Sales Development Manager

Wwshemi; San Francisco, Austin, New York (CA, TX, NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Comprehensive benefits

401K, equity

Meals in office

Monthly wellness stipend

Team events & activities

Parking and Uber commuter benefits

Job summary

Cognition, an applied AI lab building end-to-end software agents, is hiring for a Sales Development Manager to lead and grow a high-impact SDR team in the San Francisco area. You will coach reps, drive outbound strategy, and ensure strong collaboration with AEs and Marketing to build enterprise pipelines.

You’ll shape playbooks, monitor metrics, and develop talent for future closing and GTM leadership. This role offers a fast-paced, mission-driven environment with substantial growth potential.

Qualifications

• Must have experience leading SDR/BDR teams and coaching reps.
• Strong track record in building outbound systems and hitting pipeline targets.
• Ability to collaborate with Account Executives and Marketing to align on targets.
• Comfort speaking with engineers about technical Cognition platform.

Responsibilities

• Hire, ramp, coach, and manage a team of SDRs generating pipeline across Enterprise and Majors.
• Set and track team targets for outbound activity, meetings booked, and early opportunities.
• Build and refine outbound playbooks, messaging, and sequences as the product evolves.
• Partner with Account Executives and Marketing for target accounts and lead handoff.
• Analyze performance data and share learnings across the team.
• Mentor reps and develop bench talent for closing and GTM roles.
• Join calls and review recordings to stay close to the field.

Skills

People management

Outbound process

Team coaching

Sales pipeline

Technical aptitude

Cross-functional collaboration

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.

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 (https://cognition.com/documents/Cognition-Global-Applicant-and-Job-Candidate-Privacy-Notice.pdf). For US applicants, by submitting your application, you agree to the Applicant Arbitration Agreement (https://cognition.com/documents/Cognition-Applicant-Arbitration-Agreement.pdf).