Sales Development Representative

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 While insurance represents 7.2% of global GDP, outdated financial infrastructure like PDFs, emails, and manual reconciliation continues to slow the industry down.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 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 play a key role in helping us expand our footprint across the Mid-Market and SMB segments, further solidifying our leadership in the space. We’re looking for someone with a proven history of effective cold calling, a strong drive for constant improvement, and a creative approach to outreach. You’ll be part of a growing team, helping us build a consistent and high-quality outbound motion. 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 outreach strategies or figuring out ways to implement AI into the team’s workflows) 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 ... (truncated, view full listing at source)