Senior Manager, Sales Development, DACH

About the role

Airwallex is building a modern, AI-powered sales development engine across DACH and EMEA. This role involves leading and expanding the SME Sales Development Representative (SDR) team, contributing to a significant revenue-generating function. You will guide a team of outbound SDRs, establish operational rhythms, and collaborate with Sales and Marketing to generate high-quality pipeline.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Provide hands-on leadership for the SME SDR team, coaching on outbound prospecting, qualification, and handover to Account Executives.
• Lead outbound SDRs to create qualified opportunities, meeting volume and value targets for pipeline generation.
• Partner with the Head of SME & Growth, DACH, to build a high-performance SDR organization, including operating cadence, performance standards, and hiring plans.
• Develop and refine a data-driven strategy for identifying and engaging new customers across priority segments and markets in EMEA, focusing on outbound.
• Work with Marketing to design and execute lead-generation campaigns, define follow-up SLAs, and ensure efficient qualification and actioning of inbound leads.
• Collaborate with Account Executives to ensure smooth opportunity handovers in Salesforce and optimize funnel conversion and pipeline health.
• Implement and analyze SDR KPIs and dashboards (opportunities created, value, conversion rates, activity levels) to identify trends, diagnose issues, and achieve monthly goals.
• Hire, onboard, and develop early-career sales talent, providing clear expectations, feedback, and progression paths to build a motivated, performance-driven team.
• Own and iterate SDR processes, playbooks, and tooling, including best practices for Salesforce, Outreach or SalesLoft, and AI-enabled prospecting and workflow automation.
• Build and scale an AI-assisted outbound engine for priority ICP plays, covering lead sourcing, trigger detection, account research, personalization, multithreading, and sequence testing.
• Design a data-led upper-funnel operating model for named-account and ABM motions, including segmentation, enrichment, routing logic, multilingual outreach, and experimentation.
• Partner with Sales and Marketing to translate DACH ICP plays into repeatable outbound programs, ensuring messaging and outreach reflect local market needs and German-language trust.
• Establish clear AI and automation guardrails, testing frameworks, and KPI dashboards to ensure scalable prospecting quality, compliant outreach, and measurable pipeline impact.
• Act as a cross-functional partner to People & Talent, Marketing, Sales, and Revenue Operations to improve talent attraction, pipeline generation, and market wins.

Requirements

• Experience leading an outbound SDR team, preferably in a startup or scale-up where outbound drives growth.
• Proven experience building and expanding a sales development or sales unit, including hiring, process establishment, and coaching to meet ambitious targets.
• Demonstrated success in hiring and developing early-career sales talent into high performers who progress to closing roles.
• Strong cross-functional experience with People & Talent, Marketing, and Account Executives to align on target accounts, campaigns, and pipeline goals.
• Excellent written, numerical, and verbal communication skills, able to simplify complex information for teams and customers.
• Proficiency with Salesforce or another modern CRM, sales engagement tools like Outreach or SalesLoft, and modern AI-enabled prospecting or workflow automation tools.
• Comfort operating in a metrics-driven environment.
• Proven experience implementing AI tools, workflow automation, or agentic prospecting systems to enhance personalization, SDR efficiency, and pipeline generation.
• Strong strategic thinking skills, able to break down complex problems and design pragmatic, scalable solutions for high-growth environments.
• Ability to foster a motivated, inclusive, and performance-driven culture where SDRs feel supported, challenged, and accountable.
• 2+ years of experience in a sales management or leadership role, ideally in a high-growth tech startup or scale-up, or a proven track record as a senior individual contributor.
• Professional fluency in German and English.

Nice to have

• Experience leading both inbound and outbound SDR motions, including playbook design for various lead sources, segments, and ABM use cases.
• Prior experience building or scaling a commercial team or new office in DACH or broader EMEA, with exposure to 0-to-1 or 1-to-10 growth phases.
• Hands-on experience building AI-assisted upper-funnel motions, including account research, trigger-based prospecting, signal capture, multithreading, and sequence optimization.
• Experience designing prospecting systems for Germany-first or DACH GTM, including localized messaging, German-language outreach, and trust-led engagement strategies.
• Background in fintech, banking, or B2B SaaS, with familiarity across FX, payments, cards, or spend management products.
• Hands-on experience using structured sales methodologies and qualification frameworks such as MEDDIC, MEDDPICC, or SPICED within SDR or sales teams.

Skills & tools

• Salesforce
• Outreach
• SalesLoft
• AI-enabled prospecting tools
• Workflow automation tools
• CRM

Practical notes

Airwallex does not request bank details, sensitive ID numbers, or payment during the application process. All official communication will come from an @airwallex.com email address. Apply only through careers.airwallex.com or the official LinkedIn page. Unsolicited resumes from recruiters are not accepted, and no fees will be paid unless a prior agreement exists.