Sales Jobs in Australia: Salaries, Roles & Pay Reality

If you compare Australian sales roles by base salary alone, you miss most of the story. Sales is one of the few fields where on-target earnings (OTE), meaning base plus commission, routinely sit 30 to 80 percent above the base figure. That gap is where careers are actually built.

The Australian sales pay reality in 2026

Pay bands below are drawn from SEEK Salary Guide 2026 and Hays Salary Guide FY26 data, before commission unless otherwise stated:

Retail floor: A$24.10–$30 per hour (Modern Award casual base, including weekend loadings)
Inside sales and SDR: A$55–$75K base, A$75–$110K OTE
Account executive (mid-market SaaS): A$95–$140K base, A$170–$260K OTE
Enterprise AE: A$140–$200K base, A$260–$420K OTE
Sales director: A$180–$260K base, A$280–$450K OTE
VP Sales or CRO: A$220K+ base, A$400K–$700K+ total comp (often with equity)

Two patterns Australian readers should know. Commission is generally paid on top of the 11.5 percent superannuation contribution on base, not inclusive of it, but the structure varies between contracts. And the sharpest pay growth in 2025–26 sits with tech account executives and medical device representatives, both of which routinely cross A$200K OTE at the senior end.

Skills that actually get hired in Australian sales

Generic career guides list "active listening" and "time management". Those describe every white-collar job. The skills that move you from interview to offer in Australian sales hiring are narrower and shift sharply by tier.

For entry and retail floor roles, hiring managers want proof you can hit a number without supervision. Prior part-time work where you carried a target, customer-facing volume (hospitality counts), and clear willingness to work weekends usually settle the decision.

For inside sales and SDR roles, the bar is different. Written prospecting ability matters most: a cold email that does not read like a template. Comfort with CRM tooling shows up next; Salesforce and HubSpot are the systems mentioned most often in Australian SaaS job ads. The third skill is the unglamorous one: tolerance for high-volume outreach that feels uncomfortable for the first six months.

For field, account management, and enterprise roles, hiring panels look for commercial acumen. That means ability to read a customer's P&L, understanding of procurement processes you will navigate, and case studies of deals you have actually closed with names, deal sizes, and timelines you can defend in a reference check.

For sales leadership, the question is forecasting reliability and team retention. Your personal closing record is taken as given; whether your last team hit forecast within a tight band, and whether your top performers stayed, decides the offer.

Every sales role, grouped by seniority

Generic guides list sales jobs in a flat order. The Australian market reads better in six tiers, because pay, hiring criteria, and progression timelines change sharply between them.

Tier 1 — Entry and retail floor

Retail sales assistant. Customer service on the shop floor, point of sale, stock work. Paid under the General Retail Industry Award (MA000004): A$24.10 per hour casual base in 2026, with weekend and evening loadings on top. Common progression runs through Tier 7 store management rather than into Tier 2 inside sales.

Specialty retail consultant. Same award structure but with product-knowledge requirements (bicycles, audio, premium fashion). Often paid a base above award plus small per-sale commissions. Common at chains like 99 Bikes, Apple Australia, and JB Hi-Fi's premium categories.

Spa and beauty sales associate. Hybrid retail-services role. Treatment commission and product commission are usually calculated separately. Covered by the Hair and Beauty Industry Award (MA000005).

Car sales executive (entry). Yard-based vehicle sales. Lower base (commonly around A$45–$55K) but per-unit commission can take a strong performer past A$90K in a busy dealership. Earnings track dealer franchise health closely.

Fundraiser. Charity sector, sometimes door-to-door or street-team. Paid under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award. Pay sits modest (often A$55–$70K) and turnover is high.

Tier 2 — Inside sales and SDR

Sales Development Representative (SDR). Outbound prospecting, qualifying leads, booking discovery calls. The standard entry point into Australian SaaS sales. Base A$55–$75K, OTE A$75–$110K. Most ramps run six months, with a stated promotion path to Account Executive after 12–18 months in healthy companies.

Business Development Representative (BDR). In Australia, BDR and SDR titles overlap heavily. Some companies use BDR for outbound and SDR for inbound, but the convention is not universal. Same pay band as SDR.

Inside sales agent. Closes deals over phone and video without travelling to the prospect. Common in SMB-segment software, insurance renewals, and some industrial supply. A$65–$90K base, A$85–$130K OTE.

Lead generation specialist. Sits between marketing operations and sales. Owns lead-list quality, scoring, and the handoff to AEs. Less commission, more base. A$70–$95K typically.

Telesales representative. Volume-based outbound or inbound calling, usually for consumer products or services. Base may sit near the award minimum with commission as the real income driver.

Tier 3 — Field and outside sales

Outside sales representative. Territory-based, in-person prospecting and account management. Common in industrial, construction supply, and packaged goods. Car allowance or company vehicle is standard. A$80–$120K base, OTE varies by territory size.

Trade sales representative. Calls on tradies and trade counters in plumbing wholesale, electrical, and hardware. Often promoted from a counter-sales role. A$75–$105K base plus vehicle.

Territory manager. Owns sales for a defined geographic patch, typically with a small team of AEs or distributor partners underneath. A$95–$135K base, OTE A$130–$180K.

Field sales executive. Generic title for an outbound role that requires regular travel. Used most often in FMCG and pharmaceuticals.

Tier 4 — Industry specialist

Pharmaceutical sales representative. Calls on GPs and hospital pharmacists about prescribing decisions. Tight regulatory training requirements under the Medicines Australia code. A$95–$130K base, OTE A$130–$175K. Competitive, and a science background is often preferred.

Medical device sales executive. Surgical instruments, implants, diagnostics. Often present in theatre during procedures. Among the best-paid mid-career sales roles in Australia: A$120–$180K base, OTE routinely past A$200K. Common at Medtronic, Stryker, and Cook Medical Australia.

Sales engineer. Pre-sales technical role, working alongside an AE on enterprise deals. Translates product capability into customer technical requirements. A$130–$180K base, sometimes higher in cybersecurity and infrastructure software. OTE structure is usually less aggressive than for closing AEs.

Real estate agent. Residential or commercial property sales. Mostly commission-only or low-base-high-commission. Earnings vary wildly by market and tenure: a first-year suburban agent may earn under A$60K, while a senior agent in a strong Sydney or Melbourne market can clear A$300K. Licensed under state-specific regulators.

Solution consultant. Increasingly common title in enterprise SaaS, closer to sales engineer but with a more consultative framing. A$140–$190K base.

Tier 5 — Account management

Account manager. Retains and grows existing customer accounts. Less prospecting than an AE, more relationship and renewal work. A$90–$130K base, OTE A$120–$170K.

Account executive (AE). Owns a quota for closing new business. The middle of the pyramid for SaaS sales roles. A$95–$140K base for SMB segment, A$120–$170K for mid-market. OTE typically 2× base.

Enterprise account executive. Closes large, complex deals (often A$250K+ annual contract value) with named accounts. Longer sales cycles, smaller account list, higher pay. A$140–$200K base, A$260–$420K OTE.

Mid-market AE. Between SMB and enterprise, usually accounts in the A$50K–$250K ACV range. A$110–$160K base.

Customer success manager. Owns retention, expansion, and renewal for existing accounts. Often paid a smaller variable component than AEs (closer to 80/20 base to variable). A$110–$160K base.

Renewal manager. Pure subscription renewal ownership, sometimes split out from CSM. A$95–$130K base.

Channel partner manager. Sells through resellers, distributors, or system integrators rather than direct to end customers. A$120–$170K base, often OTE-light compared with direct AEs.

Tier 6 — Operations and enablement

These roles are missing from most generic sales career guides but are now standard in any Australian SaaS or enterprise sales organisation over about 30 sales staff.

Sales operations analyst. Owns CRM hygiene, forecasting models, territory design, and commission calculations. A$95–$135K base.

Sales enablement manager. Trains the sales team, owns playbooks, runs onboarding. A$130–$170K base.

Revenue operations (RevOps). Combined sales, marketing, and customer success ops function. Senior individual contributors A$140–$190K; RevOps directors A$200K+.

Tier 7 — Leadership

Sales team leader. First-line manager of a small SDR or AE pod, usually still carrying a small individual quota. A$120–$160K base.

Sales manager. Full management of a team (5–15 staff). Quota responsibility shifts entirely to the team. A$150–$200K base, OTE A$200–$280K.

Sales director. Oversees multiple teams, often a region or segment. A$180–$260K base, OTE A$280–$450K.

VP of Sales. Owns the entire sales organisation in mid-size companies. A$220K+ base, total compensation commonly A$400–$600K including equity in venture-backed firms.

Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Combines sales, customer success, and sometimes marketing under one executive. A$250K+ base, total comp often A$500K to A$1M+ at scale-ups.

How sales pay works in Australia

Three structural points matter and rarely get explained in generic guides.

Award rates set the floor for retail and call-centre sales. The General Retail Industry Award (MA000004) and Contract Call Centres Award (MA000023) set minimum hourly pay, casual loadings, weekend and public holiday penalties, and minimum shift lengths. Commission can be paid on top but cannot replace the minimum. An offer that pays "commission only" for an award-covered role is a Fair Work problem.

Super applies to OTE, but only some of it. Superannuation (currently 11.5 percent, rising to 12 percent on 1 July 2026) is paid on Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE). Most commission earned for personal exertion counts as OTE and accrues super. Bonus payments tied to overall company performance often do not. Read your contract carefully; if it is unclear, the ATO has published OTE rulings specific to sales staff.

Capped versus uncapped commission. Most Australian SaaS sales plans cap accelerators at some multiple of quota (typically 2× or 3×). Plans that promise uncapped commission usually have either a soft cap (board approval needed above a threshold) or accelerator decay above plan. Ask for the comp plan in writing before accepting any sales offer.

Where to find sales jobs in Australia

The honest channel ranking, by hiring volume across roles:

SEEK still leads on volume for retail through senior sales roles in non-tech industries.
LinkedIn dominates for SaaS AE and SDR roles, enterprise sales, and most revenue-leadership positions.
Direct employer career pages post jobs first. The live feed on careertrees.org pulls from these (Greenhouse, Lever, SmartRecruiters, Workday), so for specific employers this is faster and more current than aggregators.
Specialist recruiters worth knowing: Pure (SaaS), Talent International (tech), Six Degrees Executive (FMCG and consumer), Wesley Marine (medical and pharma). Worth a conversation early in your search even if you eventually apply direct.
Industry communities like Pavilion (paid SaaS community), RevGenius, and local Sydney and Melbourne sales meetups quietly fill a disproportionate share of high-base AE and director roles through warm introductions that never reach a public job board.

Sales jobs and visa eligibility

For non-citizens, sales roles fall under specific ANZSCO codes that determine visa eligibility. The most common ones:

Sales Representative (Industrial Products), ANZSCO 225411 sits on the Core Skills Occupation List and is eligible for the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa.
Sales Representative (Medical and Pharmaceutical Products), ANZSCO 225412 sits on the same list with the same visa pathway.
Sales Manager, ANZSCO 131114 is on the Core Skills Occupation List and is eligible for both 482 and the permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186).
ICT Sales Representative, ANZSCO 225213 sits on the Core Skills Occupation List.

Generic titles like "Account Executive" or "Sales Development Representative" are not ANZSCO codes themselves. A sponsoring employer maps the actual role to the closest ANZSCO occupation, and that mapping determines visa eligibility. Confirm this before accepting an offer if your right to work depends on it. Department of Home Affairs lists are the authoritative source and update periodically.

Open sales roles right now

Editorial guidance only takes you so far. The live job feed on careertrees.org pulls openings straight from employer ATS systems (Greenhouse, Lever, SmartRecruiters, Workday), so what you see is what employers posted in the last 24 hours.

Browse open sales roles by company or filter by city to see who is hiring in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth.