Role Guide
Pipeline generation is a system, and it starts with the people. We build SDR and BDR teams, and the managers who run them, with assessment focused on coachability and output rather than CV polish.
Key Facts
£38k–£50k base
$65k–$80k base
Enterprise outbound pods
Cohorts hired and onboarded together
Outbound teams work better when people ramp together: shared onboarding, shared call reviews and internal competition from day one. We run SDR hiring as batched cohorts, so you get four or six aligned starts rather than a trickle over five months.
For volume hiring, an RPO or embedded model is usually cheaper per hire than contingent placement fees and keeps the assessment bar consistent across the cohort.
Not the degree, and not previous sector experience. The strongest predictors are coachability under live feedback, written clarity and resilience to volume. We test all three: a short live objection-handling exercise, a written prospecting sample against your ICP and a structured motivation interview.
We also screen for the promotion path. An SDR hired with no realistic route to AE inside 18 months will leave at month 12, which is why attrition rather than sourcing is usually the real cost.
We also place SDR managers, team leads and heads of sales development: people who can build the sequence library, run the coaching cadence and hold conversion rate accountability rather than just chase activity metrics.
2026 pay benchmarks
| Role | UK | US | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDR / BDR | £38k–£50k base · £50k–£68k OTE | $65k–$80k base · $90k–$115k OTE | Enterprise outbound pods pay at the top of range |
| Mid-market AE | £70k–£85k base · £140k–£170k OTE | $120k–$140k base · $240k–$280k OTE | 50/50 split standard, quota 4–5x OTE |
Full dataset: 2026 GTM salary and hiring benchmarks. Model the cost of a vacant seat with the quota loss calculator.
FAQ
In the UK, £38k to £50k base with £50k to £68k OTE. In the US, $65k to $80k base with $90k to $115k OTE. Enterprise outbound pods pay at the top of the range, and split-heavy plans below 70/30 are increasingly rejected by strong candidates.
Three to four months to full quota in an enterprise motion, four to six weeks in transactional mid-market. Cohort onboarding shortens ramp measurably because call reviews and objection libraries are built once and shared across the group.
Contingent searches are charged as a percentage of first-year base salary, payable only on placement. Retained and RPO engagements are staged or fixed-fee and work out lower per hire at volume. We quote before any work starts, with no fee for the market map.
You receive a shortlist within 14 days of kick-off. Median time from kick-off to signed offer across our 2025 to 2026 searches is under six weeks, with the interview process itself the usual bottleneck rather than pipeline.
Contingent suits one-off or opportunistic hires. Retained suits leadership and confidential searches where you need guaranteed focus. RPO suits teams hiring five or more revenue seats in a year and wanting a single embedded partner.
Related Guides
A short intro call is usually enough to tell whether we're the right partner for the search.
