramping and what attainment the team produced in the last four quarters. Those decide whether the variable is earnable.
• 4. Agree on year one. With ramp taking 15 to 18 months in Pete's data, decide in writing how the first-year quota treats reps the VP has not hired yet.
• 5. Model the cost at real attainment. Run the plan at 70%, 80%, 100% and 110% of the team number, as in the example above. ORM measures quota attainment at the rep level and models it by position and region, which is the input this step needs.

For the scope difference between the two senior sales titles, which drives much of the pay gap, see CRO vs VP of Sales. For pay one seat up, the chief revenue officer salary guide adds what public company CROs report in their proxy statements.

Sources and dates

Sources were re-read on November 2, 2026, except the Glassdoor and ZipRecruiter figures, which come from Google results on October 25, 2026.

• US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Sales managers (11-2022), May 2025 estimates, national, state, metro and industry series via the BLS public data API.
• Payscale, Vice President (VP), Sales salary, updated September 15, 2026, 1,519 profiles.
• Built In, 2026 Vice President of Sales salary in US, self-reported, no sample size or collection date given.
• Glassdoor, VP Sales average salary and pay trends 2026, figures from the Google result on October 25, 2026.
• ZipRecruiter, average VP sales salary, figures from the Google result on October 25, 2026.
• Indeed, vice president of sales salary in San Francisco, updated October 28, 2026, 60 salaries from job postings.
• The CRO Report, How much should you pay a VP of Sales in 2026, February 1, 2026, job posting data.
• JRG Partners, VP of Sales Salary Guide 2026, posted July 7, 2026, directional search firm benchmarks.
• Equitybee, The Startup Employee Equity Grant Report, 2026 edition, August 2026, 9,042 new-hire grants across 2,438 startups.
• The Bridge Group, AE Models, Motions and Metrics: 2026 Research Report, June 22, 2026, 158 B2B companies.