Sales Development Representative

About the Role

AVIAN is seeking a Sales Development Representative to join its founding sales team in the US, reporting to the SVP of Sales. This role is the first point of contact for prospects and is crucial for building pipeline.

Key Responsibilities

• Prospecting: Initiate conversations with plant managers, maintenance and reliability leaders, safety leaders, operations, and executive buyers via phone.
• Engagement: Keep prospects talking, book meetings, and utilize Email and LinkedIn to support calls.
• Targeting: Determine who to target and why before outreach.
• Trade Shows: Line up meetings with attendees before shows and follow up afterward.
• Qualification & Handoff: Assess the seriousness of pain points, urgency, and decision-making power. Brief account executives with details on customer needs, involved parties, and timing.
• Account Expansion: Identify opportunities at sister sites of existing customers.
• Playbook Development: Document successful outreach strategies, objection handling, and target lists.
• Account Mapping: Identify key stakeholders within target organizations.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Tools: ZoomInfo for company and contact research, HubSpot for outreach and pipeline management, and AI tools like Claude and Artisan for research and drafting outreach.
• Productivity: Utilize AI tools to enhance speed and efficiency.
• CRM: Maintain a clean HubSpot CRM and practice disciplined follow-up.

Qualifications

• Proactive Nature: A "hunter" mentality, actively seeking leads rather than waiting.
• Resilience: Ability to handle rejection and continue dialing.
• Communication Skills: Effective phone presence, ability to engage busy professionals, think on your feet, and sound credible.
• Curiosity: A desire to understand industrial operations.
• Drive: Competitive, coachable, and ambitious for growth.
• Organization: Disciplined and thorough in follow-up.
• AI Proficiency: Comfortable using AI tools like Claude for efficiency.
• Background: Experience in SDR/BDR roles, inside sales, call-heavy account/support roles, recruiting, real estate, or hospitality.

Bonus points for experience prospecting into wood processing, recycling, or paper verticals, or building relationships with plant operators, safety leaders, or facilities teams.

Success in Year One

• Booked meetings that generate actual pipeline.
• Honest qualification that builds trust with account executives.
• Developing a repeatable method to engage plant managers by phone.
• Documenting successful strategies to accelerate ramp-up for future SDRs.

Why Us?

• Compensation: Competitive base salary plus uncapped variable compensation tied to meetings and pipeline generated.
• Career Path: Opportunities to advance into closing roles.
• Access: Direct reporting to the SVP of Sales, interaction with leadership and founders, and freedom to utilize a modern tech stack.
• Product: A solution addressing genuine customer urgency (fire risk, downtime costs, insurer requirements).
• Work Model: Flexible, high-trust environment with an international, customer-obsessed team.

How We Work

Clarity, ownership, and speed. End-to-end ownership of outcomes, rapid iteration, knowledge sharing, open decision-making, and constant feedback.

Hiring Process

• Intro call (30 min)
• Deep-dive interview
• Live exercise: Cold-call role-play
• Meet the team and founders
• Offer