Sales Development Manager

This is a consumer fintech startup, and you will be working with serial entrepreneurs who have built strong consumer brands and innovative products. We value extreme ownership, clear communication, a strong sense of craftsmanship, and the desire to create lasting work and work relationships. Yes, you can build an exciting business AND have real-life real-customer impact.

This role will manage SDRs from two teams out of our new Phoenix office. 

1. The Enterprise Sales Development team runs high-volume, targeted outbound outreach (calls, emails, and LinkedIn) to strategic prospects such as financial institutions, lenders, fintech and embedded finance platforms, gig economy companies, and other consumer businesses serving customers who can benefit from better credit.
   
   The ultimate goal is to reach the right decision makers, spark interest in Kikoff's Enterprise platform, and book qualified meetings that our Business Development team converts into partnerships. Those partnerships can range from embedding Kikoff's credit-building products into a partner's customer experience to powering critical credit infrastructure such as bureau furnishing, decline recovery, dispute management, decisioning, and credit progression.
   
   
2. The Kikoff Ambassadors team runs high-volume outbound outreach (calls, emails, and LinkedIn) to small businesses such as credit repair companies, debt relief companies, mortgage brokers, auto dealers, and other businesses whose end customers can benefit from credit-building products.
   
   The ultimate goal is to sign these small businesses up as Kikoff affiliate partners who refer their end customers to Kikoff.  By doing so, these small businesses can improve their customer retention while potentially unlocking their customers’ access to financial products (e.g., mortgages, auto loans).

Kikoff ran an SDR pilot for both of these teams with a third-party provider and is now building this in-house with a dedicated, in-office Sales Development team in Phoenix. As one of the first leadership hires in this office, you will inherit an established playbook and early traction and be responsible for turning it into a scalable, high-performing team.

We're looking for a Manager of Sales Development to lead, coach, and potentially scale a team of approximately six SDRs split across our Enterprise and Kikoff Ambassadors pods. As one of the first leadership hires in this office, you'll play a foundational role in shaping how the team performs.

You will own the day-to-day performance of the team: running the cadence of 1:1s, team huddles, and coaching sessions that keep reps improving and hitting their numbers; owning key metrics like dials, meetings booked, and partners onboarded; and continuously refining outreach scripts, cadences, and playbooks based on what's actually working in the field. You will work closely with leaders on both sides of the business (Kikoff's Enterprise Business Development team and the Affiliate & Partnerships team) to make sure your SDRs' outreach and hand-offs are tightly aligned with what each side of the business needs.

This role is well suited for someone who has managed a sales development or inside sales team before, thrives in a fast-paced, still-being-built environment, and wants real ownership over how a new team's processes and culture take shape.

• →Act as the voice of the market internally, bringing insights from partners and prospects back to Kikoff to inform product development and go-to-market strategy.
• →Lead, manage, and coach a team of approximately six SDRs across two teams (Kikoff Enterprise and Kikoff Ambassadors) with each team running outbound outreach via call, email, and LinkedIn.
• →Run a regular cadence of 1:1s, team huddles, and coaching sessions to develop each rep's skills and hold the team accountable.
• →Own and report on key team metrics, including dials, emails sent, LinkedIn touches, meetings booked, and partners onboarded.
• →Monitor and QA calls and outreach to ensure quality, coaching reps on objection handling, messaging, and consultative selling.
• →Continuously refine outreach scripts, cadences, and playbooks for both the Enterprise and Ambassadors motions based on what's converting.
• →Partner closely with Kikoff's Enterprise Business Development team to ensure warm intros generated by the Enterprise SDR pod are high-quality and well-briefed before hand-off.
• →Partner closely with Kikoff's Affiliate & Partnerships team to align on target verticals, partner vetting requirements, and onboarding processes for the Ambassadors pod.
• →Own hiring, onboarding, and training for new SDRs as the team scales.
• →Maintain team-wide CRM hygiene and reporting so leadership has clear, real-time visibility into pipeline, activity, and productivity.
• →Ensure the team follows required vetting and compliance procedures when onboarding affiliate partners.
• →Identify and recommend opportunities to scale the team and improve conversion as the Phoenix office grows.

• Based in or willing to work from our Phoenix, AZ office 5 days per week.
• Experience managing or supervising a team of SDRs, BDRs, or inside sales reps, ideally in a high-volume outbound environment.
• Track record of driving team performance against activity, meeting, and pipeline targets and of coaching underperforming reps back to standard.
• Strong, hands-on coaching ability; comfortable listening to calls and reviewing emails to give direct, specific feedback.
• Ability to guide SDRs on generating high-impact lead lists that align with our defined Ideal Customer Profile.
• Experience with CRM tools and sales engagement or prospecting platforms; comfortable getting hands-on with the team's tech stack.
• Excellent organizational skills, with the ability to manage two distinct team priorities and outreach motions at once.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, early-stage environment where processes are still being refined.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to represent the team's performance and needs to senior stakeholders.
• Familiarity with cold outreach, affiliate/partnership, or channel sales motions; fintech or financial services experience is a plus.
• Bachelor's degree is preferred.