Sales Development Representative (SF)

What we do

Ascend is a fintech company building the financial automation platform for the $7T global insurance market (insurance premiums make up 7.2% of global GDP!). Ascend is the first and market leading modern finance automation platform purpose built for for insurance to enable the industry's rapid digitalization.

Founded 3 years ago, Ascend has achieved the following milestones:

• Acquired over 3,000 customers, including several of the top 25 largest insurance distributors nationally (Acrisure, Insurica, NFP, etc.) as well as leading Insurtechs (Vouch, Embroker, Founder Shield).
• Processing billions of dollars in transactions anually and growing 300%+ per year
• Named a Top 50 Insurtech by CB Insights.
• Built a world-class team of 40 based out of our San Francisco, CA, and Columbus, OH offices.

How we do it

Ascend is the industry leading platform to automate the entire insurance financial operations lifecycle across collections, accounting, reconciliations, and disbursements. Businesses using Ascend experience improved operational efficiencies, treasury management, and customer experience – resulting in increased profitability and full visibility into financial performance. We are typically able to provide our customers a 5-7x ROI by replacing their current manual processes with Ascend's software.

Why we do it

To simplify one of the world’s most crucial yet outdated industries. Ascend’s goal is to become the market-leading finance automation platform for insurance businesses by 2030.

The role

As a Sales Development Representative, you’ll be a driving force behind Ascend’s growth and at the forefront of our go-to-market efforts. You’ll take on the responsibility of initiating and conducting cold outreach (cold calls, emails, LinkedIn messaging etc.) to secure qualified meetings for our sales team. We’re on the lookout for someone with a proven history of effective cold calling, coupled with a strong drive for constant improvement and creative approaches to cold outreach. As an early member of the SDR team, you will be instrumental in defining what good looks like and upleveling our SDR function as we scale.

Please note, this role is in-person at our San Francisco office (near the Giants ballpark)!

Responsibilities will include
Objective #1: In your first 30 days, you will onboard and get up to speed on Ascend, our processes, and our market (+ begin generating pipeline):

• Develop a deep understanding of the problems that our customers face, how Ascend solves them, and how to communicate that value to prospective customers.
• Learn and ask questions about how we operate as an SDR team, as a GTM function, and as a business more broadly.
• Jump into prospecting, cold calling, cold emailing, and booking demos with guidance and coaching from other team members.

Objective #2: In your first 60 days, you will establish the key habits and processes needed to drive predictable and repeatable results:

• Work with your manager on a strategic initiative that you will own, build, and implement across the team (ex: building dashboards in Salesforce, or creating email templates).
• Identify and establish a repeatable process to meet weekly, monthly, and quarterly goals, and build structure around your workflows to ensure consistency.
• Experiment with different outreach strategies, messaging, cadences and channels, and attend industry events.

Objective #3: In your first 90 days, you will have in-depth conversations with prospective customers and crush it alongside the other members of our SDR team:

• Collaborate with marketing and our broader GTM function to identify new opportunities and push our team forwards.
• Leverage our data and reporting to find areas for improvement and optimization, both individually and across the sales development function.
• Give feedback to - and receive feedback from - other members of the team to ensure consistent learnings, and mentor new SDRs as they join.

You might be a good fit if you are / have

• Some Proven Experience: 6+ months of SDR experience in SaaS is preferred (but open to ambitious people who break that mold + are eager to grow in their sales career).
• Strong Communication Skills: Comfortable speaking on the phone, clear in writing, and able to adapt messaging to whatever the moment requires.
• Learner’s Mindset: Self-motivated and resourceful, and excited by the opportunity to learn new strategies, messaging, and software tools.
• Creative Thinker: Constantly looking for ways to do things faster and more efficiently, and finding new ways to push the team forwards.
• Flexible and Agile: The ability to excel in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, adapting to shifting priorities and business demands.
• The Ultimate Team Player: You love working alongside others and are energized by team wins above all else.

Nice to have

• Experience with the following tech stack: Salesforce, Outreach, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo and Clay
• Exposure to startup environments and adeptness in navigating ambiguity
• Ping pong skills. Yes, ping pong skills – ask us about this in your initial interview!

Benefits

• Competitive base salary and meaningful equity in a fast-growing company
• 100% health premiums covered for you and your dependents
• 401k with employer matching options
• Unlimited PTO
• Monthly company-paid commuter benefit options, and fitness stipends
• Parental and family leave
• Lunch provided when in office
• Company outings and off-sites

Join Ascend and be part of our mission to revolutionize the insurance industry and contribute to global financial modernization. Your leadership can make a significant impact on improving the $1T+ insurance industry.

Equal Opportunity

We are committed to equal opportunity employment and embrace diversity within our organization. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

We encourage candidates to apply even if their experience doesn't precisely match this opportunity. We value diversity and are dedicated to equal opportunity employment.