SDR job description: what sales development reps do, what postings ask for and what the seat pays

A sales development representative (SDR, or BDR at many companies) opens the sale: they find and contact potential customers, qualify them, and book the first meetings for account executives, measured on meetings and pipeline rather than closed revenue. It is the usual first seat in software sales. This guide describes the job as real postings describe it: what SDRs do, what the postings ask for, what the seat pays, and a job description a hiring team can adapt.

On 2 November 2026 this board had 1,110 open sales development roles open to US candidates, with a median posted pay of $75,000 a year; 159 of them had requirement lines read from the posting itself, the sample for the requirements below. Pay figures are the midpoint of each posting's own range on a full year's scale (base or on-target earnings, as the posting states it), one per posting after repeats of the same title at the same company are merged. The SDR and BDR jobs page lists every open seat.

Contents

1. What an SDR does
2. What postings ask for
3. How many years postings ask for
4. What the seat pays
5. A job description to adapt
6. How these figures were counted
7. Quick answers

1. What an SDR does

• Prospects. Researches target accounts and the people in them, then reaches out by phone, email and social messages, often in sequences of many touches.
• Qualifies. Answers inbound interest and checks each prospect against the company's criteria (need, budget, timing, the right person) before passing it on.
• Books meetings. Sets the first call between a qualified prospect and an account executive, and hands over what was learned.
• Keeps the record. Logs every touch and stage in the company's CRM, where the team's pipeline is measured.
• Is paid on activity and results. Most SDR plans pay a base salary plus a bonus or commission on meetings held or pipeline created.

Inbound SDRs mostly answer and qualify interest; outbound SDRs (BDRs at many companies) mostly create it. The guide SDR vs BDR compares the two titles.

2. What postings ask for

The share of the 159 US sales development postings whose leading requirement lines name each:

Half of SDR postings name no number of years at all among their leading lines, against 77% of account executive postings: the seat is built to take people from other jobs.

3. How many years postings ask for

The median is two years, and some postings accept any customer-facing work in place of sales experience. The guide How to get into sales covers the ways in.

4. What the seat pays

136 of the 1,110 US roles (12%) were posted as remote; the remote SDR jobs page lists them, and SDR salary breaks the pay down further.

5. A job description to adapt

A posting that states the market, the motion, the targets and the pay attracts candidates who fit and shows the path to promotion that SDR candidates look for. A starting point:

Sales Development Representative, [segment or region]

The role. You will open conversations with [buyer: title and company size] in [territory] about [problem the product solves], and book first meetings for our account executives.

What you will do. Research target accounts; reach out by phone, email and social messages; qualify inbound interest; book and hand over meetings; log your work in [CRM].

What we ask for. [Experience, if any: customer-facing work, a first sales job, or none], clear writing and comfort on the phone, and curiosity about [buyer's industry].

Pay and path. Base [range], on-target earnings [range] paid on [meetings held or pipeline], with the path to account executive after [typical months] for those who meet their targets.

Fifteen US jurisdictions require a pay range in the posting itself; the guide Which sales jobs show their pay lists them. For the rest of the hire (the offer, the pay plan, the interviews and how long the seat stays open), see How to hire an SDR.

6. How these figures were counted

• The roles: every open sales development role on this board on 2 November 2026 open to US candidates, read from each company's own careers system and checked every hour: 1,110 roles.
• The requirements: the leading requirement lines read from 159 of those postings (about three lines each); a requirement counts when a line names it.
• The pay: the midpoint of each posting's own range on a full year's scale, one per posting after repeats of the same title at the same company are merged, and the median across the US postings. "Up to" figures are left out.

7. Quick answers

What does an SDR do? They find and contact potential customers, qualify them and book first meetings for account executives, measured on meetings and pipeline.

What qualifications does an SDR need? On this board, half of US SDR postings name a number of years among their leading lines (a median of two, and a third of those ask for one year or less); 36% ask for communication skills and 21% name a degree.

How much does an SDR make? US sales development postings state a median of $75,000 a year, with the middle half between $59,500 and $95,000 (2 November 2026).

Is SDR an entry-level job? Usually: it is the most common first seat in software sales, and many postings take people from other customer-facing work.

Where can I see SDR jobs? The SDR and BDR jobs page lists every open seat with the pay it posts.