What is a CSO (Chief Sales Officer)
A CSO (Chief Sales Officer) is the most senior sales position in a company, in Czech a sales director. The CSO is responsible for revenue, sales strategy, leading the sales team and the pipeline. The acronym CSO is also used for Chief Strategy Officer or Chief Security Officer, but in a sales context it denotes the head of sales.
What the acronym stands for (and what it gets confused with)
CSO has several meanings in corporate nomenclature, which is worth saying up front: Chief Sales Officer (sales director), Chief Strategy Officer (head of strategy) and Chief Security Officer (head of security). In the context of sales and company growth - that is, the context we operate in - CSO almost always means the head of sales.
Chief Sales Officer is the international equivalent of the Czech title sales director. They are responsible for revenue and everything that leads to it: sales strategy, leading salespeople, process, pipeline and forecast. You will find the detailed job scope and cost of the role under the entry sales director.
CSO vs. CRO
Alongside the CSO, the title CRO, Chief Revenue Officer, appears ever more often. The difference is in the breadth of scope: a CSO leads sales, a CRO covers all sources of revenue - sales, marketing and care for existing customers - under one strategy. The CRO is an organisational answer to a problem we know well: separate marketing and sales tossing leads and blame back and forth.
In companies of 20 to 250 people a standalone CRO role is rarely created. The same effect - one strategy across marketing and sales - can be achieved more simply: through connected leadership of both functions.
Fractional CSO: a part-time sales director
For companies that need a sales director but not full time, there is the fractional CSO model: an external sales leader for 1 to 3 days a week who builds the strategy, process and team. In the US, sales leadership is the fastest-growing fractional category - the number of fractional sales leaders there rose by 80 % between 2020 and 2024 (Vendux, 2026). In the Czech market almost no one knows this model yet, which for companies that discover it earlier is more of an advantage.
Updated: July 2026
Frequently asked questions
What does the acronym CSO stand for?
In a sales context, Chief Sales Officer, that is a sales director. But the same acronym is also used for Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Security Officer. The context decides the meaning.
What does a CSO do?
A Chief Sales Officer is responsible for the company's revenue: sales strategy, leading salespeople, the sales process, pipeline, forecast and cooperation with marketing.
What is the difference between a CSO and a CRO?
A CSO (Chief Sales Officer) leads sales. A CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) is a broader role that covers all sources of revenue together: sales, marketing and customer care. The CRO appears more in larger and SaaS companies.
What is a fractional CSO?
A part-time sales director: an external leader who builds a company's sales strategy, process and team 1 to 3 days a week. A model for companies that cannot justify a full-time sales director.
What does this role cost full time?
Work out the real cost of a full-time director including contributions, bonuses and benefits - and compare it with the fractional model.