Sales Development Manager

Cognition; City of Syracuse (NY); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive comp plan

Comprehensive benefits (medical,Dental

401K, equity

Meals in office, catered lunches,fully

Monthly wellness stipend

Team events & activities

Parking and Uber commuter benefits

Job summary

Cognition is hiring to lead a growing Sales Development function in Syracuse. You will hire, ramp, coach, and manage SDRs to generate pipeline across Enterprise and Majors, while setting outbound targets and refining messaging as the market evolves.

Collaborating with Account Executives and Marketing, you will monitor performance data, coach reps, and build a bench of talent capable of growing into closing roles. This is a hands-on leadership role in a fast-moving AI startup.

Qualifications

• Experience leading SDR/BDR teams in technical SaaS environments.
• Proven track record of building or improving a sales development function and hitting pipeline targets.
• Ability to coach reps and set clear outbound metrics.

Responsibilities

• Hire, ramp, coach, and manage a team of SDRs responsible for generating pipeline.
• Set and track team targets for outbound activity, meetings booked, and early-stage opportunities.
• Build and refine outbound playbooks, messaging, and sequences.
• Partner with Account Executives and Marketing on target accounts and handoffs.
• Analyze performance data and share learnings across the team.
• Act as a career coach and build a talent bench for growth into closing roles.
• Join calls and review recordings to stay close to field activity.

Skills

People management

Outbound process & metrics

Sales development leadership

Pipeline targets experience

SaaS experience

Job description

We are an applied AI lab building end-to-end software agents.

We're the makers of Devin, the first AI software engineer.

Our team is extremely talent-dense. Among our founding team, we have world-class competitive programmers, former founders, and leaders from companies at the cutting edge of AI including Scale AI, Palantir, Cursor, Waymo, Tesla, Lunchclub, Modal, Google DeepMind, and Nuro.

Building Devin is just the first step—our hardest challenges still lie ahead. If you’re excited to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and build AI that can reason on real-world tasks, apply to join us.

What You'll Do

• Hire, ramp, coach, and manage a team of Sales Development Reps responsible for generating pipeline across net new accounts (Enterprise and Majors).
• Set and track team targets for outbound activity, meetings booked, and early-stage opportunities generated, and coach reps against those numbers daily.
• Build and refine outbound playbooks, messaging, and sequences as the product and market continues to evolve.
• Partner closely with Account Executives and Marketing to align on target accounts, lead handoff, and follow-up quality.
• Analyze team and individual performance data to identify what's working, fix what isn't, and share learnings across the team.
• Act as a career coach for your reps, building a bench of talent that can grow into closing and other GTM roles.
• Stay close to the field – join calls, review call recordings, and roll up your sleeves to prospect alongside your team when needed.

What You'll Bring

• High adaptability and energy for the fast-moving, still-being-built nature of an early-stage company.
• A people-first management style – you get energy from coaching reps and watching them grow.
• Strong command of outbound process and metrics, and the discipline to hold a team accountable to them.
• Boundless curiosity and the ability to learn quickly as the product and market evolve.
• Strong technical aptitude and the ability to speak credibly with engineers about the Cognition platform.
• A track record of building or significantly improving a sales development function and hitting pipeline targets.
• Team player – you win and lose with your Sales, Marketing, and GTM peers.
• 1+ years managing an SDR/BDR team, plus prior individual-contributor sales development experience, ideally in technical or developer-focused SaaS.

What We Believe

Only a small handful of companies have built career-defining sales teams. We're on a mission to build the next one. That starts with setting the bar for early-career talent extremely high. Even the best sales reps are never a finished product. World-class enablement is key to a world-class sales organization and a competitive advantage. We have hired one of the best teams in the industry to ensure everyone continues to get better.

Benefits

We're not a family, but many of our employees have them. Cognition offers a number of benefits and perks to make sure everyone is cared for – including but not limited to:

• Competitive comp plan
• Comprehensive benefits (medical, dental, vision)
• 401K, equity
• Meals in office, catered lunches, fully stocked kitchen, swag, etc.
• Monthly wellness stipend
• Team events & activities
• Parking and Uber commuter benefits

Our Commitment

Equal Opportunity. Cognition is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic under applicable law. We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities throughout the hiring process - please let us know if you need any. Cognition also considers applicants with criminal histories consistent with the SF Fair Chance Ordinance and similar local laws. Data Privacy and Arbitration: By submitting your application, you agree to our Global Applicant and Job Candidate Privacy Notice. For US applicants, by submitting your application, you agree to the Applicant Arbitration Agreement.