Sales Development Team Leader – VC-Backed SaaS <em>London</em>

26 Aug

Location: Central London
Working Pattern: Hybrid – 4 days per week in office (Monday–Thursday)
Salary: £70,000–£75,000 basic
OTE: £95,000–£100,000
Equity: Competitive equity package
Employment: Full-time, permanent

Thomas Patrick Recruitment is partnering with a high-growth, VC-backed B2B SaaS company to recruit an experienced Sales Development Team Leader.

This is an exciting opportunity to take ownership of an established SDR team while helping build and refine a sophisticated, modern outbound function within a rapidly scaling technology business.

This is a genuine player-coach role.

You'll spend approximately 70% of your time leading, coaching and developing the SDR team and 30% remaining personally involved in outbound activity.

We're therefore looking for someone who hasn't moved away from the fundamentals of sales development. You should still genuinely enjoy cold calling, prospecting, opening target accounts and generating pipeline yourself.

The Role

You'll lead a team of four SDRs and take responsibility for developing both the people and the outbound strategy.

Your responsibilities will include:

Lead, coach and develop a team of four SDRs.
Conduct regular 1:1s, call reviews and hands-on coaching sessions.
Hold the team accountable against activity, pipeline and performance targets.
Personally contribute to outbound activity and carry an individual contribution alongside your leadership responsibilities.
Cold call and prospect into strategic target accounts.
Open new accounts and support business development initiatives.
Build, refine and continuously improve the outbound sales playbook.
Sharpen ICP definition, account targeting and prospecting strategy.
Develop and optimise outbound messaging and sequences.
Use cold calling as a primary pipeline-generation channel.
Analyse SDR activity, conversion rates and pipeline performance to identify opportunities for improvement.
Diagnose underperformance and implement appropriate coaching and development plans.
Work closely with Account Executives and Revenue Operations to improve qualification, pipeline handoffs and conversion.
Develop increasingly sophisticated AI-assisted outbound and prospecting workflows.
Test new approaches, messaging and technology to continuously improve outbound performance.

Essential Experience

To be considered, candidates must demonstrate:

Minimum 2 years' direct experience managing or leading an SDR/BDR team within B2B SaaS.
5+ years' experience within outbound B2B SaaS sales.
Experience working within a high-growth, VC-backed SaaS business, ideally within a Series A–C environment.
A genuinely strong personal cold-calling background.
Experience coaching SDRs/BDRs on cold calling, objection handling, prospecting and qualification.
Experience holding an SDR/BDR team accountable against defined targets and KPIs.
Willingness to personally carry an individual contribution alongside team leadership.
Strong understanding of outbound pipeline generation and funnel conversion.
Experience using data and analytics to identify and improve sales performance.
Strong hands-on knowledge of modern outbound sales technology.
Ability to work from the Central London office four days per week, Monday–Thursday.

The Player-Coach Element

This is not a pure management position.

Approximately 30% of the role will involve individual contribution.

You'll be expected to:

Make cold calls personally.
Open target accounts.
Run outbound initiatives.
Generate pipeline.
Support opportunities directly where required.
Test new outbound approaches before rolling them out across the team.
Lead from the front.

We're looking for a leader who earns credibility by demonstrating that they can still do the job themselves.

VC-Backed SaaS Experience

Experience operating within a high-growth, venture-backed B2B SaaS environment is important for this appointment.

Candidates who have worked within Series A, Series B or Series C businesses will be particularly relevant.

Experience within a YC-backed company or helping a SaaS business scale through a significant funding round would be a strong advantage.

Outbound & AI Tooling

The successful candidate should be comfortable working with modern sales-development technology and AI-assisted prospecting.

Relevant experience could include:

Clay
Lemlist
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Prospeo
AI-assisted research and sequencing tools
CRM and sales-engagement platforms

You don't necessarily need experience with every platform, but you should be technically curious and comfortable adopting new technology to improve outbound performance.

What Will Make You Stand Out?

We're particularly interested in candidates who can demonstrate measurable results, including:

Team quota and attainment.
Pipeline generated.
Meetings or qualified opportunities generated.
Conversion-rate improvements.
SDRs recruited, coached and promoted.
Improvements in cold-calling performance.
Outbound playbooks built or transformed.
New territories or markets opened.
0→1 outbound functions.
Results achieved within Series A–C scaling environments.

We want to understand what you personally changed and the measurable commercial impact it produced.

Ideal Background

You may currently be working as a:

SDR Team Lead
BDR Team Lead
Sales Development Manager
Business Development Team Lead
SDR Manager

You'll ideally have approximately 5–10 years of overall outbound B2B SaaS experience, including at least two years directly managing SDRs/BDRs.

We're looking for someone ambitious enough to operate within a scaling business, experienced enough to coach a high-performing team, but still close enough to outbound sales to enjoy personally getting on the phone.

Working Arrangements

This position is based in Central London.

Candidates must be able to work from the office four days per week (Monday–Thursday).

There is no flexibility around the four-day office requirement.

Visa sponsorship and relocation support are not available for this position.

Package

£70,000–£75,000 basic salary
£95,000–£100,000 OTE
Competitive equity
Additional company benefits
High-growth VC-backed SaaS environment
Opportunity to have significant influence over the development of the outbound function

Apply

If you're an experienced SDR/BDR leader from a VC-backed B2B SaaS environment, have a strong track record of developing outbound teams and still genuinely enjoy prospecting and cold calling yourself, we'd be keen to hear from you.

Apply through Thomas Patrick Recruitment for a confidential discussion.

Ryan Logue