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Senior Sales Development Representative

San Francisco, CA

What we do

Ascend is transforming the $10T global insurance industry by combining AI automation with embedded fintech. While insurance makes up 7.2% of global GDP, outdated financial infrastructure—PDFs, emails, and manual reconciliation—slows the industry down. Ascend is the first and market-leading finance automation platform built specifically for insurance, driving its rapid digital transformation.

In just three years, we’ve:

  • Acquired 3,000+ customers, including multiple top insurance distributors
  • Processed billions in transactions annually, growing 200%+ per year.
  • Built a world-class team of 50+ people in our San Francisco and Columbus offices.

How we do it

Ascend automates the entire insurance financial lifecycle—from collections and accounting to reconciliations and disbursements—helping businesses streamline operations and increase profitability.

In the AI era, software alone is no longer enough. For decades, software costs have declined, and with AI, they are now in free fall. As both software buyers and builders, we fully embrace this shift—it makes technology more powerful and accessible. However, businesses must also maximize monetization, and the future belongs to those that embed themselves into financial flows rather than simply selling SaaS.

That’s why AI + fintech is our edge—seamlessly integrating financial automation into transactions to create real, lasting value. Customers don’t just buy software; they unlock powerful financial efficiencies with a 5-7x ROI.

Why we do it

Insurance is a $10T+ industry running on legacy systems. AI alone won’t fix it, but AI-powered automation embedded into payments and transactions will.

Ascend’s mission is to become the leading financial automation platform for insurance by 2030—powering the entire industry’s financial operations while transforming the way trillions of dollars move.

Your role

As a Senior Sales Development Representative you’ll be a driving force behind Ascend’s growth and at the forefront of our go-to-market efforts. In particular, you will play a key role in shaping and advancing our sales development strategy to break into and expand within the Enterprise segment; a pivotal initiative that will accelerate our momentum in 2025 and further solidify our leadership in the space.

To accomplish this, 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 – right by 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: defining new Enterprise-specific outreach strategies, building dashboards in Salesforce).
  • 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 and beyond, 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: 9+ 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: Want to experiment with new outreach ideas, and are constantly looking for ways to do things faster, more efficiently, and more effectively.
  • Flexible and Agile: Excited by the opportunities that a fast-paced environment offers, and can quickly adapt 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 haves:

  • 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

  • Dog-friendly office!

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.

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