Tech sales salaries in 2026: Account Executive, Sales Manager, and OTE benchmarks

Sales compensation decisions are high stakes.

Underpay and your best revenue generators leave for competitors. Overpay and you create budget strain and equity issues across the business.

And top sales talent is in demand again – Direct Sales commands the biggest new-hire pay premium of any of the most-hired roles in tech this year, as AI companies compete for people who can sell a new kind of product.

Let’s take a look at what Ravio's latest benchmarking data shows on Direct Sales (Account Executive) compensation in the tech sector – including base salary and variable pay, how salaries differ by location and funding stage, plus the hiring and compensation trends shaping commercial teams in 2026.

What is the average salary for an Account Executive in 2026?

The average base salary for an Account Executive (Sales Executive) in UK tech is £53,200 in 2026 (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

Salaries, of course, vary depending on role, seniority level, and location. The above figure represents the median base salary from Ravio's salary benchmarking data for a UK-based P3 Established Professional in Direct Sales – a mid-level professional with in-depth knowledge of their discipline who works independently with minimal guidance and has a moderate impact on the success of their discipline.

For this role, this puts salaries up 12.7% on 2025 – the biggest jump of any role in Ravio's salary index this year.

Direct Sales is also the second most-hired role in European tech (7.2% of all hires), and new Direct Sales hires are paid 10.7% above market rate – more than double the premium for Software Engineers (4.0%) (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

Ben Newsome, VP Talent & People at Cherry Ventures, sees AI labs and well-funded AI companies pulling sales talent out of the wider market.

"There's a lot of salespeople out there, but there's not a lot of amazing ones. Anthropic, OpenAI, other labs and heavily VC backed AI companies are aggressively acquiring sales talent, creating scarcity downstream," he says.

"We're seeing large new-hire premiums for top sales talent across our portfolio."

And it’s because selling AI products is a skill in its own right, and not something that most salespeople have done.

”Selling an agentic product is very different to selling traditional software, and only a small proportion of salespeople have actually done it before, so they're in-demand," says Dennis Eriksson, Talent Director at Northzone.

What about the average Senior Account Executive salary?

A Senior Account Executive (P4) in the UK earns a median base salary of £83,000 – around 40% more than a mid-level Account Executive (£59,500) (source: Ravio benchmarks, October 2026).

What is the average salary for a Senior Sales Manager in 2026?

The average base salary for a Senior Sales Manager in UK tech is £105,400 in 2026, up 16.2% from £90,700 in 2025 (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

This figure represents the median base salary from Ravio's salary benchmarking data, for a UK-based M3 Senior Manager in Direct Sales – a role providing leadership to other managers, accountable for the results of a sales team.

What does a Sales Director earn?

At M4 (Director) level – usually titled Sales Director or Head of Sales – the median base salary in the UK is £127,000 (source: Ravio benchmarks, October 2026) – a step up from Senior Sales Manager (£105,400), and below the Europe-wide median for a VP of Sales (£185,000).

What do VPs of Sales and CROs earn?

At executive level, VP of Sales has the highest median base salary of any VP role in European tech, at £185,000 – and a CRO or CCO earns a median of £200,000 (source: Ravio and Erevena executive compensation data, 2026).

Sales also has by far the highest bonus opportunity of any executive function. VP Sales bonuses are also the most individually targeted – 53% are tied to individual targets, while CRO bonuses lean towards company targets.

What is the average SDR salary?

The median base salary for a Sales Development Representative (SDR) in the UK ranges from £34,500 at entry level (P1) to £51,400 at P3 (source: Ravio benchmarks, October 2026).

SDR isn't always an entry-level role, though.

Many tech companies now hire experienced SDRs – for example, founding SDRs who build the outbound motion from scratch, or SDR team leads – which is why SDR pay extends well into senior and management levels.

Variable pay is a big part of SDR compensation too – the median variable component for SDRs is 45.5% of base salary. For example, a P2 SDR on a £40,600 base would have an OTE of around £59,100.

What is a typical OTE for sales roles?

Base salary is only part of the picture in sales.

Across European tech, the median variable pay for Direct Sales is 66.7% of base salary – far more than any other role (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

Applied to the UK median base, that suggests a typical OTE (on-target earnings) of around £99,200 for a mid-level Account Executive – roughly a 60/40 split between base and variable. Most Account Executives will sit somewhere between a 70/30 and a 50/50 split.

In Ravio's survey of People and Reward Leaders (September 2026), 76% say they pay commission for sales and commercial roles, while 31% offer sign-on bonuses and 28% retention bonuses.

How do sales salaries differ per country?

Sales salaries vary considerably across European markets, with the UK maintaining the highest median salaries and Spain offering the lowest.

The UK saw by far the biggest jump this year (+12.7%). Elsewhere, growth was steadier, from +0.8% in Germany to +7.5% in the Netherlands.

Account Executive (P3) salaries per country

Sales Manager (M3) salaries per country

Direct Sales salaries grew steadily across the board, driven by big jumps in the UK (+12.7% for mid-level and +16.2% for senior managers).

Senior pay outside the UK grew 1-5%, led by France (+5.4%).

What is the average sales salary in London?

Sales professionals in London earn around 3-5% more than the UK as a whole, depending on level.

The median base salary for a mid-level (P3) Account Executive in London is £61,500 (source: Ravio benchmarks, October 2026).

What is the average sales salary in the US?

The median base salary for a mid-level (P3) Account Executive in the US is $109,100 (source: Ravio benchmarks, October 2026).

These are national medians – salaries vary significantly between US cities, so use location-specific benchmarks for hiring in a particular market.

How do startup salaries in Sales differ per funding stage?

Direct Sales salaries at startups generally increase as the companies progress through funding stages, reflecting company maturity and the increasing complexity of sales operations at scale.

Late-stage companies (Series C+, IPO) pay around 3% more than early-stage companies (pre-seed, seed) for mid-level P3 Account Executives, and 14% more for M3 Senior Sales Manager roles (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027).

Early-stage companies saw the fastest growth this year, with mid-level sales pay up 23.7% and senior pay up 25.8% – closing most of the gap with later-stage companies.

Growth-stage companies now pay mid-level Account Executives slightly more than late-stage companies. Variable pay also peaks in the middle of the funding journey: growth-stage companies offer the largest median variable component across all roles (14.2% of base).

What's happening in the sales talent market?

Beyond salaries, the wider data shows a sales market that's cooled from last year's spike, but still moves more than any other function (source: Ravio Compensation Trends 2027):

• Hiring has slowed, but is still the highest of any function. Sales and Relationship Management hiring fell to 25.0% in 2026, down from 34.7% in 2025.
• Sales still sees the most movement. Attrition in Sales fell to 12.4%, in line with the wider market, but it's still the highest of any function – and Commercial roles have the shortest average tenure (640 days, about 1 year 9 months).
• Pay rises are in line with the market, but fewer salespeople get one. The typical in-role pay rise in Sales was 4.2%, and 18.2% of Commercial employees received one – lower than most functions.
• Promotions pay well. When salespeople are promoted, they get some of the biggest promotion raises of any function (22.7%, second only to Operations).

With high movement and a strong external market for top performers, it's worth checking your sales team's base pay and OTE against the market regularly – not just at your annual review.

Putting it into practice: setting competitive sales pay

• Benchmark OTE, not just base. For roles with a 40-50% variable component, a competitive base can still mean an uncompetitive package – and vice versa.
• Set targets people can actually reach. "More calibrated candidates aren't just looking at the bonus target, they want to understand the actual levers they need to pull to hit it – what's realistic, what's the structure, what do they actually need to do to realise that number," says Franky Roberts, Head of Talent & Community at Evantic Capital. "A random target that feels hard to reach is off-putting."
• Make sure variable pay is actually variable. "A lot of the time variable pay isn't actually variable – it's more or less guaranteed, because the goal-setting doesn't really differentiate on results," says Evert Kraav, Head of Compensation & Benefits at Bolt.
• Plan for hiring premiums. With new Direct Sales hires paid over 10% above market, decide upfront how you'll handle premiums for top sales talent – and what that means for existing team members. More in our guide to competing for in-demand jobs.

FAQs

What is sales compensation?

Sales compensation is the total rewards package for sales roles, typically consisting of base salary plus variable compensation tied to sales targets – often commission or bonuses based on revenue targets, quota attainment, or deals closed. Many companies also offer equity as part of total compensation.

How much does an Account Executive make?

A mid-level Account Executive (Direct Sales, P3) in UK tech earns a median base salary of £59,500 in 2026 (Ravio Compensation Trends 2027). With median variable pay of 66.7% of base for Direct Sales, that points to an OTE of around £99,200. Base salaries range from £39,200 in Spain to £59,500 in the UK.

How much does an SDR make?

In UK tech, the median base salary for an SDR ranges from £34,500 at entry level (P1) and £40,600 at P2, to £51,400 at P3 and £75,100 for an experienced SDR at P4 (Ravio benchmarks, October 2026). With a median variable component of 45.5% of base, a P2 SDR's OTE would be around £59,100.

How do you build a sales compensation plan?

Building a sales compensation plan starts with defining your compensation strategy – what goals the business has, what targets or behaviours you want to incentivise, what different types of sales roles exist within the organisation, and so on. This should be used to determine what base-to-variable split, and what type of variable compensation makes sense to offer for each role, in line with business objectives.

Always use reliable benchmarking data like Ravio's to ensure your base salaries and total compensation are fair and competitive to ensure you’re able to hire and retain the talent you need.

What is OTE in sales compensation?

OTE (on-target earnings) is the total cash compensation a sales professional could earn when achieving 100% of their quota or performance targets. OTE combines base salary plus the expected variable compensation (commission/bonus) at target performance. For example, if a Sales Executive has a base salary of £50,000 and expected commission of £30,000 at quota, their OTE is £80,000.

What is a typical base-to-variable split for sales roles?

In European tech, the median variable pay for Direct Sales is 66.7% of base salary – roughly a 60/40 split between base and variable – with most between 42.9% and 100% of base (a 70/30 to 50/50 split). SDRs typically have a smaller variable component (median 45.5% of base), and Customer Success smaller again (17.6%).

How do you use data in sales compensation?

Data is essential for building competitive and equitable sales compensation:

• Use internal sales data – quota attainment rates, win rates, deal sizes – to set realistic but ambitious targets and sales incentives.
• Use compensation benchmarking data from platforms like Ravio to establish market-competitive base salaries and OTE levels across different sales roles and seniority levels, ensuring you can attract and retain top talent with fair compensation packages.

How much do sales executives make in the UK?

Sales Executives in the UK earn £59,500 in base salary on average (Ravio 2027 Compensation Trends report). This is the median salary for a P3 mid-level sales executive in the UK, and does not include variable compensation (commission/bonus/OTE) or equity – with median Direct Sales variable pay at 66.7% of base, a typical OTE is around £99,200.

Where can I get reliable salary benchmarking data for sales compensation?

Reliable salary benchmarking data comes from real-time compensation platforms like Ravio, providing sales salary data across all job specialisms, seniority levels, and company sizes.

Ravio’s benchmarks are compiled using data drawn directly from company HRIS systems and are updated continuously, rather than relying on point-in-time salary surveys.