SDR job descriptions

A job description should let a candidate decide whether the work fits before the hiring team spends time screening. Treat it as a selection document. Define the work, show the load, state the requirements, and show the path that really exists. An honest account of the hard parts is the strongest filter. The job includes substantial rejection, repetition, and stretches where effort and outcome are uncorrelated.¹ Candidates who read an accurate description and still apply have already selected themselves before time is spent.²

Start with the role

Decide the work before writing the wish list. The title, level, and ownership should describe the same day on the job.

Positions can range from a junior role focused on inbound sales to a senior role with one to four years of experience calling on key accounts.³ Choose the type needed to meet organizational objectives and let unsuitable applicants opt out.⁴ Use that decision to set the level, audience, and responsibilities in the opening section.

Define ownership

Give the candidate a clear boundary around what they will own. The responsibilities section should show where leads come from, what the person does with them, and how meetings move forward.

Primary responsibilities can include accepting lead forms or inbound calls, qualifying them, and routing them to the appropriate sales channel.⁵ An outbound version can own booking meetings through cold calls, emails, social outreach, and networking.⁶ State whether the representative generates their own leads and does their own prospecting, then list every expected activity, including phone calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages.^{7, 8}

List the role expectations, responsibilities, and desired tech-stack experience clearly so the candidate can judge the match before applying.⁹ Keep the boundaries specific enough for a new hire to tell which work belongs to the role and which work belongs elsewhere.

Describe the day

Candidates should be able to picture the rhythm of the work from the posting. Concrete activity gives them something to assess, while broad language leaves them guessing.

Give workload details that show the shape of a day. One example says the person will make around 50 calls and send around 60 emails a day, spend the first hour on research, and have two coaching sessions a week.¹⁰ Use your own operating figures and cadence in the same format. List the tools used in the role as well.¹¹

When prospecting is part of the job, say that the person will build lists of decision-makers in target accounts using compliant and accurate contact data.¹² If several outreach methods matter, describe the expected range, from video and calls to social and email.¹³

Set requirements that match the work

Requirements should help a candidate test their fit against the work. Keep them close to the behaviors the role demands.

Communication matters because the representative contacts new clients and works with sales and marketing teams. The candidate should be able to voice an opinion and explain the choices behind it.¹⁴ If the role involves business conversations, expect the person to discuss customer challenges, understand goals and problems, and engage credibly.¹⁵

For a junior SDR role, list sales experience as useful without making a higher education degree a default requirement.^{16, 17} If the job uses several prospecting channels, say so in the requirements instead of hiding that expectation in an interview.

Use accuracy as a filter

Manage application volume, but make the post serve the candidates who need to understand the work. The description does its job when the right candidates recognise the role and the wrong candidates leave early.

High application volume consumes screening time and can fill the role with people who misunderstood the job and leave in month five.¹⁸ Write the post to select candidates.¹⁹ Use plain language for the work, the workload, and the conditions under which the work gets done.

Publish the numbers candidates can test

Put facts in the offer section so a candidate can judge the opportunity without decoding vague promises. Numbers make the description easier to challenge and easier to trust.

Publish the relevant numbers in the job post.²⁰ Report what percentage of the team hit target last quarter, so candidates can see how the role operates in practice.²¹ Pair that information with the daily activity and coaching details already described, and the candidate can compare the promise with the work.

Describe the path that exists

Include career progression in the post when you can state it with the same precision as the responsibilities. Candidates need a path they can plan around.

Describe honestly where the role leads.²² The default promise for an SDR role is promotion to AE in twelve months.²³ State how many SDRs were promoted last year, which roles they entered, and how long promotion took.²⁴ Promotion to AE is a possible exit alongside other paths.²⁵

What not to do

Remove promises and omissions that make the role sound easier or more certain than it is.

• Give the day enough space to stand on its own. Mission language cannot carry the description.²⁶
• Name the hard parts plainly.²⁷ Omitting them does not hide them; it means the candidate discovers them in week two.²⁸
• Keep a top-decile compensation figure out of the post and state base compensation with realistic on-target compensation.²⁹
• Promise promotion to AE in twelve months only when the company can support it. An untrue promise produces a hire who leaves angry.³⁰