Sales Onboarding Manager

Perplexity•San Francisco, CA

12d•$150,000 - $175,000

About The Position

Perplexity is hiring a Sales Onboarding Manager to own the onboarding experience for Enterprise and Commercial Account Executives (AEs) and Business Development Representatives (BDRs), from Day 1 through field certification. The manager designs and maintains the curriculum, leads onboarding sessions, coordinates cohort logistics, and runs certifications to determine when new sellers are ready to sell independently. This is a high-ownership, visible role on a small Sales Enablement team. The manager partners with the Sales Enablement Lead and works closely with sales leaders, frontline managers, Product, Product Marketing, Solutions, Revenue Operations, Recruiting, and other onboarding and enablement partners. The goal is a robust, relevant, progressive, measurable ramp that becomes faster as the company scales. The role includes distinct but coordinated onboarding tracks for BDRs and AEs. BDR training covers prospecting and outbound skills and use of the prospecting stack; AE training includes pitch, discovery, and demo skills. The manager builds and updates learning materials as products, pricing, positioning, and processes change; facilitates virtual and in-person sessions; manages schedules, attendance, make-ups, and pre-work; and provides managers with visibility into each hire’s progress. The manager uses completion, certification, ramp, and role-specific sales metrics, along with new-hire feedback, to improve the program. They also use AI tools, including Perplexity products, to accelerate content creation, personalize learning paths, and automate repetitive logistics. Company-wide new-hire orientation and ongoing training for ramped sellers are owned by separate roles; this position partners with those teams to support smooth transitions.

Requirements

2–4 years of experience in sales enablement, sales onboarding, or sales training, ideally at a high-growth B2B SaaS or AI company.
A track record of designing and running a sales onboarding or ramp program end to end, with measurable impact on ramp time or productivity.
Excellent live facilitation skills, both virtual and in person, with sellers at different experience levels, from early-career BDRs to seasoned AEs.
Experience designing and running certifications or skills assessments, such as cold-call, pitch, discovery, or demo assessments, using rubrics trusted by sales managers.
Strong program management and operational rigor, including the ability to manage overlapping cohorts, schedules, and stakeholders without losing detail.
Working knowledge of modern sales methods such as MEDDICC, Command of the Message, or similar approaches; outbound prospecting; and the full sales cycle from first touch to close.
Ability to learn technical products quickly and explain and demonstrate them clearly, including AI products.
Fluency with sales technology such as Salesforce, a conversation-intelligence tool, and an LMS or content-management platform.
High ownership and comfort with ambiguity in a fast-moving environment where the product changes weekly.

Nice To Haves

Experience carrying a quota or managing sellers.
Experience onboarding sellers for AI, developer, or other technically complex products.
Background in instructional design or adult learning.
Previous experience as a BDR/SDR or BDR/SDR manager.
Experience building onboarding for both Enterprise and Commercial/velocity sales motions, or for Customer Success roles.
Experience implementing enablement tools such as an LMS, content hub, or call library, or reporting on ramp metrics.
Experience using AI to build content or automate enablement operations.

Responsibilities

Own and run role-based sales onboarding programs for BDRs and Enterprise and Commercial AEs, including learning objectives, milestones, and time-to-productivity targets.
Build and deliver the BDR ramp, covering prospecting, outbound, ideal customer profile and persona research, account and territory rules, multi-channel sequences, cold calling, cold email, qualification, AE handoffs, and the prospecting technology stack.
Create, update, and retire onboarding modules, playbooks, talk tracks, demo guides, knowledge checks, and self-paced content as products, pricing, positioning, and processes change.
Lead engaging virtual and in-person sessions on products, sales processes, customer personas, discovery, demos, objection handling, and tools, involving subject-matter experts as appropriate.
Coordinate cohort logistics with Recruiting and sales leaders, including tracking incoming hires, assigning sessions by role, segment, and start date, and managing calendars, attendance, make-ups, and pre-work.
Design and conduct role-specific field-readiness certifications using clear rubrics: cold-call, email, and qualification certifications for BDRs; pitch, discovery, and demo certifications for AEs; and tool certifications for both roles.
Calibrate certification scoring with BDR and sales managers, provide actionable feedback, and determine when new hires are ready to sell independently.
Give frontline managers visibility into new-hire progress, flag risks early, and equip managers to reinforce onboarding through coaching and call reviews.
Track completion, certification pass rates, and ramp attainment; track BDR activity, meetings booked and accepted, and pipeline sourced; and track AE time to first meeting, pipeline, and closed business.
Use program data and new-hire feedback to improve each cohort’s onboarding experience.
Use AI tools, including Perplexity products, to build content faster, personalize learning paths, and automate repetitive program logistics.
Partner with company-wide orientation and ongoing Sales Enablement teams to support transitions from orientation to sales ramp and independent selling.