Sales Development Representative, Lead

Lead Sales Development Representative

Remote - United States

About the Role

Blackboard is hiring its first Sales Development Lead to build the sales development function from the ground up. You will prospect and book meetings yourself while designing the playbooks, tooling, and processes the future team will run on.

This is a player-coach role. You start as an individual contributor with a personal goal and no direct reports. As the team grows, you will onboard and coach new SDRs, with a path to Sales Development Manager.

You sit inside GTM Intelligence & Operations, part of the Marketing organization, and report to the VP of GTM Intelligence & Operations. You will work hand in hand with Sales, Marketing, Customer Advocacy, and teams across the business to turn interest into pipeline. 

Why This Role

The brand has recognition. The sales development motion that a reborn Blackboard will run on is yours to build, from scratch, without inherited constraints. You will work directly with the VP of GTM Intelligence & Operations and a team of peers as driven as you are to win. You will be the first voice many institutions hear from Blackboard during one of the most interesting moments in the company's history, and you will build the team that carries it forward. 

What You Will Do

Sell

• Prospect into target accounts through calls, email, LinkedIn, and multi-threaded outreach
• Qualify inbound interest and hand off sales-ready opportunities to Account Executives
• Hit a personal goal for qualified meetings and pipeline generated
• Keep Salesforce activity, stages, and handoff notes accurate and complete

Build

• Build the SDR playbook from the established ideal customer profile: personas, messaging, sequences, and objection handling
• Define qualification criteria and the SDR-to-AE handoff process with leadership
• Partner with GTM Engineering on sequencing tools, routing, and reporting
• Establish SDR metrics, dashboards, and a weekly operating cadence
• Test and document what works so it can scale to a team

Lead (as the team grows)

• Help define the SDR leveling framework, hiring profile, and interview process
• Onboard and coach new SDRs through call reviews, role plays, and pipeline reviews
• Serve as the voice of sales development in GTM planning

What Success Looks Like

90 Days

• Ramped on product and market
• First version of the playbook live
• Consistently booking qualified meetings
• Handoff process agreed with Sales

6 Months

• Hitting personal pipeline goal
• SDR dashboard and weekly cadence in place
• Playbook refined from results
• Hiring profile drafted

12 Months

• Sustained pipeline contribution
• First SDR hires onboarded and ramping
• Function ready to scale toward a Sales Development Manager role

What This is Not

This is not a seat where the playbook, lists, and sequences are handed to you. You will decide what the motion looks like, test it yourself, and document it so others can run it. The ideal customer profile gives you the starting point; turning it into meetings and pipeline is yours.

It is also not a management role on day one. You earn the team by proving the motion works. The right person sees the current structure as an opportunity to shape how sales development grows at Blackboard, not a limitation on what is possible.

What You Bring

You are a builder who can sell. You have booked meetings in a disciplined, repeatable way, and you have been the person others ask how you did it. You use AI to research faster, personalize at scale, and spend more of your day in conversations that matter.

The traits that matter most here:

• High agency
• Adaptive learning
• Clear communication
• Intellectual humility

Required Skills and Experience

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience
• 3+ years in B2B sales development, with a track record of meeting or exceeding meeting and pipeline goals
• Experience selling into complex, multi-stakeholder buying groups
• Evidence of building, not just running, process: a playbook, sequence library, onboarding program, or similar
• Informal leadership experience such as mentoring, peer coaching, or leading a pod
• Working fluency with Salesforce and a sales engagement platform
• Comfort with ambiguity and building a function from zero
• Clear written and verbal communication, and the judgment to know when to use each  
• Fluency in written and spoken English   

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience selling into education, government, or other public sector markets
• Prior experience as an early SDR or on a newly formed team
• Exposure to AI-assisted prospecting, intent data, or account-based motions
• Experience partnering with marketing on campaign follow-up and inbound conversion

About Blackboard

Blackboard is a leading EdTech company and SaaS provider that delivers the digital environment for transformational teaching and learning. We serve thousands of institutions with the industry's most AI-advanced LMS, Blackboard Ally for accessibility, and institutional effectiveness solutions that put educators and learners at the center. We're an education company that builds technology. Learn more at blackboard.com.

The expected salary for this position is $85,000. This reflects base salary only and does not include additional compensation such as sales incentives or benefits. Placement within the pay range will depend on a variety of factors, such as experience, skills, internal parity, and location.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the country where the role is based at the time of hire and must maintain that authorization for the duration of employment. The company does not provide visa sponsorship or immigration support for this position.

This job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required. Nothing in this job description restricts management's right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities at any time.    

Blackboard is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, gender, age, color, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, protected military/veteran status, or any other legally protected factor.