Business Development Representative

Cohere; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Weekly lunch stipend

Health and dental benefits

RRSP matching

Parental Leave top-up

Enrichment benefits

6 weeks paid vacation

Travel budget to other offices

Home office stipend

Job summary

Cohere is seeking a results-driven Business Development Representative to drive revenue growth by identifying and nurturing high-potential leads for our enterprise AI solutions. You’ll be the first point of contact for prospects, translating complex AI capabilities into business value and building opportunities in a dynamic SaaS environment.

Based in Canada, this role supports a remote-friendly, hybrid setup with offices in multiple cities.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in business development, sales, or a related role, with a proven track record of exceeding lead generation targets in a SaaS or tech environment.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and build rapport quickly over phone and email.
• Familiarity with CRM tools (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) and sales enablement platforms, with the ability to analyse data to optimize outreach strategies.
• Experience in AI, machine learning, or enterprise software sales, with a basic understanding of natural language processing (NLP) concepts.
• Closing experience is seen as an advantage.
• A builder mindset is necessary to succeed here, the challenges will be unique based on the team you’ll be working with, and the role will evolve over time.

Responsibilities

• Proactively research and identify target accounts across region in industries such as finance, technology, manufacturing, healthcare, public sector, etc.
• Conduct 40+ outbound calls and personalised emails daily to engage decision-makers, focusing on understanding pain points and demonstrating Cohere’s AI solutions.
• Qualify leads using the BANT framework and document interactions in Salesforce, ensuring a clean and actionable pipeline for the sales team.
• Collaborate with marketing to refine messaging and campaigns based on prospect feedback, contributing to a 15%+ improvement in campaign response rates.
• Stay updated on industry trends, competitor offerings, and Cohere’s product roadmap to position solutions effectively and anticipate customer needs.
• Run independent sales cycles on smaller opportunities with less overhead, from intro to close.

Skills

Lead generation

Prospect research

CRM proficiency

NLP knowledge

Outbound outreach

Relationship building

Tools

Salesforce

HubSpot

Job description

Who are we?

Cohere is the leading security-first enterprise AI company. We build cutting-edge foundation AI models and end-to-end products that are designed to solve real-world business problems.

We’re training and deploying frontier models for enterprises who are building AI systems. We believe that our work is instrumental to the widespread adoption of AI and we are looking for folks that want to be part of that.

We obsess over what we build. Each one of us is responsible for contributing to increasing the capabilities of our models and the value they drive for our customers. Cohere is a team of researchers, engineers, designers, and more, who are all passionate about their craft.

We are a global technology company co-headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, with key offices in London, New York City, Montreal, Seoul, Germany and Paris. Join us!

Role Overview

As a Business Development Representative (BDR) at Cohere, you will drive revenue growth by identifying, qualifying, and nurturing high-potential leads for our enterprise AI solutions. You’ll act as the first point of contact for prospects, understanding their business needs and aligning them with Cohere’s products to solve complex challenges like natural language processing, AI integration, and scalable language models. You’ll also have the opportunity to sell cutting‑edge IP, that is being newly productised, within your own book of business.

Key Responsibilities

• Proactively research and identify target accounts across region in industries such as finance, technology, manufacturing, healthcare, public sector, etc. using tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator and CRM platforms to prioritise high-fit prospects.
• Conduct 40+ outbound calls and personalised emails daily to engage decision-makers (e.g., CTOs, CIOs, and Business Unit leads), focusing on understanding their pain points and demonstrating how Cohere’s AI solutions can address them.
• Qualify leads using the BANT framework (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) and document interactions in Salesforce, ensuring a clean and actionable pipeline for the sales team.
• Collaborate with marketing to refine messaging and campaigns based on prospect feedback, contributing to a 15%+ improvement in campaign response rates.
• Stay updated on industry trends, competitor offerings, and Cohere’s product roadmap to position our solutions effectively and anticipate customer needs.
• Run independent sales cycles on smaller opportunities with less overhead, from intro to close.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in business development, sales, or a related role, with a proven track record of exceeding lead generation targets in a SaaS or tech environment.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and build rapport quickly over phone and email.
• Familiarity with CRM tools (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) and sales enablement platforms, with the ability to analyse data to optimize outreach strategies.
• Experience in AI, machine learning, or enterprise software sales, with a basic understanding of natural language processing (NLP) concepts.
• Closing experience is seen as an advantage.
• A builder mindset is necessary to succeed here, the challenges will be unique based on the team you’ll be working with, and the role will evolve over time.

Full-Time Employees At Cohere Enjoy These Perks

• A weekly lunch stipend of $75/£75 or equivalent in your local currency for lunch.
• Full health and dental benefits, including a separate budget for mental health.
• RRSP matching, 401K, Pension Scheme.
• 100% Parental Leave top-up for up to 6 months, for either parent.
• Annual enrichment benefits:
  • Arts & culture, fitness/wellness, quality time, and a workspace improvement credit.
  • Education & learning stipend for conferences, courses, and coaching.

• 6 weeks of paid vacation (30 working days!)
• Budget for traveling to other offices if you are remote, plus an annual company offsite.

How And Where We Work

• Cohere is remote-friendly. We have offices in Toronto, San Francisco, New York City, London, Paris, Montreal, and more coming soon.
• For those in the office: a daily lunch program, plenty of snacks, and regular community and social events.
• For those not near an office: a co-working benefit so you can work alongside others in your city.
• Everyone receives a $500 home office stipend to set up your workspace properly.

We strive to create an inclusive work environment for all; we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to providing equal opportunities. Should you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please submit an Accommodations Request Form, and we will work together to meet your needs.

We may use AI-enabled tools to screen and assess applicants against the criteria for this position. This helps our recruiters identify potentially qualified candidates, but it doesn't limit the applications our recruiters may review or consider.