Head of eCommerce Responsibilities & Job Description
Job Descriptions
Head of eCommerce Responsibilities & Job Description
Some head of eCommerce jobs are built around real commercial ownership. Others are a pile of unresolved problems with a better title attached. That is why the head of eCommerce responsibilities you set out in a job description matter so much: they tell the market where commercial ownership actually sits. Get it right and serious candidates lean in; leave it vague and they hold back, because the scope reads as muddy. This guide sets out what a Head of eCommerce genuinely owns, across the money, the people and the pace of the channel, so you can price the role at the level you are truly buying.
Too many adverts try to cover four jobs at once: lead a trading function, steady a messy digital team, fix a weak site, and act as the online commercial lead. Pin down the real shape first, and the right people tend to spot it fast.
£70-110k
Typical UK Head of eCommerce pay
Glassdoor, 2026
Typical UK Head of eCommerce pay
Glassdoor, 2026
3
Areas a strong brief owns: money, people, pace
Areas a strong brief owns: money, people, pace
500+
eCommerce placements made
Elite X Recruit
eCommerce placements made
Elite X Recruit
97%
Placement retention rate
Elite X Recruit
Placement retention rate
Elite X Recruit
Quick Answer
The core head of eCommerce responsibilities are commercial ownership of the online channel: owning online revenue against target, setting priorities across CRM, merchandising, CRO and paid media, leading trading reviews, improving site conversion through prioritised testing, and reporting forecast and performance to leadership. A strong brief also states what the person controls, the reporting line and the salary band, so a senior candidate understands the remit inside two minutes.
Section 01
What Does a Head of eCommerce Actually Do?
A Head of eCommerce leads the online channel as a commercial function. That means owning performance, setting priorities, and making sure revenue does not rely on luck, last-minute discounting, or disconnected teams. In most businesses the role sits between strategy and execution: close enough to the numbers to spot problems early, senior enough to change what happens next.
A proper Head of eCommerce is usually accountable for a defined set of outcomes, rather than a long list of tasks. Those outcomes are what your responsibilities section should describe.
Online revenue performance
Trading strategy
Conversion improvement
Customer journey priorities
Channel alignment
Team direction
Forecasting and commercial reporting
A good Head of eCommerce does not personally write every email, brief every ad and approve every homepage headline. They are there to create control. To see how our specialist eCommerce recruiters build teams around the role, get in touch.
Section 02
Why Do the Responsibilities Read Vague?
Because most briefs are written from a list of needs, rather than a clear operating model. A business may want better CRM, tighter reporting, cleaner stock coordination and a site that converts. All true, and none of it explains where ownership sits. A candidate wants one thing quickly: what am I really being hired to take charge of? Compare the two columns below.
ℹ
The sharp column reads better because each line names an outcome, a scope and a level of ownership. That is the standard your responsibilities section should hit.
Section 03
What the Role Looks Like in Practice
In reality, a Head of eCommerce spends less time talking about vision and most of the week making judgement calls with commercial consequences. A typical week shows why the responsibilities have to be commercial, rather than task-based.
Monday
The weekend trade report lands. Mobile conversion is down, paid search is spending harder on lower-margin products, and a best-selling line is thin on stock. None of it sits neatly in one department, so someone has to call what gets fixed first.
Midweek
Campaigns get aligned with stock positions, a development delay affecting checkout is reviewed, and there is a push for cleaner reporting because platform data and analytics are telling different stories.
Friday
They sit with senior leadership to explain what changed, what it means, and what happens next. That is the job, and it is why the best Heads of eCommerce stay commercially calm and know which levers move the business.
Section 04
The Core Head of eCommerce Responsibilities
Structure changes from business to business, but the strongest briefs are clear on three things: money, people and pace. Write the head of eCommerce responsibilities under those headings and the scope becomes obvious.
Section 05
Head of eCommerce vs Manager vs Director
This is one of the biggest sources of confusion in the market, and the wrong title pulls the wrong candidates. An eCommerce Manager keeps delivery moving; a Head of eCommerce shapes the commercial direction behind it. Tap a row to highlight it.
| Role | Core focus |
|---|---|
| eCommerce Manager | Execution, coordination, day-to-day channel delivery |
| Head of eCommerce | Commercial ownership, leadership, prioritisation |
| eCommerce Director | Broader strategic influence, team design, senior business planning |
If a role is built around task ownership and coordination, it may still be a manager role, even with a bigger title. If it carries revenue responsibility, cross-functional authority and leadership weight, then Head of eCommerce makes sense. For the pay side of that decision, see the Head of eCommerce salary guide. When the hire is genuinely senior, our eCommerce executive search service handles the confidential end of the market.
Section 06
What Makes a Strong Job Description
A strong head of eCommerce job description answers the questions serious candidates actually ask. Cover these four and the responsibilities section writes itself.
A concrete first-year success list
1
Build a reliable weekly trading cadence
2
Tighten ownership across CRM, CRO and merchandising
3
Improve conversion without overreliance on discounting
4
Strengthen online forecasting and reporting confidence
5
Create a more joined-up digital trading function
If you want a ready structure to build from, our free Head of eCommerce job description template lays out every section, and the UK eCommerce Salary Guide is a useful sense check for how senior online roles are positioned.
Section 07 · Interactive
Pressure-Test the Brief Before You Post
Before you advertise, run the responsibilities past these five checks. Tick each one you can answer with a clear yes. Five out of five means the brief is ready.
- Are we hiring a leader, a builder, or a fixer?
- Are we clear on what sits inside the role and what sits alongside it?
- Does the salary reflect the level of ownership?
- Would a senior candidate understand the remit within two minutes?
- Are we describing a real Head of eCommerce role, or a stretched manager role?
Checks passed: 0 of 5
Getting the Responsibilities Right
The strongest roles are not the ones with the longest requirement list. They are the ones with the clearest commercial shape. Sharp head of eCommerce responsibilities show what the person owns, what they can influence, the business they are walking into, and what success looks like when the role is working. Most adverts still miss that, which is your opportunity. Three steps keep the brief sharp.
1
Decide the level first: leader, builder or fixer, and Head, Manager or Director.
2
Write the responsibilities under money, people and pace, and publish the salary band.
3
Pressure-test the brief with a specialist recruiter before the role goes live.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
01What are the main head of eCommerce job description responsibilities?
The main responsibilities are owning online revenue against target, setting commercial priorities across CRM, merchandising, CRO and paid media, leading weekly trading reviews, improving site conversion through prioritised testing, aligning channels and team direction, and reporting forecast movement and performance gaps to senior leadership. In short, commercial ownership of the online channel rather than delivery of individual tasks.
02What does a Head of eCommerce do day to day?
Day to day they read trading reports, decide what to fix first when conversion, spend and stock pull in different directions, align campaigns with stock and margin, unblock site and development issues, and keep reporting honest across platform and analytics data. By the end of the week they explain performance and next steps to leadership. It is a judgement-call role with commercial consequences.
03What should a Head of eCommerce own?
Three areas: money, people and pace. Money means a direct line to revenue, conversion, average order value, promotional efficiency, margin and forecast accuracy. People means enough influence over trading, merchandising, CRM, CRO and marketplace to shape outcomes. Pace means the rhythm of weekly trade reviews, clear action ownership, fast escalation and prioritised testing that keeps the channel from lurching between promos.
04What is the difference between a Head of eCommerce and an eCommerce Manager?
An eCommerce Manager keeps delivery moving: execution, coordination and the day-to-day running of the channel. A Head of eCommerce shapes the commercial direction behind that delivery, carrying revenue responsibility, cross-functional authority and leadership weight. If a role is built around task ownership, it may still be a manager role even with a senior title. Revenue ownership and authority make it a Head.
05What is the difference between a Head of eCommerce and an eCommerce Director?
A Head of eCommerce owns commercial performance and leadership of the online channel. An eCommerce Director carries broader strategic influence, designs the team, and sits closer to senior business planning and board-level decisions. In smaller businesses the two blur; in larger ones the Director sets direction while one or more Heads own execution across channels or regions.
06How much does a Head of eCommerce earn in the UK?
A UK Head of eCommerce typically earns around £70,000 to £110,000, with London and larger brands at the higher end and eCommerce Directors above that. The band should reflect the level of ownership: budget, team and revenue accountability push pay up. Publishing a realistic salary in the brief widens the pool and filters out mismatched applications early.
07What skills should a Head of eCommerce have?
Commercial judgement first: reading trade, protecting margin and knowing which levers move revenue. Then trading and merchandising fluency, comfort with analytics and forecasting, a working grasp of CRO, CRM and paid media, and the leadership to set priorities and hold teams to them. Calm under pressure matters, because the role is a constant stream of judgement calls with commercial consequences.
08What KPIs is a Head of eCommerce measured on?
Online revenue against target, conversion rate, average order value, and margin or contribution rather than revenue alone. Promotional efficiency, repeat purchase rate and forecast accuracy round it out. The exact set depends on the business, but the responsibilities section should name the two or three numbers the role is genuinely accountable for, so success is measurable from day one.
09Who does a Head of eCommerce report to?
It varies by size. In many brands the Head of eCommerce reports to a Marketing Director, Commercial Director or Managing Director; in larger ones, to an eCommerce or Digital Director. The reporting line signals seniority, so state it clearly in the brief. A role reporting straight to a founder or MD usually carries more authority than one buried two layers down.
10Why do so many Head of eCommerce job descriptions feel vague?
Because they are written from a list of needs rather than a clear operating model. Lines like “lead digital growth” or “improve customer experience” sound polished but say little about ownership. Sharper responsibilities name an outcome, a scope and a level of authority, such as “own weekly online trade against revenue target”. That is what serious candidates respond to.
11How do I write a Head of eCommerce job description that attracts strong candidates?
Decide the level first, then write responsibilities under money, people and pace. Be honest about the business stage and what is broken, state what the person controls, and set out what year one success looks like in concrete terms. Publish a salary band that matches the ownership, keep the remit understandable in two minutes, and pressure-test it before you post. Starting from a proven template helps.
Sources and Further Reading
- Glassdoor: Head of eCommerce Salaries, UK
- ONS: Internet Sales as a Percentage of Total UK Retail Sales
- Elite X Recruit: Head of eCommerce Salary UK
- Elite X Recruit: UK eCommerce Salary Guide, Live Benchmarks by Role
By the Elite X Recruit team, UK eCommerce recruitment specialists. REC members.
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