Sales Development Representative

QA Ltd; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 38,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

27 days Annual Leave

Medicash plan

Cycle to Work

Private Medical Insurance

Employee Assistance Programme

Employee Discounts Benefit Hub

2 Charity days per year

Pension Scheme

Early Friday Finish at 4pm

Job summary

QA Ltd in Leeds is seeking a Sales Development Representative to open doors and build new business for apprenticeship solutions. You will identify target organisations, contact decision-makers and generate conversations across phone, email, LinkedIn, and other channels.

You’ll work on SME, Enterprise, Public Sector and Government, turning cold conversations into qualified meetings. The role is hybrid with onsite 3 days per week and remote the rest, supported by strong training and progression

Qualifications

• Target-driven mindset with achievement focus.
• Ability to create opportunities from scratch and nurture relationships.
• Comfort speaking to new people via phone, email and LinkedIn.

Responsibilities

• Identify target organisations and decision-makers.
• Create conversations through outbound channels.
• Build relationships with new prospects and understand apprenticeship needs.
• Qualify opportunities and progress to meetings.
• Develop personalised outreach and manage pipeline in CRM.
• Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator and market insight to improve prospecting.
• Collaborate with internal teams for proposals and onboarding.

Skills

Target-driven

Opportunity creation

Phone outreach

Communication skills

Resilience

Curious & proactive

Coachable

Sales career focus

Tools

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

CRM

Job description

Join a business selling into one of the biggest priorities facing organisations today

AI, technology and digital capability are changing how organisations operate, compete, and grow. But transformation only works if businesses have the people and skills to deliver it.

That is where QA comes in.

QA is the UK’s largest technology training provider, working with 96% of the FTSE and most Fortune 500 companies to help organisations build the AI, technology, digital and human skills they need for the future.

In the last three years alone, QA has supported 4,000+ organisations and more than one million learners.

And as businesses continue to invest in skills, apprenticeships and workforce development, the opportunity to help organisations build future capability continues to grow.

That creates a significant opportunity for ambitious salespeople who enjoy opening doors and creating new business.

Where you come in

As a Sales Development Representative, your focus is simple.

Win new customers.

You’ll identify organisations that could benefit from QA’s apprenticeship solutions, find the right people to speak to and create the conversations that lead to new business.

You’ll work across SME, Enterprise, Public Sector and Government organisations, using phone, email, LinkedIn and networking to reach decision-makers and build new relationships from the ground up.

This is not an account management role.

You’ll be focused on organisations QA is not currently working with, creating opportunities through proactive prospecting and turning cold conversations into qualified meetings and new customers.

You’ll be representing apprenticeship solutions that help organisations develop talent, address skills gaps and build sustainable workforce capability.

It is a target-driven B2B sales role.

You’ll need to be comfortable picking up the phone, creating your own opportunities, handling rejection and consistently working towards clear goals around meetings, pipeline and new customer acquisition.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll take ownership of creating new business opportunities by:

• Identifying target organisations, decision-makers and potential opportunities
• Creating conversations through phone, email, LinkedIn and other outbound channels
• Building relationships with new prospects and understanding their apprenticeship and workforce needs
• Qualifying opportunities and progressing them into high-quality customer meetings
• Developing personalised outreach that gives prospects a reason to engage
• Managing your pipeline and activity through CRM and keeping opportunities moving
• Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator and market insight to strengthen your prospecting
• Working with internal teams to support proposals, handovers and successful customer onboarding

The strongest SDRs do more than simply make calls. They research their market, understand who they are targeting, adapt their approach and consistently find ways to get the right people into conversations.

A market with genuine momentum

Apprenticeships have become an increasingly important part of how organisations develop skills and build future talent.

Businesses are looking for new ways to develop existing employees, bring new talent into their organisations and address skills gaps across areas including technology, digital, data and leadership.

QA helps organisations do that.

That means you’ll be approaching businesses with a proposition that directly connects to workforce development, skills and future capability.

And with QA already working with organisations across the UK and globally, you’ll have a recognised brand and strong customer stories behind you when opening new conversations.

We’ll invest in your development too

QA is a learning business, so development is not just something we sell to customers.

You’ll have access to:

• Structured sales training and ongoing coaching
• Support from experienced sales leaders
• QA-authored technology and business learning
• Dedicated development opportunities
• Training across apprenticeships, workforce development and QA’s wider solutions
• Opportunities to develop your commercial career within the wider sales organisation

You’ll be expected to bring the drive, resilience and willingness to learn.

QA will give you the environment, coaching and tools to develop.

Who tends to do well here?

We’re looking for people who are:

• Motivated by targets and achievement
• Comfortable creating opportunities from scratch
• Confident speaking with new people over the phone, email and LinkedIn
• Resilient when conversations do not go their way
• Curious and willing to ask questionsPositive, proactive and self-motivated
• Organised and good at managing follow-ups
• Comfortable learning new systems and sales tools
• Coachable and keen to improve
• Motivated by developing a career in sales

You do not need years of sales experience.

You might already have experience in sales, recruitment, customer service, retail, hospitality or another environment where communication, resilience and relationship-building matter.

More important is your mindset.

We want people who enjoy creating opportunities, are comfortable starting conversations and are motivated by turning effort into results.

The opportunity

If you enjoy speaking with people, like the challenge of opening new doors and want to build a career in B2B sales, this is an opportunity to do that with a recognised brand and a strong proposition behind you.

You’ll be joining a team where performance matters, development is taken seriously and your success is directly connected to the new business you create.

This will require you to be onsite 3 days pw (Mon/Tues/Thurs) and the rest remote.

Your wellbeing matters to us. That’s why we offer benefits designed to help you recharge and thrive, including:

• 27 days Annual Leave (4 days used for the festive closure) plus Bank Holidays
• Medicash plan, Wellhub, Cycle to Work scheme
• Private Medical Insurance at corporate rates
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Employee Discounts Benefit Hub
• 2 Charity days per year
• Pension Scheme
• Early Friday Finish at 4pm

Personal growth

Learning and opportunity are at the core of what we do - and that applies to you too!

You’ll have the unique opportunity to develop your skills on our QA authored courses in the latest tech (you’ll get 3 training days/year to do this). You can also delve deep into our world-class digital learning content on a variety of tech and business topics. Or perhaps you’d like to enrol on a Degree or Masters programme to enhance your skillset or learn new things.

Our people

We are an equal opportunity employer, focused on promoting a welcoming and inclusive environment.

We embrace diversity, welcome applications from all candidates and aim to support the career growth of everyone.

This means no matter what your gender, age, ethnicity, beliefs, or sexual orientation, or if you are disabled or a carer, we welcome you and the different perspectives you bring to our diverse family.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we guarantee that all applicants with a disability who meet the role criteria will progress to the next stage of the process.

Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.

Our Mission

We teach the critical AI, technology, digital and Human skills needed to transform and succeed in a changing world. We do this through tailored learning programmes that connect learning across an organisation, create continuity for learners, and feature collaborative, cohort-based modalities to apply skills at pace and at scale.

Our unique end-to-end learning solutions draw from deep expertise across Apprenticeships, Instructor-led training, Self-paced Learning and Blended Learning.

You can find out more about us at https://www.qa.com/about/careers/