B2B sales roles
What each B2B sales role does day to day, how it's measured and how it works with the others, plus how to sell to the executives who buy.
Short answer
These guides explain the roles in a B2B sales team (SDR, BDR, account executive, account manager, sales engineer, sales manager, sales director, head of sales and chief revenue officer): what each does, the metrics it owns and how the hand-offs work. Others cover selling to buyer roles such as the CFO, CIO and procurement.
Account executive: what the job means, how it's measured and what it pays
What an account executive does in B2B sales, advertising and finance, how AEs are measured, what they earn (BLS and 2026 survey data) and a commission example.
Role guideSales engineer: what the job involves, what it pays and how to do it well
What a sales engineer does in a B2B deal, BLS pay for SOC 41-9031 by industry (May 2025), how SEs are measured, a capacity worked example and a POC template.
Role guideSales manager: the job, the pay by industry and how you're measured
What a sales manager does each week, BLS pay for SOC 11-2022 by industry (May 2025), the metrics you're judged on, a team capacity example and questions to ask.
Role guideSales development representative (SDR): the job, the numbers and how to do it well
What a sales development representative does all day, how SDRs are measured and paid (2025 benchmarks), the math behind a meeting quota, and how to do it well.
Role guideChief revenue officer (CRO): what the role owns, how it's measured and when you need one
What a chief revenue officer does, how a CRO differs from a VP of sales, the metrics and revenue math it owns, where to find CRO pay and how to sell to a CRO.
Role guideSales director: what the role owns, how it's measured and what it pays
What a sales director does, how the role differs from sales manager and VP of sales, BLS pay for SOC 11-2022, the KPIs, a quota example and a 90-day plan.
Role guideEnterprise account executive: what changes when the customers are the biggest in your market
What an enterprise account executive does differently: named accounts, buying groups, security reviews, the real odds behind a five-deal quota, and pay context.
Role guideTerritory manager: what the job is, what it pays and how to run a territory
What a territory manager does, how the job is classified, BLS May 2025 pay by industry, questions to ask about a posting and the math of a field territory.
Role guideSales operations manager: what the job owns, how it's measured and what it pays
What a sales operations manager owns (CRM, territories, quotas, commissions, forecast), how the role is measured, a SaaS capacity plan worked through, and pay.
Role guideAccount manager vs account executive: who wins the customer and who keeps it
Account manager vs account executive: who owns new deals and who owns renewals, how each is measured (quota vs NRR), pay, career moves and which to hire.
Role guideKey account director: running the customers your company can't afford to lose
What a key account director does, how it differs from a key account manager, the metrics that matter, pay context from BLS data and a medical device example.
Role guideHead of sales: what the role means, when to hire one and the first-year plan
What a head of sales does, how the title differs from sales director and VP of sales, when to hire one, a job description template, first-year math and pay.
Role guideSDR vs BDR: what the two titles mean and which one your team needs
SDR vs BDR explained: inbound vs outbound, where the titles came from, how each is measured and paid (2025 data), a decision table and a team-sizing example.
Role guideSelling to the C-suite: what the CEO, CFO and CIO answer for, from their own filings
How to sell to C-level executives: what the CEO, CFO and CIO are accountable for, from proxy statements and SEC rules, plus a one-page brief and an example.
Role guideSDR playbook: how to hire, ramp, run and measure a sales development team
An SDR playbook for running a sales development team: what to include, a hiring scorecard, a 12-week ramp plan, a cadence template, metrics and capacity math.