Managing director CV examples

A successful company runs on clear strategy, strong leadership, and decisive action – your CV should embody those same qualities. A generic, unfocused application won’t get you far, but a well-crafted one? That’s your opportunity to stand out in a competitive executive market.

Whether you’ve scaled businesses, turned around struggling divisions, or expanded into new markets, this guide will show you how to write a CV in a way that demands attention.

A solid CV structure ensures that employers can quickly assess your leadership credentials, strategic expertise, and commercial impact. A cluttered mess will not only make a bad impression, but make finding those key details difficult.

Here’s the layout to follow:

• Name and contact details – Display your contact details clearly at the top so employers can get in touch easily. Including a photo is entirely optional.
• Profile – Begin with a concise summary that highlights your expertise and what you bring to the role, from strategic vision to business success.
• Core skills – Highlight your strongest skills, such as financial management and leadership, that align with the role’s requirements.
• Work experience – Go through a structured list of previous leadership roles, focusing on commercial impact, revenue growth, and transformation projects.
• Education – Mention your degrees, certifications, and any training that supports your career path.
• Additional info – Include any additional details, like industry awards, hobbies, or memberships, that highlight your skills or personality.

A CV that reads more like a bloated quarterly report is unlikely to inspire much confidence. The content itself is already impressive, but it’ll be lost on recruiters if you make the mistake of an unreadable format. 

Here’s some useful tips to keep your formatting perfect:

• Bullet points – These help recruiters skim through your accomplishments quickly and easily.
• Divide sections – Break your CV into distinct sections with clear headings for smooth navigation.
• Use a clear and readable font – Use a simple, professional font and keep your layout uncluttered for maximum readability.
• No more than 2 pages – This is enough length to highlight your expertise while keeping the recruiter interested.

Your CV profile needs to establish your leadership credentials and strategic impact within seconds. It’s the first thing recruiters are going to see, so make sure it hooks them fast: give a snappy overview of your skills, experience, and the value you’d bring leading any company.

This is what you should try to include:

• Executive experience – Highlight your years in leadership roles, from MD to C-suite positions.
• Strategic vision – Showcase your ability to shape company direction, drive innovation, and lead transformation.
• Financial impact – Demonstrate how you’ve increased revenue, optimised budgets, or led mergers and acquisitions.
• Leadership and team building – Mention how you’ve built and managed high-performing teams.
• Operational excellence – If you’ve streamlined processes, improved efficiencies, or driven cultural change, include it here.

Leadership at the highest level demands a combination of commercial insight, strategic execution, and stakeholder management.

Your core skills section should bullet point the things you want to leap out to recruiters when they first open up your application. Tailor them to highlight the skills that best match the company’s needs.

Employers want to see how and where you’ve put your impressive leadership skills to good use. They want to see the businesses you’ve led, the strategic decisions you’ve made, and the tangible outcomes you’ve delivered.

Start with your most recent work experience and work backwards. If you’re stepping up to a Managing Director position for the first time, focus on your most senior leadership roles and the strategic contributions you’ve made in those positions. The key is to show how your decision-making has shaped business success.

• Outline – Mention the company, your role, and the scale of the business (e.g., revenue, number of employees, market presence).
• Responsibilities – Bullet point key leadership duties, such as business growth strategy, financial oversight, or stakeholder engagement. Use action words like “spearheaded”, “orchestrated”, and “optimised”.
• Achievements – Walk through measurable results, such as profit growth, market expansion, or cost savings. Use quantifiable data where possible.

Typically, work experience is prioritised more highly than education history: management roles are certainly no different. As such, you should keep your list of qualifications relatively brief: just list any degrees in business, finance, or management, as well as executive leadership programs or specialist training that supports your expertise.