Search for temporary sales leadership and you'll see both "interim sales director" and "interim sales officer" used, sometimes by the same company describing the same kind of hire. The short answer is that they usually describe the same function. The longer answer is worth knowing, because the title someone uses often tells you something about the type of organisation they came from.
Where "officer" comes from
Titles built around "officer," Chief Sales Officer, Sales Officer, tend to come from corporate structures influenced by banking, government-adjacent organisations, or larger multinational companies, where the C-suite is built around a formal "officer" naming convention alongside CFO, COO and CEO. "Director" titles are more common in general SME and startup usage. Neither is more senior or more legitimate than the other, it's largely a naming convention that reflects the kind of organisation someone has worked in previously.
Does the distinction matter in practice
For an interim engagement specifically, no, not in any way that changes what the person actually does. An interim sales officer and an interim sales director are both covering a leadership gap on a temporary, usually fixed-term basis, running the team, owning the numbers, and reporting to the founder or board until a permanent solution is in place. We cover the wider distinction between interim, fractional and full-time sales leadership in more detail separately, and everything there applies regardless of which title is used.
When it's worth specifying "officer" over "director"
If your own organisation already uses "officer" titles elsewhere in the C-suite, it's worth using consistent language when searching for or advertising the interim role, partly for internal consistency, and partly because candidates with a background in officer-titled structures may search using that exact term rather than "director."
What to actually evaluate, regardless of title
- Can they run a structured audit of the pipeline, process and team quickly, without a long ramp-up period
- Do they have a track record specifically in interim or fractional roles, not just permanent leadership positions
- Is there a clear plan for what happens at the end of the engagement, handover to a permanent hire, or a defined extension
The title on the contract matters far less than these three questions being answered clearly before the engagement starts.