Business Development Lead

Kombo•New York, NY

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Kombo (YC S22) builds the infrastructure layer for hire-to-retire employee data. We power recruitment platforms, benefits providers, and spend management tools by giving them reliable access to candidate and employee data across any HRIS, LMS, ATS, or payroll system their customers use. We are looking for a Business Development Lead to build and lead a best-in-class outbound organization and make pipeline generation predictable, scalable, and high quality. This is a critical leadership role with direct ownership of one of our top-priority metrics as a business, and people management responsibility for a growing BDR team. This role comes at a pivotal moment: outbound is already our primary growth engine, and we are now entering the next chapter – scaling it from strong early traction into a world-class, multi-region operation. About Kombo Kombo is building the unified API for HR, payroll, LMS, and recruiting systems. Instead of integrating separately with dozens of platforms, companies integrate once with Kombo to access data from over 100 systems. We abstract away differences in data models, authentication, and API behavior. Since going through Y Combinator in 2022, we: Raised $XXM+ of funding from Y Combinator, Acadian Ventures, 486 and other investors Grew from 0→ $10M+ ARR and hundreds of customers (growth-wise among the ~top-5% of VC-backed startups) Scaled to process data for the equivalent of 10% of Germany's workforce Grew to a team of 50+ team members (pictures!) in 2x offices Kombo is an international company by default. We operate across two main hubs (NYC 🇺🇸 and Berlin 🇩🇪) and work with a globally distributed team representing 20+ nationalities. The Role As the company’s first Business Development Lead, you will define how GTM outbound works at Kombo for the next several years. You will own the performance, structure, and evolution of Kombo’s BDR team. You will lead a team of 5 BDRs today and scale it to 15+ over the next year, while ensuring outbound pipeline quality and consistency. This is a first of its kind role at Kombo that opened up as the company experiences high growth, and is critical for the company’s continued success over the next years. What You'll Be Responsible For This role is for someone who wants a steep career progression, and full ownership of the GTM team. You will work directly with the founders, first employees, and own mission-critical business outcomes, shape strategy, and build the systems and team that turn outbound into a predictable growth engine at scale.

Requirements

Relevant US experience leading and scaling outbound or BDR teams in B2B SaaS, coaching and developing high performers
Experience doing the job of the BDR. We believe the best leaders sat in the seat themselves, and credibility with the team comes from having done the work.
Strong systems thinker who can reverse-engineer pipeline targets into execution plans
Talent Magnet – attract top-performers, and build a Tier 1 GTM team by maintaining a high bar for quality in hiring and execution
Clear, direct communicator who aligns teams and leadership
Comfortable owning outcomes in an environment with high expectations and autonomy

Responsibilities

Own the global outbound pipeline generated by the Business Development team (all GEOs (U.S., Europe, etc.) and segments (SME to ENT)
Translate revenue and pipeline targets into: Per-rep goals Meeting and conversion benchmarks Capacity planning
Ensure pipeline quality and downstream conversion
Align team incentives with pipeline outcomes
Own BDR hiring end-to-end
Scale the team from 5 high-performing BDRs to 15+
Design and continuously improve onboarding and ramp plans
Decide when to hire additional headcount vs improving efficiency through coaching, process, or tooling
Define clear expectations and progression paths for BDRs
Lead onboarding and ramp for new hires
Run ongoing performance management with clear expectations and direct feedback
Coach BDRs on: Outbound messaging and positioning Account prioritization Meeting quality and qualification
Build a strong performance culture focused on accountability, learning, and improvement
Educate senior leadership on market trends and developments
Translate strategic company-wide direction into excellence in the GTM team and pods
Build and maintain outbound playbooks and messaging frameworks
Design repeatable, scalable outbound systems that reduce dependency on individual performance