Director, Sales Development

Description

The Director of Sales Development will build, lead, and scale Clearwater’s Sales Development Representative (SDR) function. This role is responsible for developing a repeatable, scalable playbook that enables SDRs to create high-quality pipeline across four verticals: IDN, PPMG, HCIT, and DIB. This leader owns SDR strategy and execution, including hiring, onboarding, training, daily  coaching, KPI design, performance management, and alignment with Marketing and Sales  leadership. The ideal candidate brings successful experience building SDR teams from the ground up, enabling early-career talent to ramp quickly, and generating meaningful, high conversion top-of-funnel activity i

n a complex enterprise consulting and cloud solutions environment. This is a hands-on leadership role requiring strong operational discipline, a passion for developing young talent, and a proven track record of delivering pipeline that translates to real closed-won revenue. 

 SPECIFIC JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

 Sales Development Strategy & Playbook 

• Build and implement a repeatable, scalable SDR playbook covering outbound, inbound, sequencing, messaging, qualification, and handoff to AEs and AMs.

 • Define SDR team structure, workflows, KPIs, weekly operating cadence, and performance expectations.

 • Create vertical-specific outbound motions for IDN, PPMG, HCIT, and DIB market segments. 

• Partner with CSO and SalesOps to design the metrics and dashboards used to track SDR productivity, meeting quality, and pipeline conversion. 

Team Leadership & Coaching 

• Hire, onboard, train, and develop a high-performing team of entry-level SDRs (5–6 initially; 10–12 by late 2026).

• Regular communication and documented feedback sessions with SDRs are crucial.  

Provide daily coaching, call shadowing, hands-on mentoring, and performance reviews to accelerate ramp time and build consultative outbound muscle.

 • Promote a culture of accountability, professionalism, and continuous improvement.

 Train new SDRs and work to continuously improve the skills of the existing team  members. This includes teaching skills such as effective sales techniques, objection handling, product knowledge, and more.

 • Set and communicate clear and achievable targets/goals for the SDR team, aligning their efforts with Clearwater’s overall sales and revenue objectives.

 • Identify high-potential talent and create clear development paths (SDR ? ISR ? AE/AM). 

Pipeline Generation & Performance

 • Own the SDR pipeline contribution goal in partnership with the CSO. • Oversee outbound prospecting, inbound qualification, and account research functions. 

• Analyze performance metrics and optimize processes to meet team targets. 

 • Ensure SDRs achieve targets for meetings set SQL creation, opportunity conversion, and pipeline generated. 

• Establish quality thresholds so SDR meetings translate into meaningful, revenue producing opportunities. 

• Optimize SDR-to-AE ratio as the team scales (initial target: 0.5 SDR per AE; long-term: 1:1).

 Technology, Tools & AI-Enablement

 • Lead adoption and best-practice usage of Salesforce, ZoomInfo, and SalesLoft. 

• Integrate AI tools (including corporate ChatGPT) into SDR workflows to enhance personalization and productivity.

 • Partner with Marketing and RevOps on potential rollout of intent-data platforms (e.g., Bombora, 6sense). 

• Define and enforce data hygiene standards to maintain accuracy across CRM and sequencing systems. 

Cross-Functional Alignment.

• Act as the primary liaison between SDRs, AEs, AMs, Marketing, and Sales Ops. 

• Work closely with Marketing to align outbound sequences with campaigns, events, content, and ICP messaging.

 • Partner with Sales Ops to build accurate reporting, territory models, and attribution frameworks. 

• Create smooth handoff processes to ensure qualified meetings turn into real pipeline. 

Analytics & Reporting 

• Track SDR performance metrics including meetings per rep per month

•  SQL-to-opportunity conversion 
• opportunity acceptance rate o pipeline generated per SDR
•  SDR ramp and time-to-productivity
• Provide weekly, monthly, and quarterly reporting to Sales and Executive Leadership. 

Requirements

 EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

 • 8–12+ years of experience in Sales Development, 

Demand Generation, or inside sales functions.

 • Minimum 3+ years building an SDR function from the ground up (not just managing an existing team).

 • Proven success generating high-quality pipeline for complex, multi-stakeholder B2B se