Business Development Lead

Planhat; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Planhat is seeking a Business Development Lead in Indianapolis, Indiana. This role focuses on scaling a high-performing BDR team while ensuring the outbound engine produces predictable pipelines. The ideal candidate will inspire their team and possess strong sales operations expertise.

Responsibilities include leading the sales team, ensuring pipeline creation, and designing effective prospecting processes. Candidates must have over 5 years of experience in sales development and be familiar with CRM and sales engagement tools.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in BDR/SDR or Business Development, with 2+ years in leadership roles.
• Proven track record of scaling sales development teams.
• Deep understanding of sales qualification methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Build, lead, and scale a high-volume BDR team.
• Own responsibility for pipeline creation and revenue.
• Design and implement scalable prospecting processes.

Skills

Sales leadership

Team scaling

CRM proficiency

Data-driven operations

Communication

Tools

CRM (Planhat, HubSpot)

Sales engagement tools (Outreach, Orum)

Job description

About the Role

We seek a sales-focused Business Development Lead with a proven track record in building and scaling high-performing BDR/SDR/Sales organizations.

This role sits at the intersection of sales execution, process optimization, and team leadership, ensuring our outbound engine consistently produces predictable and high-quality pipeline.

The ideal candidate is both a sales operator and strategist: a leader who can inspire others to get the work done, always leading from the front. This is not a high level management role, you are also expected to do the work. The candidate is also deeply comfortable with CRM, engagement platforms, and sales operations infrastructure to optimize efficiency.

Key Responsibilities

• Sales Leadership & Team Scaling
  • Build, lead, and scale a high-volume BDR team capable of consistently hitting aggressive pipeline targets.
  • Recruit, train, and retain top sales talent while establishing a structured performance framework (KPIs, quotas, comp models, promotion paths).
  • Foster a competitive, metrics-driven, and coaching-oriented sales culture.
  • Establish repeatable playbooks and frameworks to enable fast onboarding and predictable performance across geographies/markets/verticals.
• Revenue Generation & Alignment
  • Own responsibility for pipeline creation, ensuring that outbound efforts consistently translate into high-quality pipeline and ultimately revenue.
  • Partner closely with Account Executives, Sales Leadership, and Marketing to optimize territory coverage, lead handoff, and campaign execution.
  • Set clear productivity and conversion benchmarks (calls, sequences, meetings, SQLs, closed-won impact) and manage the team rigorously against them.
• Process, Systems & Operations
  • Design and implement scalable prospecting processes across multiple segments and markets in close collaboration with the Revenue Operations team.
  • Leverage CRM (e.g., Planhat, HubSpot) and sales engagement tools (e.g., Outreach, Orum) to maximize workflow efficiency and output quality.
  • Partner with RevOps to ensure accurate reporting, and performance metrics to monitor leading/lagging indicators.
  • Continuously evaluate and improve existing and new potential workflows to drive volume, personalization, and conversion at scale.
• Execution & Hands-On Involvement
  • Lead from the front, personally supporting high-value prospecting campaigns and modeling best practices in outreach.
  • Coach BDRs on objection handling, messaging, and qualification to improve sales acumen and confidence.
  • Drive continuous experimentation in outbound sequences, multichannel engagement, and sales messaging to maximize ROI.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in high-volume BDR/SDR (Outbound), AE, or Business Development, with 2+ years in leadership roles.
• Proven track record of scaling sales development teams (e.g., from single digits to 20-50+ reps) while achieving ambitious pipeline/revenue contribution targets.
• Strong sales pedigree: deep understanding of sales qualification methodologies (BANT, MEDDIC, SPICED, etc.) and outbound prospecting best practices.
• Systems-savvy: expert in CRM, engagement tools, and sales automation; ability to architect efficient workflows, reporting, and dashboards.
• Data-driven operator with a demonstrated ability to optimize for conversion, productivity, and ROI at scale.
• Excellent communicator, motivator, and coach, capable of building trust with both executives and front-line reps.
• Growth-oriented, entrepreneurial mindset with the resilience to thrive in a fast-paced, high-expectation sales environment.

Success in This Role

• Scaling a high-volume BDR organization that consistently outperforms pipeline and revenue contribution targets.
• Implementing systems, processes, and playbooks that enable predictable, repeatable performance.
• Building a culture of sales excellence, career development, and accountability across the team.
• Driving significant top-of-funnel growth while aligning tightly with Sales, Marketing, and RevOps.