| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Leadership and Senior Management |
| Level | Leadership |
| Reports to | Chief Executive Officer |
| Direct reports | VP Sales, Head of Business Development, Head of Partnerships, Regional Sales Heads |
| Experience | 15+ years in sales and business development, with 5 years in a senior commercial leadership role |
Chief Business Officer job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Chief Business Officer
Department: Leadership and Senior Management
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Chief Business Officer owns the commercial growth agenda of the company. They bring sales, business development, partnerships and market expansion under one leader and turn the board's growth targets into signed revenue. The role sits at the top table beside the CEO and CFO and carries the number for new business, key accounts and new geographies. A strong CBO opens markets the company could not reach alone, builds a repeatable sales engine, and keeps the pipeline healthy quarter after quarter without giving away margin.
Key responsibilities
- Own the annual and quarterly revenue targets set by the board, and break them into plans for each business line, region and key account.
- Build and lead the sales, business development and partnership teams, setting territories, quotas and the incentive structure for each.
- Open new markets, customer segments and geographies, and decide which to enter, delay or exit based on size and margin.
- Sign strategic partnerships, channel tie-ups and large enterprise deals that the sales team cannot close on its own.
- Review the sales pipeline every week, forecast the quarter, and act early when coverage or conversion falls short of plan.
- Set pricing bands, discount limits and deal-approval rules with the CFO so growth does not erode margin.
- Work with marketing to line up demand generation, messaging and lead quality behind the sales plan.
- Present business performance, wins, losses and the growth outlook to the CEO and the board every quarter.
- Build key-account plans for the largest customers and defend them from competitors through service and timely renewals.
- Coach regional heads and sales managers, and act on underperformance before it drags the annual number.
Requirements
- MBA in sales, marketing or general management
- Graduate degree in any discipline, often engineering or commerce
- Strong record of leading large sales and business teams
- Background in the company's own industry is an advantage
- 15+ years in sales and business development, with 5 years in a senior commercial leadership role
KRAs and KPIs for a Chief Business Officer
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Revenue growth | Annual new and total revenue meets or beats the board-approved target |
| Pipeline health | Qualified pipeline covers at least three times the quarterly sales target |
| Deal margin | Average deal margin held at or above the planned level for the year |
| Market expansion | New markets launched to plan and profitable within the agreed period |
| Key accounts | Top account retention and renewal stays above the agreed threshold each year |
| Team performance | Share of the sales team meeting quota stays above target every quarter |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: CRM software, Sales dashboards, MS Excel, PowerPoint, BI reporting tools.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director
Interview questions for a Chief Business Officer
- Walk me through how you would take our revenue from the current level to the board's three-year target.
- A large deal is stuck at the customer's finance team. How do you unblock it without cutting price?
- How do you decide which new market or segment to enter first when resources are limited?
- Describe a partnership you built that changed the growth curve of a business you led.
- A region that always delivered is missing its number two quarters running. What do you do?
- How do you set quotas and incentives so the team chases margin, not just top line?
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What does a Chief Business Officer do?
A Chief Business Officer owns the company's commercial growth. They lead sales, business development and partnerships, set revenue targets by region and account, sign large or strategic deals, and set pricing so growth stays profitable. They report the growth outlook to the CEO and board and are measured on the revenue number.
What is the difference between a CBO and a CRO?
A Chief Business Officer usually owns new business, partnerships and market expansion, and is often outward facing. A Chief Revenue Officer owns all revenue functions together, sales, marketing and customer success, and focuses on one predictable revenue engine. In many Indian companies the two roles overlap and only one title is used.
Who does a Chief Business Officer report to?
In most companies the Chief Business Officer reports to the Chief Executive Officer or the Managing Director. In a founder-led company they may report directly to the founder. They sit on the leadership team beside the CFO and CHRO and present growth results to the board.