CRO Recruitment Agency
Licorne Society helps companies recruit their Chief Revenue Officer, the executive who brings sales, marketing and customer success together behind a single growth trajectory.
5/5 · 206 Google reviews More than 200 startups, scale-ups and digital companies have hired their sales and revenue leadership with Licorne Society.
Testimonials
They trusted the Licorne Society team with their sales and marketing leadership hiring
I brought in Licorne Society to recruit my VP Marketing, and they helped me hire an excellent person in record time.
We brought in Licorne Society to recruit C-level executives and fill key roles in sales, marketing and senior management. We were pleasantly surprised by how well they understood our needs and the roles. It was fast, and we found the right people.
As part of the hands-on HR support we provide to our clients, we work with Licorne on a large number of hires across a wide range of roles (Sales Manager, Head of Sales, Head of Operations...). Licorne's ability to analyse and really understand a brief, together with their knowledge of many different sectors, means our clients get feedback quickly. In three words, Licorne means responsiveness, quality of service and genuine care!
Our typical Chief Revenue Officer profiles to meet your company's challenges
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CRO with a sales background
- Background as VP Sales or Chief Sales Officer, since broadened to marketing and customer success
- Strong grounding in forecasting, pipeline management and sales discipline
- The most common profile in long-cycle B2B sales
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CRO with a marketing and growth background
- Expertise in acquisition, content and demand generation
- Tight control of acquisition costs and of marketing's contribution to pipeline
- The right fit when growth depends first and foremost on the top of the funnel
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B2B SaaS scale-up CRO
- Has taken a company from €5M to €30M ARR and structured its revenue teams
- Runs the business on SaaS metrics (ARR, NRR, churn, magic number)
- Comfortable with a board and investors who expect a demanding growth trajectory
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Product-led growth CRO
- Combines self-serve, assisted sales and in-product expansion
- Works hand in hand with Product on activation and conversion
- Sought after in freemium and bottom-up models
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Key accounts and complex sales CRO
- Used to long cycles, tenders and multiple buying committees
- Network of decision-makers in their sector and ability to open strategic accounts
- Sought after in industry, finance, healthcare and business services
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International and expansion CRO
- Experience opening new markets and managing distributed teams
- Masters direct, indirect and partner-led distribution models
- The right fit when growth comes from new countries
Our Chief Revenue Officer recruitment expert
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André Farah
- COO and co-founder of the Licorne Society recruitment platform. 🦄
- Former Operations Strategy and Management Consultant at consulting firm Argon & Co. 🚀
- Expert in recruiting and structuring sales and marketing leadership, from the first Sales hire to C-level. 📈
Our team of specialist Sales and Marketing recruitment consultants can support you on every revenue leadership role.
Recruiting a CRO
Recruiting a Chief Revenue Officer is a defining challenge for any company whose growth no longer depends on a single team.
The role solves a specific problem: sales, marketing and customer success teams that already exist but are pursuing objectives that do not line up. The CRO takes ownership of the entire chain, from the first touchpoint through to renewal, and decides how resources are allocated across acquisition, conversion and retention. They are also the executive who makes the revenue trajectory clear to the executive committee and the board.
These candidates are rare: the pool of experienced CROs in France is still small, and some successful hires come from promoting a VP Sales or Chief Sales Officer who can broaden their remit.
What we do
quickly find the best revenue leaders on the market, on a permanent or fractional basis
Why us?
- A clear grasp of the revenue models that suit your company's stage of maturity, from B2B SaaS to complex key account sales.
- A powerful network of sales and marketing leaders, from Head of Sales (in French) to CRO, via VP Sales.
- The ability to assess the dual skill set the role requires, where many candidates only cover half of the remit.
All of which makes Licorne Society the go-to partner for recruiting your revenue leadership on permanent and freelance contracts, in France and abroad ⭐
A 3.0 recruitment agency specialising in Chief Revenue Officer searches
- 01
A community of revenue talent
Licorne Society has more than 4,500 active job seekers registered on its platform.
- 02
Deep expertise in revenue leadership
For every brief, our team finds, approaches and screens the best sales and marketing leaders in the ecosystem.
- 03
A unique sourcing technology
100% tailored to each role and to your target, combining artificial intelligence and automation.
How our CRO recruitment service works
- 1
Scoping your needs
We (really) take the time to understand.
- 2
Targeted sourcing
We quickly tap into our network of more than 50,000 professionals, and approach directly the candidates who are not in it yet.
- 3
Screening the best candidates
We take the time to call every relevant candidate to understand their background and aspirations.
- 4
Shortlist within a few days
You receive a list of qualified candidates who are available and interested.
How do you recruit a Chief Revenue Officer?
Recruiting a CRO means pinning down the scope of the role before sourcing; otherwise onboarding is likely to fail. The key steps:
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Define the real scope
decide upfront which teams report to the CRO. A role advertised as including marketing, then hollowed out once the person arrives, is the number one cause of failure in this function.
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Choose the candidate's core strength
a CRO with a sales background and a CRO with a marketing background will not make the same trade-offs. The right core strength depends on where your bottleneck lies.
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Frame the relationship with the CEO and the board
the CRO owns the revenue trajectory in front of investors. The seniority you need depends as much on this as on execution.
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Approach a narrow talent pool
experienced CROs are few and far between and rarely looking. We always widen the search to VPs of Sales and CSOs ready to take this step up.
Whether you are a Series A startup, a scale-up or an established company structuring its growth, securing this hire takes a structured search. To get our help, talk to our Executive Search team.
To benchmark a CRO's pay against other sales roles, see our guide to salesperson salaries (in French).
Resources & related pages
Further reading on recruiting your revenue leadership
To scope your needs, see our job profiles for revenue leadership roles (in French):
- Chief Sales Officer: sales leadership at executive committee level, often the starting point for a move into the CRO role.
- VP Sales: running and scaling the sales machine.
- RevOps: the function that equips revenue management and makes it reliable, the CRO's natural right hand.
- Head of Customer Success: retaining and expanding the customer base, the second pillar of revenue.
To understand the role before launching a search, see our Chief Revenue Officer job profile (in French).
Hiring sales leadership only, without the marketing and customer success remit? See our Head of Sales recruitment agency page. For marketing leadership, see our CMO recruitment agency page.
This page is part of our Executive Search and headhunting offering, which focuses on hiring executives and C-level leaders.
Ready to hire your CRO?
Frequently asked questions about recruiting a CRO
01 What is a CRO (Chief Revenue Officer)?
What is a CRO (Chief Revenue Officer)?
The Chief Revenue Officer is the executive responsible for all of the company's revenue. Unlike a Sales Director, their remit does not stop at sales: it also covers marketing and demand generation, customer success and growth of the existing customer base, and most often RevOps (in French). Their job is to align these teams behind a single growth trajectory.
02 What is the difference between a CRO and a Head of Sales?
What is the difference between a CRO and a Head of Sales?
The Head of Sales leads the sales team and owns new revenue. The CRO manages the entire revenue chain, from the first marketing touchpoint through to renewal, and decides how resources are allocated across these levers. In practice, the CRO often has a Head of Sales and a marketing lead reporting to them.
03 When should you hire a CRO?
When should you hire a CRO?
The role makes sense when sales, marketing and customer success teams already exist but work in silos, with objectives that do not line up. In practice, we mostly see it from Series A or B onwards, once ARR passes €3M to €5M. Before that stage, a strong Head of Sales generally covers the need.
04 What is a Chief Revenue Officer's salary?
What is a Chief Revenue Officer's salary?
A CRO's total package usually ranges from €120,000 to €200,000, with a significant variable component tied to sales performance, plus equity at startups and scale-ups. The level depends on the size of the customer base, the sales model and the maturity of the organisation. We share the market ranges we see with you during scoping.
05 Where can you find CRO candidates?
Where can you find CRO candidates?
Experienced CROs are few and far between, and rarely actively looking. We identify and approach them directly through our talent network of more than 50,000 professionals, on top of the candidates registered on the platform, and we open the search to VPs of Sales and Chief Sales Officers ready to broaden their remit.
Our specialities
A specialist recruiter for every need
Executive Search
We help companies find and hire senior executives and C-level leaders.
Learn more Tech & DataTech recruitment
Hire people with strong technical expertise in software development and data, in a highly competitive market.
Learn more Sales & MarketingSales & Marketing recruitment
We help companies structure their Marketing and Sales teams so they can drive the growth of the business.
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Hire the people who will run and optimise your operations and processes.
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We recruit across the major French tech and digital ecosystems, and support your growth across Europe.