Senior Sales Development Representative @ Ascend

Sales & Account Management (1)

What We Do

Ascend is transforming the $10T global insurance industry by combining AI automation with embedded fintech.

While insurance represents 7.2% of global GDP, outdated financial infrastructure like PDFs, emails, and manual reconciliation continues to slow the industry down. Ascend is the first and market-leading finance automation platform built specifically for insurance, driving the industry’s rapid digital transformation.

In just five years:

Trusted by thousands of insurance businesses nationwide
Processes billions in transactions annually, growing 200%+ YoY
Built a world-class team of 70+ across San Francisco and Columbus

How We Do It

Ascend automates the insurance financial lifecycle, from collections to disbursements. We streamline operations and drive real profitability.

AI is rapidly driving the cost of software down, opening the door to faster innovation and broader access. At the same time, it is shifting where value is created. The strongest companies embed directly into financial workflows, capturing value at the point where money moves.

Ascend brings AI and fintech together to automate financial operations inside the transaction itself. Customers do not just adopt software. They unlock powerful financial efficiency with a proven 5-7x return on investment.

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. You’ll help shape our sales development strategy as we expand into new products and customer segments, and play a critical role in executing and scaling what comes next.

We’re looking for someone with a proven history of effective cold calling, a strong drive for continuous improvement, and a creative approach to outreach. As an early member of the SDR team, you’ll 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.

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 (and begin generating pipeline):

Develop a deep understanding of the problems 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 (for example: defining new enterprise-specific outreach strategies or 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, you will have in-depth conversations with prospective customers and perform alongside the other members of our SDR team:

Collaborate with marketing and the broader GTM function to identify new opportunities and push the team forward
Leverage 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 team members 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 and 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 the moment
A learner’s mindset: self-motivated, resourceful, and excited to learn new strategies, messaging, and tools
A creative thinker: eager to experiment with new outreach ideas and constantly looking for ways to improve efficiency and impact
Flexible and agile: excited by the pace of a startup environment and able to adapt quickly to shifting priorities
The ultimate team player: you thrive in collaboration and are energized by team wins above all else

Nice to Haves

Experience with Salesforce, Outreach, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, or Clay
Exposure to startup environments and comfort with navigating ambiguity
Ping pong skills. Yes, ping pong skills – ask us about this in your initial interview!

Benefits

Competitive base salary and meaningful equity
100% health premiums covered for you and your dependents
401k with employer matching options
A fast growing team with an emphasis on promoting from within 80% of all hires in the last 12 months have already been promoted!
Unlimited PTO
Monthly company-paid commuter benefit options
Parental and family leave
Lunch provided when in office
Dog-friendly office!

All roles at Ascend are 5 days a week onsite at our beautiful office in SoMa!

Join us to 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 $10T+ 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.

Senior Sales Development Representative

Ascend

What We Do

How We Do It

Why We Do It

Your Role

Responsibilities Will Include

You Might Be a Good Fit If You Are/Have

Nice to Haves

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

What critics are saying

What makes Ascend unique

Benefits

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

1 year growth

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