Director of Sales Development, Americas

Overview

You run the SDR organization for GitHub's Americas business, managing a team that qualifies inbound leads from the massive free user base and runs outbound campaigns into target enterprise accounts. You work out of either SF or Seattle in a hybrid setup, spending your time coaching reps, reviewing pipeline with AE leaders, and optimizing the qualification process for a product-led growth motion where many prospects already use GitHub for free.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Public (Microsoft-owned since 2018)

Size: ~6,000 employees

Growth: Mature product with massive install base (100M+ developers). Growth now comes from converting free users to paid enterprise licenses and expanding within existing accounts

Market Position: Category leader in developer platforms. Competes with GitLab, Bitbucket, and emerging AI coding tools

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 60% PLG/Inbound - Free users showing enterprise signals (team size, security needs, usage patterns). Quality varies widely - many tire-kickers, some hot hand-raisers
• 30% Outbound - Targeted campaigns into accounts already using GitHub for free but not on enterprise plans. Lists come from product usage data
• 10% Events/Partners - GitHub Universe, AWS/Azure partnerships, developer conferences

SDR/AE Structure: Your SDRs feed a dedicated enterprise AE team. It's a well-defined handoff - SDRs qualify and book meetings, AEs run the deal. You partner closely with the Americas VP of Sales.

SE Support: Strong SE organization. Your team needs to triage hard enough that SEs aren't wasting time on deals that won't convert.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors:

• GitLab (integrated DevSecOps platform)
• Bitbucket/Atlassian (bundled with Jira)
• AWS CodeCommit, Azure DevOps (cloud-native options)

How They Differentiate: GitHub has brand dominance and the largest developer community. GitHub Copilot (AI coding assistant) is a key differentiator now. Main pitch is "your devs are already here, let's add security, compliance, and collaboration for your enterprise."

Common Objections:

• "We're fine on the free plan"
• "We already have GitLab/Bitbucket and migrating is painful"
• "Your enterprise pricing is too high"
• Security/compliance concerns about cloud-hosted code

Win Themes: Developer love for the product, AI capabilities with Copilot, integration ecosystem, Microsoft relationship for existing O365 shops

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

People Management (40%) | Pipeline/Forecasting (25%) | Cross-functional (20%) | Hiring/Strategy (15%)

Key Activities

• 1-on-1s and Deal Coaching: You have 8-15 direct reports (SDR managers and/or individual SDRs depending on structure). You listen to calls, review email sequences, and coach on qualification criteria. A lot of time spent on "is this really enterprise-ready or just a dev team that likes free stuff?"

• Pipeline Reviews with Sales Leadership: Weekly or bi-weekly meetings with the Americas VP and AE managers reviewing what your team sourced, what converted, what fell apart. You defend your team's qualification decisions when deals don't close.

• Metrics and Process Optimization: You live in Salesforce and Outreach/Salesloft. You're constantly tweaking - which inbound signals matter most? What outbound messaging works? How do we shorten time-to-contact on hot leads? Lots of A/B testing and data analysis.

• Hiring and Onboarding: At this level of leadership, you're always hiring. SDR turnover is real - people promote out or leave. You interview candidates, make offers, build onboarding programs. You probably hire 5-10 people per year.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• PLG Qualification is Messy: You get thousands of inbound signals. Most are small teams or individuals who'll never buy enterprise licenses. Teaching your team to separate signal from noise without burning through good leads is constant work.

• Tension with AE Leadership: When your team's pipeline doesn't close, AEs blame qualification. When AEs don't close your pipeline, you blame their execution. You're in the middle managing that friction and proving your team's value.

• Burnout Management: SDR work is repetitive and high-rejection. Your reps burn out or promote out fast. You're constantly rebuilding team culture, motivation, and capability while hitting aggressive pipeline targets.

• Optimization Pressure: Because the product is mature and the brand is strong, leadership expects efficient pipeline generation. You're measured on cost-per-qualified-opp and conversion rates. There's always pressure to do more with less.

What Success Looks Like

• Your team consistently sources 60-70% of enterprise AE pipeline and those opps convert at 20-25%
• You promote 2-3 SDRs per year into AE or management roles
• Your cost-per-qualified-meeting trends down while volume stays flat or grows
• AE leaders trust your team's qualification and fight to get more of your pipeline

Who You're Managing/Enabling to Sell To

Primary Buyers (that your SDRs qualify for):

• VPs of Engineering / CTOs at mid-market and enterprise companies (500-5000+ employees)
• Security/Compliance leaders (CISOs, AppSec directors) worried about code security
• IT/DevOps leaders consolidating toolchains

What They Care About:

• Code security and compliance (SOC2, FedRAMP, audit trails)
• Developer productivity and retention (devs love GitHub)
• Reducing toolchain complexity (consolidating repos, CI/CD, security scanning)
• GitHub Copilot ROI (AI coding assistant becoming a major buying factor)

Requirements

• 7-10+ years in B2B SaaS sales, with at least 3-5 years managing SDR/BDR teams
• Experience in PLG or high-velocity SaaS environments where you're qualifying inbound at scale
• Track record of building and coaching teams that consistently hit pipeline targets
• Data-driven approach to optimization (A/B testing, funnel analysis, forecasting)
• Ability to work hybrid in SF or Seattle - this isn't a remote role
• Comfort with technical products and developer/engineering buyers
• Experience partnering with senior sales leadership (VPs, CROs) on strategy