Sales Development Representative (f/m/d)

Aptiv’s Corporate Sales team sells to all levels of decision makers within Aptiv’s prospective customers that span the Robotics, Drones, UGV’s, Aerospace, Government & Defense OEM’s.  This role will be focused on our Adjacent Markets strategy.

The Strategic Outbound Sales Development Representative (OB SDR) is an outbound lead generation position responsible for focused outbound efforts, closing prospects for discovery meetings that, in turn, lead to business opportunities while building new customer relationships.

Position Overview

Reporting directly to the Director/Manager of Sales Development with dotted line to VP of Adjacent Markets, the SDR is often the first contact for many Aptiv prospects via outbound telemarketing calls, emails and social touches.  The OB SDR qualifies prospects, uncovers business priorities and challenges, to develop quality meetings for the Adjacent Markets account teams.

At the front end of the process, the OB SDR is responsible for identifying accounts/prospects in their assigned territory then passing them to the appropriate account executive.  The OB SDR role is a development position for a person aspiring for advancement in our sales organization.

Responsibilities

• Identify prospect’s business priorities and challenges within new, high-intent accounts, uncovering obstacles to their goals and pinpointing relevant new business opportunities
• Research key accounts and stakeholders, using sales engagement tools to deliver prompt follow-up, spark interest, and arrange deeper discovery meetings for the account executive team.
• Learn and maintain in-depth knowledge of Aptiv solutions, use cases, customer stories, industry trends and competition
• Knowledge of or ability to learn Robotics & Drone/Defense OEM’s to align Aptiv solutions with industry challenges
• Consistently achieve or exceed performance goals and pipeline revenue that results in closed won opportunities for the AE team.

Qualifications

• Cold calling and prospecting: Demonstrated ability to engage decision-makers through outbound calls, emails, and LinkedIn, with a track record of meeting or exceeding quotas.  
• Technical articulation: Ability to understand and communicate complex technical solutions, such as Aptiv’s cloud-to-edge platforms, as value to technical and non-technical stakeholders (e.g., CTOs, engineers)
• CRM proficiency: Experience with sales tools like Salesforce, 6sense, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and other sales engagement tools to manage pipelines and track interactions
• Research and personalization: Skilled at researching accounts and prospects (e.g., Robotics – Boston Dynamics, Kuka, Drones – Anduril, Helsing, etc.) to tailor outreach, addressing specific pain points like edge latency or security
• Resilience and self-motivation: Comfortable handling rejection in a high-volume outbound role, maintaining a positive attitude, and driving results independently 
• Collaboration: Ability to work closely with account teams and marketing to execute targeted prospecting strategies, providing feedback on campaign effectiveness 
• Time management: Strong organizational skills to prioritize high-potential leads and manage a robust pipeline in a fast-paced environment
• Customer focus: Adept at building rapport, understanding client needs and retelling a customer story to build consensus about our value to the prospect (e.g., secure edge-to-cloud solutions that leverage open-source flexibility and operational efficiency to minimize cloud costs)

Desired Skills & Experience

• 1-3 years of B2B sales experience: Proven success in lead generation and qualifying prospects in a professional, metrics-driven environment, ideally in the software or technology sector
• Hardware industry exposure: Familiarity with selling components, hardware, embedded systems solutions, particularly to OEM clients in robotics, Drones or defense markets.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.

ABOUT YOU

Core Competencies, Demonstrated Success & Qualifications

• Resilient and Persistent: Comfortable with rejection in high-volume cold outreach, maintaining motivation to hit/exceed quotas in long enterprise sales cycles
• Curious and Quick-Learning: Eager to grasp complex solutions (e.g., Autonomy, & perception systems) and translate them into customer value for diverse industries
• Collaborative: Team-oriented, willing to sync with marketing, AEs, and product teams to refine messaging and ensure smooth lead handoffs
• Confident Communicator: Articulate and professional, able to engage C-suite and technical buyers with tailored, solution-focused pitches emphasizing security and efficiency
• Adaptable: Flexibly tailors outreach strategies to diverse enterprise prospects (e.g., Product Manager, R&D leader, or CTO vs hardware engineer), adjusting messaging to address unique industry needs and feedback
• Data-Driven: Leverages CRM analytics and intent signals to prioritize high-intent accounts, optimizing outreach for maximum meeting quality and pipeline impact.
• Empathetic Listener: Actively listens to prospects’ pain points during discovery (e.g., safety concerns, cost challenges, geographic sourcing needs, & technical capability gaps), building trust to qualify leads and align solutions with client goals
• Organized and Disciplined: Manages high-volume outreach (e.g., 50-100 daily multi-channel touches), with strong time management, ensuring timely follow-ups and accurate CRM documentation for seamless team collaboration.
• Results-Oriented: Consistently meets or exceeds KPIs (e.g., activities, discovery meetings, opportunities) by refining approaches to drive pipeline growth and revenue outcomes

Why join us?

• You can grow at Aptiv. Aptiv provides an inclusive work environment where all individuals can grow and develop, regardless of gender, ethnicity or beliefs

• You can have an impact. Safety is a core Aptiv value; we want a safer world for us and our children, one with: Zero fatalities, Zero injuries, Zero accidents

Aptiv Benefits:

• Our working style: flexible work environment Learning, professional growth and development in a world-recognized international environment.

• Access to internal & external training, coaching & certifications.

• Recognition for innovation and excellence.

• Opportunities to give back to the community

Apply today, and together let’s change tomorrow! 

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Aptiv is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.