Senior Director, Sales Development

About Rippling

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system.

Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can hire a new employee anywhere in the world and set up their payroll, corporate card, computer, benefits, and even third-party apps like Slack and Microsoft 365—all within 90 seconds.

Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from the world’s top investors—including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock—and was named one of America's best startup employers by Forbes.

We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @Rippling.com addresses.

About the role

This role will sit in one of our three offices hybrid. (New York, Austin or San Francisco)

We are seeking a highly motivated and strategic Senior Director of Sales Development to lead and scale our Sales Development Representative (SDR) team. This role is responsible for driving pipeline growth, optimizing sales development processes, and ensuring alignment between marketing, sales, and revenue operations. The ideal candidate is a data-driven leader with a proven track record of building high-performing sales development teams and delivering measurable results as a third line leader.

At Rippling, Sales Development is the driving force behind two main functions: pipeline creation and career development. We execute with a high level of urgency to partner with marketing and our sales partners to drive demand and create new business opportunities. Simultaneously we double down on the development of our people; creating career paths that allow reps to move through the SDR org and into more strategic roles that align with their future career aspirations.

As the Sr. Director of Sales Development, the opportunity to own, design and build the function is at your fingertips. Our Mid-Market and Enterprise SDR teams are the fuel to Rippling’s future growth. We’re looking for leaders that can come in and optimize our account based strategy to improve efficiencies throughout the sales funnel. We move fast at Rippling, try new things often, and are constantly raising the bar on what we can accomplish. Leaders who thrive here are those that have conviction in their beliefs, are comfortable operating extremely fast, and can balance multiple priorities at any given time.

What you will do

Leadership & Strategy:

• Develop and execute a comprehensive sales development strategy to drive qualified pipeline growth.
• Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing SDR team (ICs and Managers), ensuring continuous coaching, training, and professional development.
• Build and foster a high performance culture of accountability and continued growth
• Take initiative to identify and solve challenges across your team.
• Align SDR strategy with marketing and sales leadership to optimize lead generation and conversion rates.
• Optimize key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to track team performance, efficiency, and success.

Process Optimization & Execution:

• Implement best practices for outbound prospecting, including call scripts, email sequences, and social selling strategies.
• Leverage sales technologies (CRM, sales engagement tools, analytics platforms) to optimize SDR workflows and improve efficiency.
• Monitor and refine lead qualification processes to ensure high-quality opportunities for the sales team.
• Work closely with Revenue Operations to analyze performance data and adjust strategies as needed.

Collaboration & Cross-Functional Alignment:

• Partner with Marketing to ensure seamless lead handoff and optimize lead scoring.
• Colla