Strategic OB Sales Development Representative

Aptiv; Troy (MI); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Health, dental, and life insurance

Disability coverage (short and long‑)

RRSP matching

Flexible time‑off

Employee assistance program

LinkedIn Learning access

Job summary

Wind River is seeking an outbound sales development representative in Troy, MI to identify prospects and qualify opportunities, setting discovery meetings for account teams.

You will research accounts, tailor outreach, and build a robust pipeline while learning Wind River’s cloud-to-edge solutions and industry use cases. Collaboration with marketing and AEs is essential as targets are pursued.

Qualifications

• Outbound lead generation and discovery meeting setting experience.
• Ability to articulate complex technical solutions to diverse stakeholders.
• Experience with CRM tools to manage pipelines and interactions.
• Ability to research accounts and tailor outreach to pain points.
• Resilience and motivation in a high-volume outbound role.
• Collaborative with marketing and account teams to optimize campaigns.

Responsibilities

• Identify prospect priorities and challenges within new accounts and uncover opportunities.
• Research accounts and stakeholders to spark interest and arrange discovery meetings for AE teams.
• Maintain in-depth knowledge of Wind River solutions and industry trends.
• Learn enterprise IT cloud infrastructure, telecom, automotive, or aerospace applications to align solutions.
• consistently meet or exceed pipeline and revenue KPIs.

Skills

Cold calling

Technical articulation

CRM proficiency

Research and personalization

Resilience

Collaboration

Time management

Customer focus

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Salesforce

6sense

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Job description

About Wind River

Wind River is a global leader in delivering software for mission‑critical intelligent systems. For more than four decades, the company has been an innovator and pioneer, powering billions of systems that require the highest levels of security, safety, and reliability. Wind River helps customers across automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial, medical, and telecommunications industries solve complex technology challenges. The company’s software powers generation after generation of the safest, most secure systems in the world, including NASA space missions such as Artemis I, the James Webb Space Telescope, and multiple Mars rovers.

About the Opportunity

The Strategic Outbound Sales Development Representative (OB SDR) is an outbound lead generation position responsible for focused outbound efforts, closing prospects for discovery meetings that, in turn, lead to business opportunities while building new customer relationships. Reporting to the Director/Manager of Sales Development, the SDR is often the first contact for many Wind River prospects via outbound telemarketing calls, emails, and social touches. The OB SDR qualifies prospects, uncovers business priorities and challenges, and develops quality meetings for Wind River’s account teams. At the front end of the process, the OB SDR is responsible for identifying accounts/prospects in their assigned territory then passing them to the appropriate account executive. The role is a development position for a person aspiring to advance in our sales organization.

Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Identify prospect’s business priorities and challenges within new, high‑intent accounts, uncovering obstacles to their goals and pinpointing relevant new business opportunities.
• Research key accounts and stakeholders, using sales engagement tools to deliver prompt follow‑up, spark interest, and arrange deeper discovery meetings for the account executive team.
• Learn and maintain in‑depth knowledge of Wind River solutions, use cases, customer stories, industry trends and competition.
• Possess knowledge of or ability to learn enterprise IT cloud infrastructure, telecom (5G, Open RAN), automotive (ADAS), or aerospace to align Wind River solutions with industry challenges.
• Consistently achieve or exceed performance goals and pipeline revenue that results in closed‑won opportunities for the AE team.

Qualifications

• Cold calling and prospecting: Demonstrated ability to engage decision‑makers through outbound calls, emails, and LinkedIn, with a track record of meeting or exceeding quotas.
• Technical articulation: Ability to understand and communicate complex technical solutions, such as Wind River’s cloud‑to‑edge platforms, as value to technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• CRM proficiency: Experience with sales tools like Salesforce, 6sense, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and other sales engagement tools to manage pipelines and track interactions.
• Research and personalization: Skilled at researching accounts and prospects to tailor outreach, addressing specific pain points.
• Resilience and self‑motivation: Comfortable handling rejection in a high‑volume outbound role, maintaining a positive attitude, and driving results independently.
• Collaboration: Ability to work closely with account teams and marketing to execute targeted prospecting strategies, providing feedback on campaign effectiveness.
• Time management: Strong organizational skills to prioritize high‑potential leads and manage a robust pipeline in a fast‑paced environment.
• Customer focus: Adept at building rapport, understanding client needs and retelling a customer story to build consensus about our value to the prospect.

Desired Skills & Experience

• 1‑3 years of B2B sales experience: Proven success in lead generation and qualifying prospects in a professional, metrics‑driven environment, ideally in the software or technology sector.
• Software industry exposure: Familiarity with selling SaaS, cloud‑native platforms, or embedded systems solutions, particularly to enterprise clients in telecom, automotive, or aerospace.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent work experience. Technical knowledge of Linux, edge computing, or IoT is a plus.

Core Competencies

• Resilient and persistent: Comfortable with rejection in high‑volume cold outreach, maintaining motivation to hit/exceed quotas in long enterprise sales cycles.
• Curious and quick‑learning: Eager to grasp complex solutions and translate them into customer value for diverse industries.
• Collaborative: Team‑oriented, willing to sync with marketing, AEs, and product teams to refine messaging.
• Confident communicator: Articulate and professional, able to engage C‑suite and technical buyers with tailored, solution‑focused pitches.
• Adaptable: Flexibly tailors outreach strategies to diverse enterprise prospects, adjusting messaging to address unique industry needs.
• Data‑driven: Leverages CRM analytics and intent signals to prioritize high‑intent accounts, optimizing outreach.
• Empathetic listener: Actively listens to prospects’ pain points during discovery, building trust to qualify leads and align solutions.
• Organized and disciplined: Manages high‑volume outreach (50‑100 daily multi‑channel touches), with strong time management and accurate CRM documentation.
• Results‑oriented: Consistently meets or exceeds KPIs by refining approaches to drive pipeline growth and revenue outcomes.

Benefits

• Hybrid work model for workplace flexibility
• Comprehensive health, dental, and life insurance
• Short and long‑term disability coverage
• RRSP matching for financial security
• Flexible time‑off policies for work‑life balance
• Employee assistance program for mental well‑being
• Learning benefits, including a LinkedIn Learning subscription and seminars

Compensation

The salary range for this role’s listed grade level is based on On‑Target‑Earnings (OTE), 70% base + 30% commission at currently $100k. Salary ranges are determined through interviews and a review of the education, experience, knowledge, skills, location, and abilities of the applicant, and equity with other team members. Employees in this role are also eligible for benefits in accordance with the terms of the company’s plans.

Wind River is an Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to diversity. We prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation or any other legally protected status.

Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us. At Wind River, we strictly adhere to all applicable data privacy laws. Please review Wind River's Applicant Privacy Notice.