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Sales Development Representative (SDR) (Recent Grad)

Sales Development Representative (SDR) is the most common entry-level position in tech sales.

If you’re just getting started in your tech sales career, chances are you’ll be applying to mostly SDR positions. 

Business Development Representative (BDR) and Account Development Representative (ADR) are two other titles for very similar entry-level tech sales positions.

Click here to learn more about tech sales job titles like SDR, BDR, and ADR. 

In most of these roles, you’ll be handling the wide-mouthed top of the sales funnel. 

This means making hundreds of cold calls and sending out mass email campaigns in an effort to set meetings with qualified prospects for an Account Executive (AE) to then pitch and close.

SDR (Recent Grad)	Base Salary	On-Target Earnings
San Francisco	50-65K	75-90K
New York	50-65K	75-90K
Pacific	50-65K	75-90K
Mountain	50-65K	65-80K
Central	50-65K	65-80K
Eastern	50-65K	75-90K
Remote	40-50K	70-90K

*On-Target Earnings (OTE) refers to a tech salesperson’s total cash compensation, which is usually made up of a base salary and an additional variable component (in sales, this usually means commission).

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Sales Development Representative (SDR) (6+ Months)

As you would expect, base salary and OTE are slightly higher for SDRs with at least 6 months of experience, when compared to recent grad SDRs.

Most high-performing SDRs are promoted to AE within 1-2 years.

Tech companies should wait at least one year before promoting their SDRs to AEs, according to The Bridge Group:

“The post-promotion failure rate for SDRs with 11 or fewer months experience [when promoted to AE] was 55%. The failure rate for SDRs with 16+ months experience [when promoted to AE] was just 6%.”

As an SDR, it’s good to be aware of your increase in value as you gain experience.

If you hit your 6-month mark and you’re performing well, you can expect a small pay bump. ⬆️

Otherwise, you can probably find another tech company that is willing to pay you more.

SDR (6+ Months)	Base Salary	On-Target Earnings
San Francisco	60-75K	80-100K
New York	60-75K	80-100K
Pacific	60-75K	80-100K
Mountain	55-70K	70-90K
Central	55-70K	70-90K
Eastern	60-75K	80-100K
Remote	60-80K	80-100K

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Account Executive (AE) (0-3 Years)

At some companies, there are entry-level AE positions, but this is rare, and companies offering AE positions to their entry-level sales hires usually have shorter sales cycles and smaller deal sizes (often selling to B2C or SMB clientele).

In most cases, you will need previous sales experience as an SDR or other entry-level sales rep, before you can win a spot as a tech sales Account Executive. 

Note: OTE is higher for AEs as a % of total compensation, compared to SDRs.

According to data from Betts Recruiting, the typical compensation structure (base / commission) for SDRs is 65% / 35%.

For AEs, it’s 50% / 50%.

This is because AEs are “closers,” and their compensation is set up accordingly.

If an AE closes a deal, they make the commission.

If they lose the deal, they don’t make the commission.

AE (0-3 Years)	Base Salary	On-Target Earnings
San Francisco	75-100K	150-200K
New York	75-100K	150-200K
Pacific	75-110K	150-200K
Mountain	60-90K	120-180K
Central	60-90K	120-180K
Eastern	75-110K	150-220K
Remote	70-100K	140-200K

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Account Executive (AE) (3-5 Years)

After you’ve been an AE for three years, you’ve probably developed a battle-tested ability to close deals, which is one of the most valuable skills in the business world.

As an AE, your compensation is performance-based. In other words, you make more commission when you close more deals.

So, as you get better at selling and you start closing more deals and bigger deals, your compensation will naturally increase.

Also, you’ll probably get a bump in base salary. Most companies have tiered systems to promote AEs based on the amount of revenue you’ve closed during your tenure.

AE (3-5 Years)	Base Salary	On-Target Earnings
San Francisco	90-125K	180-250K
New York	90-125K	180-250K
Pacific	90-125K	180-250K
Mountain	80-110K	160-220K
Central	80-110K	160-220K
Eastern	90-125K	180-250K
Remote	80-110K	160-220K

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Enterprise Account Executive (EAE) (5-10 Years)

Tech sales companies usually split up their AEs by account size.

Account size is most commonly determined by annual revenue and/or employee headcount.

These are the most common account sizes in tech sales:

• SMB
• Mid-Market
• Enterprise

And this is how they’re defined, according to Gartner:

• SMB: fewer than 100 employees & less than $50 million in annual revenue
• Mid-Market: 100 to 999 employees & $50 million to $1 billion in annual revenue
• Enterprise: anything larger than Mid-Market

Bigger deals mean bigger commission checks for the salesperson.

Most AEs with 3-5 years of experience are probably in Mid-Market.

AEs with 5-10 years of experience work on Enterprise deals (the biggest deals), which is why they make the most.

EAE (5-10 Years)	Base Salary	On-Target Earnings
San Francisco	120-200K	240-400K
New York	120-200K	240-400K
Pacific	120-200K	240-400K
Mountain	120-150K	240-300K
Central	120-150K	240-300K
Eastern	120-200K	240-400K
Remote	120-200K	240-400K

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SDR Manager (0-2 Years)

At some point in your tech sales career, you’ll have to decide between staying an “individual contributor” (SDRs and AEs who do the prospecting and selling) or going into management.

Some SDRs get promoted straight into SDR Management and never become AEs.

Being an SDR Manager is exactly what it sounds like—managing a team of SDRs. 

In addition to flexing the skills that you learned as an SDR, you’ll also have to acquire a whole new set of management skills.

SDR Manager (0-2)	Base Salary	On-Target Earnings
San Francisco	110-140K	170-210K
New York	110-140K	170-210K
Pacific	100-140K	170-210K
Mountain	100-140K	170-210K
Central	100-140K	170-210K
Eastern	100-140K	170-210K
Remote	100-140K	170-210K

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SDR Manager (3-5 Years)

No surprises here.

An SDR Manager with 3-5 years of experience will make more than an SDR manager with 0-2 years of experience.

SDR Manager (3-5)	Base Salary	On-Target Earnings
San Francisco	140-180K	170-250K
New York	140-180K	170-250K
Pacific	140-180K	170-250K
Mountain	140-180K	170-250K
Central	140-180K	170-250K
Eastern	140-180K	170-250K
Remote	140-180K	170-250K

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Sales Manager (0-2 Years)