How to write an SDR job description

Quick answer

Write an SDR job description that is specific, honest, and written for your stage. Lead with a clear one-line summary, describe what the SDR will actually do day to day, define what success looks like in the first 90 days, list only the requirements that truly matter, and state comp honestly including the OTE split. Then describe the system they will inherit, because strong reps want to know whether they are stepping into a working motion or a blank page. Skip the generic corporate filler; it attracts the wrong people and tells the right ones nothing.

What is the job description actually for?

A job description does two jobs: it attracts the right candidates and repels the wrong ones. A vague, buzzword-heavy post does the opposite. It pulls in a flood of mismatched applicants and gives strong candidates no reason to believe you know what you want.

For an early-stage SDR role, specificity is your filter. The more honestly you describe the day to day, the targets, and the system they inherit, the more self-selection you get before anyone applies. For the full hiring process around this, see how to hire an SDR.

What should an SDR job description include?

A strong SDR description has these sections. Keep each short and concrete.

The sections below cover the two that founders most often get wrong: requirements and comp.

What should you require, and what should you skip?

The requirements section is where most SDR descriptions go wrong, by requiring things that do not predict success and screening out people who would thrive.

Require (these actually matter early):

• Coachability and a willingness to be reviewed and corrected.
• Clear written and verbal communication.
• Resilience and consistency, because prospecting is a volume game with rejection.
• Genuine comfort with prospecting and ambiguity.

Go easy on (these over-filter):

• Years of experience. A sharp, coachable junior often beats a jaded veteran.
• Specific tools. CRMs and sequencers are learnable in days; do not screen on them.
• Degree requirements and other proxies that do not predict SDR performance.

Hire for how someone operates without a finished system, since that is what an early SDR faces. The deeper view of the role is in what does an SDR do, and the mistakes to avoid in common sales hiring mistakes.

How should you describe comp in the post?

Vague comp language ("competitive salary") signals that you either do not know your own plan or are hiding it. Both repel strong candidates. State it plainly:

• Base and variable. SDR comp is usually weighted more toward base than closing roles, with variable tied to meetings booked or qualified pipeline created, since SDRs do not close.
• OTE. On-target earnings is base plus variable if the SDR hits target. State the OTE and the split so there are no surprises.
• What the variable rewards. Be explicit about whether you pay on meetings booked, meetings held, or qualified pipeline, because it shapes behavior.

For how to structure the underlying plan, see SDR compensation plans and, for the term itself, OTE explained.

How is an SDR description different from BDR or AE?

Do not copy an AE description and swap the title. The roles measure different things:

• SDR: prospects and books qualified meetings. Success is meetings and qualified pipeline, not revenue. Comp leans toward base.
• BDR: similar, usually leaning more outbound.
• AE: runs and closes deals. Success is revenue, quota is revenue-based, comp is more heavily variable.

Writing an SDR post with AE-style closing language attracts closers who will be frustrated by a prospecting role, and sets the wrong expectation for everyone. The distinctions are laid out in SDR vs BDR vs AE.

A simple template structure

You do not need anything elaborate. This structure works:

1. One-line summary. "We are [company] and we help [ICP] do [outcome]. As our SDR, you will [core job]."
2. What you'll do. 4 to 6 concrete bullets of the real day to day.
3. What success looks like. First 90 days and beyond, with real milestones.
4. What we're looking for. The short, honest requirements list above.
5. Comp and logistics. Base, variable, OTE split, location, and work setup.
6. The system you'll inherit. A couple of honest sentences on the ICP, CRM, messaging, and playbook already in place.

That last section is a genuine advantage if it is true. Strong SDRs have been burned by blank-page roles before, and will choose a company that clearly already has a working motion.

Write the post the system deserves

A great job description cannot hide a blank system for long. The best SDRs ask, in interviews, what they will inherit: is there a real ICP, a clean CRM, tested messaging, a playbook? If the honest answer is no, strong candidates walk, and the ones who stay ramp slowly.

So the strongest thing you can put in an SDR description is a true claim that the system exists:

• A data-backed ICP and a validated target list.
• A clean CRM where pipeline is visible.
• Messaging tested against real objections, in your voice.
• A documented playbook the SDR can follow from day one.

Write that honestly and you attract reps who want to sell, not reps resigned to building your infrastructure for you.

Where Enablemnt fits

The most attractive line in an SDR job description is a true one: that the SDR inherits a working motion. We build that motion so you can write it honestly.

Enablemnt acts as your embedded RevOps and outbound team and builds the sales infrastructure in a fixed 14-day sprint: a data-backed ICP, a clean and owned CRM, tested messaging, and live outbound. You own all of it, documented, at the end. So the SDR you hire steps into a documented system with real pipeline, and your job description can promise exactly that.

If you want the motion built before you post the role, tell us about your startup and we will map your GTM blueprint on a short call.

Filed under Building a sales team. Written by Enablemnt AI.