Sales Development Lead (Outbound/Enterprise)

About the Role

We’re looking for a metrics-driven, strategic Outbound Sales Lead to accelerate enterprise pipeline growth in the fast-evolving space of AI data annotation and training data services. This is a high-impact individual contributor role focused on both outbound execution and outbound program strategy.

You’ll play a dual role:

• Enterprise Pipeline Generation: Book 8–10 meetings per month and influence $2M+ pipeline per quarter with enterprise AI/ML leaders.
• Outbound Program Ownership: Design and continuously optimize data-driven workflows, messaging, tools, and reporting to maximize outbound efficiency and attribution.

Core Responsibilities:

1. Enterprise Outbound Execution (60%)

• Execute multi-threaded outbound campaigns (1:1, 1:few, 1:many) targeting C-level and technical personas (CDOs, Heads of AI/ML, Data Science).
• Own outreach across email, LinkedIn, phone, and events, driving at least:
  • 8–10 qualified meetings/month
  • 15–20% sequence reply rate
•  Lead discovery conversations to validate needs (data scale, compliance, labeling complexity), and document opportunity potential in CRM.
• Collaborate with AEs to hand off sales-ready opportunities, contributing $2M+ influenced pipeline per quarter and average deal size of $100K+.

2. Outbound Process Design & Optimization (25%)

• Architect repeatable outbound processes, including sequence strategy, persona-based messaging, and A/B testing frameworks.
• Build and manage smart, segmented account lists based on firmographics, product fit, and intent signals, ensuring high precision.
• Own outbound playbooks with built-in reporting on touchpoints → meetings → pipeline conversion metrics.

3. Outbound Technology, Data & Attribution (10%)

• Maintain and optimize outbound tech stack: Salesforce, Apollo, Clay, Gong, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, etc.
• Ensure 100% CRM attribution of outbound activity, pipeline source, and rep accountability.
• Continuously evaluate new tools and automation to reduce manual effort and increase outreach velocity.

4. Enablement & Performance Reporting (5%)

• Define and track KPIs across touches, engagement rates, meetings, conversion, and pipeline attribution.
• Build real-time dashboards and insights for Sales, Marketing, and RevOps on outbound ROI.
• Enable outbound best practices for AEs and BDRs — including list curation, personalization strategy, and message testing.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

Metric	Target
Qualified Meetings w/ Enterprise Execs	8–10 per month
Pipeline Influenced	$2M+ per quarter
Avg. Deal Size Influenced	$100K+ per opportunity
Sequence Reply Rate	15–20%
CRM Attribution Accuracy	100%
Forecast Accuracy	±10% on qualified opportunities

What Success Looks Like:

• Outbound campaigns consistently generate above-average engagement with target personas.
• All outbound-sourced opportunities are accurately attributed and forecastable.
• The sales team relies on your outbound systems, messaging, and account targeting with high satisfaction.
• Tools and sequences run efficiently with <2% downtime/friction.
• You continuously optimize and improve outbound ROI quarter-over-quarter.

Qualifications:

• 5–8 years in enterprise outbound sales, sales development, or sales engineering in B2B SaaS, AI/ML, or data services.
• Proven track record of meeting or exceeding pipeline generation and outreach performance targets.
• Hands-on expertise with Salesforce, Apollo, Clay, Gong, LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
• Analytical and technical mindset — able to design, measure, and refine high-performing GTM workflows.
• Strong project management, enablement, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

About Sama 

Sama provides high-quality training data that powers AI technology for Fortune 2000 companies such as Google, Walmart, Ford, Microsoft, and Marriott. We’re experts in data annotation, supporting text, 2D, 3D image, video, and sensor data for machine learning algorithms and generative AI models. Sama offers the highest quality SLAs in the industry, along with cutting-edge ML-assisted annotation tools, QA processes, and security and compliance standards.

Founded in 2008 on the belief that “talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not”, Sama is driven by the mission to expand opportunities for those who are underprivileged. As a certified B-Corp, Sama has provided worker training programs to increase economic opportunity for more than 15,000 people from underserved communities. By connecting our customers with amazing talent in East Africa, we've impacted more than 69,000 workers and their dependents.

Today, our vision is to provide data scientists, ML engineers, and data operations teams with an indispensable, integrated platform for AI data preparation, labeling, and collection. 

For more information, visit www.sama.com.

More information can be found at:

• Featured in Forbes: How Ethical Is Your AI?
• Sama Honored on Inc. Magazine’s Annual List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies — the Inc. 5000
• Reversing Poverty - Ted Talk by our founder Leila Janah

Our Culture:

Sama is quite unique. We are a technology company with a social mission. People that thrive in a high-growth environment, love working on the bleeding edge of technology, and really care about having a positive impact on the world are a great fit for the Sama culture. Our core values are One Team, One Goal - Deliver. Period. - Trust & Transparency - Customer First - Humanity.

Our Benefits:

Sama is proud to offer competitive compensation corresponding to market data & level of experience. Sama also offers benefits packages based on country of employment, including but not limited to medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, holiday and vacation policies, professional development stipends and a paid sabbatical program. Our Talent Acquisition team would be happy to discuss our benefits packages with you in more detail during the interview process.

At Sama, we pride ourselves in being a diverse and equal opportunity employer.