Inside Sales Manager at Cision in Chicago, IL

At Cision, we believe in empowering every individual to make an impact. Here, your voice is heard, your ideas are valued, and your unique perspective fuels our collective success. As part of our global team, you'll thrive in an environment that champions curiosity, collaboration, and innovation, all while making meaningful contributions to the brands we accelerate. Join us in shaping the future of communication and building authentic connections that matter. Whether you're solving complex problems or driving bold innovations, your growth is our success, and together, we’ll create the conversations of tomorrow. Empower your impact at Cision. Be seen, be understood, be you. This role is responsible for leading frontline Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) to deliver consistent, high-quality Sales Accepted Lead (SAL) production aligned to pipeline creation targets. The role drives daily execution, coaching effectiveness, pipeline hygiene, and short-range forecast accuracy through hands-on leadership and disciplined inspection. Essential Duties & Responsibilities: Lead and develop a team of Sales Development Representatives accountable for SAL production, activity standards, and qualification quality within assigned segments or territories. Own team SAL attainment and short-range forecasting, ensuring accuracy, transparency, and alignment to defined pipeline creation targets. Provide ongoing coaching and skill development to SDRs, including call reviews, messaging refinement, objection handling, qualification standards, and effective opportunity handoff practices. Drive disciplined daily inspection of activity metrics, SAL quality, conversion indicators, and data integrity to ensure consistent execution and performance visibility. Maintain pipeline hygiene by ensuring leads are worked, dispositioned, documented, and routed accurately within customer relationship management and sales engagement systems. Enforce adherence to established qualification criteria, engagement cadences, and service-level expectations to ensure SAL readiness and downstream Sales acceptance. Partner with Marketing and Revenue Operations to provide feedback on lead quality, routing effectiveness, campaign outcomes, and process improvements impacting funnel performance. Support workforce planning activities such as hiring participation, onboarding support, ramp management, and performance management to sustain productivity and coverage standards. Identify performance risks or gaps in SAL production and implement corrective actions through targeted coaching, activity adjustments, or process reinforcement. Promote a culture of accountability, data accuracy, responsiveness, and continuous improvement within the Sales Development team. Perform other duties and responsibilities as required to support business needs. Job Level Competencies Manages experienced, professional employees and/or supervisors; and/or manages large, complex technical and/or business support teams. Accountable for the performance and results of a team and/or department. Interprets and administers policies, processes and procedures that affect direct reports and the workflow of the team/department. Adapts departmental plans and priorities to address resource and operational challenges. Contributes to budget development and performance standards of department and direct reports. Assignments are defined in the form of objectives. Decisions are guided by policies, procedures, business plans and independent judgment. Collaborates with team(s), customers/ clients, functional peer group managers and occasionally senior management. Participates and presents at meetings with internal and external representatives. Decisions may have an impact on work processes and outcomes. Erroneous decisions or recommendations may result in serious delays and considerable expenditure of additional time, people and/or financial resources. Qualifications: Typical experience: 8+ years in related role or experience including 2+ years in management. Actual experience may vary depending on role complexity, geography, and internal development opportunities or a comparable mix of training, education, and experience. Demonstrated experience leading Sales Development or comparable frontline pipeline-generation teams in a performance-driven environment. Proven ability to coach individual contributors to measurable productivity and qualification standards. Strong understanding of sales development metrics, including SAL attainment, conversion rates, activity productivity, and pipeline contribution. Experience managing shortrange forecasting What You'll Do What You'll Bring What We Offer Cision is the global leader in consumer and media intelligence, engagement, and communication solutions. We equip PR and corporate communications, marketing, and social media professionals with the tools they need to excel in today's data driven world. Our deep expertise, exclusive data partnerships, and award-winning products, including CisionOne, Brandwatch, and PR Newswire, enable over 75,000 companies and organizations, including 84% of the Fortune 500, to see and be seen, understand and be understood by the audiences that matter most to them. Cision is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees can be their authentic selves and perform at their best. We believe diversity, equity, and inclusion is vital to driving our culture, sparking innovation and achieving long-term success. Cision is proud to have joined more than 600 companies in signing the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ pledge and named a “Top Diversity Employer” for 2021 by DiversityJobs.com. Cision is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or other protected statuses. Cision is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. In keeping with our commitment, Cision will take the steps to assure that people with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. Accordingly, if reasonable accommodation is required to fully participate in the job application or interview process, to perform the essential functions of the position, and/or to receive all other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact hr.support@cision.com Cision, Inc. "the Company" only communicates with candidates and extends job offers through direct channels, not third parties. Please review our Global Candidate Data Privacy Statement to learn about Cision’s commitment to protecting personal data collected during the hiring process. For Individuals based in New York, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, and California, Cision is required to disclose a salary range for this role. This compensation range is specific to these states, however base pay may vary depending on a range of relevant factors. Chicago Pay Range $70,000—$130,000 USD