Hiring SaaS Sales Talent in 2026: What Series A+ Companies Should Look For in SDRs and AEs

Hiring SaaS sales talent becomes a more demanding decision as a company grows. The people who helped establish the business’s early sales motion may no longer be enough to support its next stage, and bringing in experienced salespeople does not automatically mean they will succeed in a different environment.

For founders, CEOs, sales leaders and talent teams, the challenge is to identify people who can deliver in the business they are building, rather than simply hiring candidates with impressive resumes or familiar company names on their profiles.

A strong hiring process starts with a clear understanding of the role, the customers the salesperson will work with and the outcomes the business expects. From there, hiring teams can assess candidates on demonstrated ability, relevant experience and how well their skills match the company’s sales motion.

This guide explains what to look for when hiring Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) and Account Executives (AEs), how to evaluate candidates beyond the interview, and when a specialist sales hiring partner can help.

What should SaaS companies define before hiring sales talent?

Before reviewing applications, the hiring team should be able to explain what the new salesperson will be responsible for and what success in the role will look like.

The answer depends on how the company sells. A SaaS business targeting small companies through a relatively straightforward sales process will need a different profile from one selling complex software to enterprise buyers through lengthy evaluations and multiple stakeholders. The Salesforce guide to sales roles provides useful context on how sales responsibilities vary across teams and selling environments.

A clear hiring brief should cover:

• The target customer: Who will the salesperson engage with, and what business problems do those customers need to solve?
• The sales motion: Will the role focus on inbound enquiries, outbound prospecting, account expansion or managing opportunities through the full sales cycle?
• The expected contribution: Is the person responsible for creating qualified pipeline, closing new business, growing existing accounts or supporting customer retention?
• The level of ownership: Will the hire follow an established process, or will they need to help refine the approach as the company grows?
• The evidence of success: Which outcomes, behaviours and skills will the hiring team use to assess performance?

These details help prevent a common hiring mistake: searching for a generally impressive salesperson without defining what the business actually needs that person to accomplish.

A well-written job description should therefore communicate the responsibilities and expectations of the role, not just list preferred qualifications. Once those expectations are clear, the next step is to identify the capabilities that distinguish a suitable candidate from someone who merely interviews well.

What to look for when hiring SaaS sales talent

Previous experience is useful, but the more important question is what that experience tells you about a candidate’s ability to perform in your environment.

A salesperson who has worked at a well-known software company may have benefited from established brand recognition, strong inbound demand, a mature sales enablement function or a large team supporting the selling process. Someone from a smaller business may have had to create opportunities with fewer resources and take greater ownership of the sales cycle. Neither background automatically makes a candidate better; the hiring team needs to understand what the person actually did and how relevant that experience is to the role.

When assessing candidates, look beyond the company names on their resumes and examine the following areas.

• Relevant selling experience. Has the candidate worked with buyers who resemble your target customers, handled comparable sales conversations or sold a product with similar complexity? Experience does not need to be identical, but the candidate should be able to explain how their skills transfer to your business.
• Evidence of performance. Ask candidates to explain their responsibilities, targets, achievements and contribution to the results they describe. If they mention quota attainment, pipeline creation or major deals, explore the context rather than treating the headline figure as sufficient proof.
• Customer understanding. Strong salespeople can connect a product to a buyer’s business problem. During an interview, listen for whether the candidate asks relevant questions, understands the commercial implications and adapts their explanation to the person they are speaking with.
• Adaptability and ownership. A growing company may need employees who can work with changing priorities, learn unfamiliar products and take responsibility for their results. Look for specific examples of how candidates handled challenges rather than relying on personality descriptions such as “self-starter” or “highly motivated.”

These competencies provide a common foundation for sales hiring, but they should not be weighted equally across every position. The distinction becomes clearer when you assess SDRs and Account Executives according to the work they are expected to perform.

What to look for when hiring an SDR for a SaaS company

An SDR’s contribution centres on identifying potential customers, starting relevant conversations and qualifying opportunities for the sales team. The role requires more than a willingness to make calls or send emails; the candidate needs to understand who is worth approaching, why the outreach matters and how to determine whether a prospect is a genuine fit.

The Salesforce overview of the SDR role provides a useful reference for understanding how sales development connects prospect engagement with identifying opportunities.

When hiring an SDR, focus on these capabilities.

Prospecting and account research

A capable SDR should be able to identify relevant companies and understand why they might need the product. Ask the candidate to research a sample account and explain whom they would approach, which business problem they would investigate and what information influenced their decision.

Personalised communication

Good outreach gives a prospect a reason to pay attention. Ask candidates to write a short introductory email or explain how they would open a call with a specific buyer. Evaluate the relevance of their message, the clarity of the business problem and whether their approach sounds appropriate for the audience.

Qualification and listening

Booking a meeting is not the whole job if the resulting conversation has little relevance to the business. Candidates should be able to ask useful questions, listen to the answers and recognise when an opportunity deserves further attention. A role-play based on a realistic prospect conversation can help reveal these skills.

Consistency and coachability

Prospecting involves repetition, feedback and adjustments to the approach. Ask candidates to describe how they responded when an outreach strategy failed to produce the intended results, what they changed and how they assessed whether the change helped.

For an SDR role, the strongest evidence often comes from a combination of relevant past experience, a practical prospecting exercise and the candidate’s ability to explain their decisions. This gives the hiring team a clearer picture of how they approach the work than a discussion of confidence or ambition alone.

What to look for when hiring a SaaS Account Executive

An Account Executive needs to do more than generate interest. The role typically involves understanding the buyer’s needs, building a credible business case, managing stakeholders and moving opportunities towards a decision. The precise responsibilities depend on the company’s sales process, particularly where deals involve complex products or multiple decision-makers.

The hiring process should therefore establish whether a candidate can manage the sales responsibilities they will actually own.

Deal ownership and sales experience

Ask candidates to walk through a deal they personally managed, from the initial conversation to its outcome. Establish their specific contribution, the challenges they encountered, how they progressed the opportunity and what they learned. A recognisable customer name or an impressive deal value means little without understanding the candidate’s role in securing it.

Discovery and business acumen

An effective AE needs to understand why a customer might buy, what is preventing the customer from moving forward and how the proposed solution connects to business priorities. A discovery role-play can reveal whether the candidate asks thoughtful questions or moves straight into a product pitch before understanding the problem.

Objection handling and deal management

Explore how the candidate handles concerns about pricing, implementation, competing solutions or the timing of a purchase. The aim is not to find someone who has a prepared answer for every objection, but someone who can investigate the concern, respond appropriately and maintain a constructive conversation.

Forecasting and accountability

Candidates should be able to discuss their pipeline, sales targets, forecast decisions and performance with enough detail to demonstrate ownership. Ask how they assess the likelihood of a deal closing, what signals might change their forecast and how they communicate risks to their manager.

A practical assessment could involve reviewing a hypothetical opportunity and asking the candidate to identify missing information, potential obstacles and sensible next steps. The US Office of Personnel Management’s guidance on work samples and simulations explains the value of using tasks that resemble the work a candidate would perform in the job.

How to evaluate SaaS sales candidates beyond their resumes

Once the required competencies are clear, the next challenge is collecting reliable evidence that candidates possess them. A polished interview can create a positive impression, but hiring decisions become more useful when candidates are assessed against consistent, job-related criteria.

The US Office of Personnel Management’s guidance on structured interviews recommends using predetermined questions and consistent rating standards to assess candidates more systematically.

A practical hiring process can follow this approach.

1. Start with a role-specific screening process. Review the candidate’s experience against the actual requirements of the position, including the type of customer they have sold to, the responsibilities they have owned and the relevance of their previous environment.
2. Validate the achievements described. Ask candidates to explain how they reached their results, what they personally contributed and which circumstances affected their performance. The goal is to understand the evidence behind the claim rather than reward the most confident explanation.
3. Use a realistic work sample. An SDR might be asked to research an account and draft an outreach message, while an AE might be asked to conduct a discovery conversation or analyse a sample opportunity. The exercise should reflect the job and be proportionate to the role.
4. Apply a shared scorecard. Interviewers should evaluate candidates against the same core competencies, with clear descriptions of what strong, acceptable and weak evidence looks like. This makes it easier to compare candidates on relevant skills instead of relying on different interviewers’ personal preferences.
5. Check references where appropriate. With the candidate’s permission, relevant references can help clarify responsibilities, working style and past performance. Reference feedback should support the decision rather than replace direct assessment.

A simple scorecard can help the hiring team organise its observations.

The scorecard should be adapted to the position rather than applied as a universal template. For example, prospecting deserves greater emphasis in an outbound SDR role, while deal management and forecasting are more relevant to an AE responsible for closing business.

How to match the right candidate to your sales environment

Even a well-qualified candidate may struggle if their previous experience does not translate to the way your company sells. The final decision should consider not only whether someone has the necessary skills, but also whether those skills fit the demands of the role.

Consider a company selling software to enterprise customers. Its AE may need to coordinate several stakeholders, navigate procurement and build a business case that addresses financial and operational priorities. A company with a simpler sales process may place more emphasis on efficient discovery, clear product explanations and managing a steady flow of opportunities.

The same principle applies to SDR hiring. An inbound-focused SDR needs to respond to existing interest and determine whether a prospect is a fit, while an outbound-focused SDR must identify suitable accounts and create relevant conversations. Both positions involve qualification, but the work required to succeed is not identical.

Hiring managers should use these differences when setting selection criteria. Rather than requiring every candidate to have worked for a competitor or held the same job title, define the experiences and competencies that genuinely matter, then assess whether the candidate can demonstrate them.

This approach also helps Talent and HR teams align with sales leadership. A shared understanding of the role makes it easier to write a precise job description, screen applications consistently and explain why a candidate is being recommended or rejected.

When should a SaaS company consider a specialist sales hiring partner?

Building a reliable hiring process takes time, particularly when the hiring team needs to assess specialised sales skills while managing its other responsibilities. A specialist recruitment partner can be useful when a company needs access to relevant candidates, more focused shortlists or help evaluating talent for specific sales roles.

Before choosing a partner, consider whether they understand the type of salespeople your business needs, how your team sells and what evidence should determine whether a candidate is suitable. A recruiter who understands SaaS and B2B sales roles should be able to discuss the responsibilities of the position, the competencies being assessed and the reasons a candidate fits the brief.

It is also worth examining how the partner sources and assesses candidates, how clearly they communicate throughout the process and whether they can explain their approach to matching people with the role. A large database alone does not establish that a recruiter can identify the right person for your team.

For companies hiring SDRs, Account Executives and other revenue-team professionals, GTM Playroom’s Sales & GTM Hiring service offers pre-assessed SaaS and IT sales talent across roles including SDRs, AEs, Account Managers and Customer Success professionals. Its approach includes matching candidates to the company’s ideal customer profile and sales motion, alongside support with job descriptions, scorecards, interview processes and offer closure.

That focus is relevant when a business wants more than a list of applicants and needs a hiring partner who understands the work the candidate will be expected to do.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about hiring SaaS sales talent

Build your sales team around the outcomes you need

Hiring the right SaaS sales talent starts with understanding what the role demands, then assessing candidates against evidence that reflects those requirements. SDRs and Account Executives contribute in different ways, and the selection process should recognise those differences while accounting for the company’s customers, sales motion and expectations.