Sales Development Director

Smartcat is in the midst of an exciting growth phase, as our ACV and ARR continue to climb. This is an amazing opportunity for a Sales Development Director to help take the performance of our early-career sales team to the next level. This person will oversee SDRs and Associate Account Executives.  You will have the opportunity to lead a global team, and be at the forefront of helping organizations become more efficient with the use of Agentic AI.

Your mission is to architect and scale a world-class outbound sales development engine from the ground up. With limited brand recognition and a transformative product category, you’ll lead Smartcat’s transition to a proactive, demand-creating go-to-market motion. This includes designing new systems, processes, and playbooks to build top-of-funnel velocity and generate net-new enterprise demand, independent of a successful inbound motion. The key to success will be to coach and align early-career sales professionals while laying the foundation of successfully selling to enterprise customers.  

Our number one priority is to acquire new enterprise customers.  In order to make that happen there are a lot of pieces that need to fall into place.  Here are the other outcomes we are looking for:

• Create the right culture of high activity and success among the SDR and Associate AEs;  Will inherit a team of 8 direct reports across 3 countries
• Hire and retain the right people that enhance our culture by bringing in strong AI knowledge and experience with an appetite to uncover and delight customers
• Create net-new pipeline from cold outbound channels through repeatable prospecting motions
• Own the strategy and execution for the entire top of funnel sales pipeline
• Partner closely with Marketing and Product to build repeatable outbound sequences and test hypotheses around messaging, Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) pain points, and channel effectiveness.
• Hold the team accountable with KPIs and metrics
• Proactive approach to making improvements, adopting and leveraging AI, and coaching the team

By Day 30:

• Gain deep knowledge of Smartcat’s products and begin to form key relationships with partners from the Go-to-Market Team and Leadership Team. 
• Learn current sales processes, ICPs, and existing metrics
• Audit existing outbound efforts and identify gaps in messaging, tooling, ICP targeting, and results.
• Evaluate team’s performance and individual metrics of each team member

By Day 60:

• Analyze data from the sales funnel to identify areas of strength and opportunity.
• Begin to develop a strategy to improve the team including areas such as key metrics, targets, and process optimization initiatives.
• Start training and coaching initiatives focused on helping reps create demand and speed up cycle times, objection handling and deal acceleration.

By Day 90:

• Track and report on improvements 
• Establish ongoing cadence for regular standups and performance coaching

• Optimize processes and scale what works 

• 7+ years of experience within an AI or SaaS sales global organization
• 3+ years of management experience leading a global business development team; must have experience leading a globally-distributed team
• Proven ability to build outbound SDR/BDR teams, including designing hiring profiles, playbooks, cadences, KPIs, and onboarding.
• Track record of overachievement of the set goals by fostering a culture of competitiveness that embraces diversity and promotes success for all team members.
• Experience using AI to improve team productivity and performance
• A data-driven approach. Ability to justify decisions using concrete metrics
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high growth environment
• Experience with MEDDPICC and Sandler Sales frameworks
• Comfortable working with remote teams across time zones
• Openness to constructive feedback and the opinions and ideas of others