Business Development Lead, Enterprise

About the role

Perplexity is looking for a Business Development Manager to establish and grow our enterprise BDR team. This position involves recruiting, training, and guiding BDRs to create qualified leads for our Enterprise Account Executives. It suits a proactive sales leader experienced in building pipeline generation functions and eager to influence the outbound strategy of a rapidly expanding AI enterprise.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Recruit, integrate, and train a team of BDRs, setting up their onboarding, operational rhythm, and performance standards.
• Take responsibility for the BDR team's contribution to sourced pipeline and qualified opportunities.
• Create and refine the outbound strategy, covering account selection, industry-specific messaging, and multi-channel outreach.
• Work with Enterprise AEs on account planning, lead distribution, and smooth handoffs.
• Build industry knowledge within the team so representatives can have meaningful discussions with buyers in sectors like Financial Services, Legal, Life Sciences, and Consulting.
• Guide representatives to present Perplexity's entire product range, aligning the right entry point with each account.
• Manage the operational routine: weekly one-on-one meetings, call and message evaluations, pipeline reviews, and a clear performance tracking system.
• Partner with Sales, Marketing, RevOps, and Strategic Finance on lead quality, source attribution, and compensation structure.
• Develop BDRs into future Account Executives, creating a strong internal talent pool.

Requirements

• 4 or more years in SaaS sales or business development.
• 1 to 2 or more years directly managing a BDR or SDR team.
• Demonstrated success in establishing or expanding a pipeline generation team in a high-growth setting.
• Proficient in coaching representatives on outbound prospecting, qualification, and executive interactions.
• A data-driven approach to operations, including the ability to define, monitor, and improve conversion metrics.
• Experience with modern prospecting tools and AI-native sales processes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, comfortable interacting with senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience with CRM systems such as Salesforce.
• A Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.

Nice to have

• Previous closing experience is strongly preferred.

Skills & tools

• Salesforce

Practical notes

• The cash compensation for this role is $180,000 - $240,000 OTE, based on experience level.