Strategic OB Sales Development Representative at Aptiv · San Diego

Summary: Aptiv is a global leader in delivering software for mission-critical intelligent systems, and they are seeking a Strategic Outbound Sales Development Representative. This role involves generating outbound leads, qualifying prospects, and setting up discovery meetings for the sales team while building new customer relationships. 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 Wind River solutions, use cases, customer stories, industry trends and competition - Knowledge of or ability to learn enterprise IT cloud infrastructure, telecom (e.g., 5G, Open RAN), automotive (e.g., ADAS), or aerospace (e.g., mission-critical systems) to align Wind River solutions with industry challenges - Consistently achieve or exceed performance goals and pipeline revenue that results in closed won opportunities for the AE team Required 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 Wind River'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., telecom NEPs like Nokia or automotive OEMs like Volkswagen) 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 retell 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) Preferred Qualifications: - 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 - Software industry exposure: Familiarity with selling SaaS, cloud-native platforms, or embedded systems solutions, particularly to enterprise clients in telecom, automotive, or aerospace - Education: Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent work experience. Technical knowledge of Linux, edge computing, or IoT is a plus - Preference will be given to those candidates with the above noted requirements and familiarity with platform software and the Open Source Community Required Skills: Cold calling, CRM proficiency, Technical articulation Important Skills: Research, personalization, B2B sales experience, Software industry exposure Nice-to-Have Skills: Resilience, Empathetic listening, Collaboration, Time management, Customer focus, Adaptability, Results-oriented Benefits: Hybrid work model for workplace flexibility, Comprehensive health, dental, and life insurance, Short and long-term disability coverage, RRSP matching for financial security, Flexible time-off policies for work-life balance, Employee assistance program for mental well-being, Learning benefits, including a LinkedIn Learning subscription and seminars