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A strong sales job description template does not start with a list of generic skills. It starts with the commercial job the person must do: create pipeline, close new logos, expand accounts, build a team, or repair an underperforming territory.
If you want hunters rather than applicants who simply match keywords, write the role around sales motion, quota ownership, buyer access and evidence of past performance. Candidates who have done the work will recognise it. Candidates looking for a vague title and a fixed salary will usually self-select out.
Many job posts in India use interchangeable language: dynamic sales professional, excellent communication skills, ability to work under pressure, strong network and target-oriented mindset. None of this tells a candidate what they will actually sell, to whom, through which route, with what support or against what number.
A candidate who has repeatedly opened enterprise accounts wants to know whether this is a new-logo role, an account farming role or a channel-led role disguised as business development. A capable BDR wants to know whether they will be expected to source cold outbound meetings, qualify inbound leads, manage partners or close small deals themselves.
When the job description avoids those details, it brings in broad applications. That may look helpful at the start, but it shifts the hard work to recruiters and interviewers. You spend time discovering that candidates have sold low-ticket products, only handled renewals, inherited accounts, or worked in a sales structure very different from yours.
The job description is the first filter in your sales recruitment process. Treat it as a working document for the hiring manager, recruiter and interview panel, not as an advertisement.
“Sales is not about selling anymore, but about building trust and educating.”Daniel Pink
Titles vary across companies. One firm’s sales executive may be another firm’s BDR. One company’s business development manager may own a small territory and carry a closing number; another may only generate opportunities for account executives. Define the work first, then choose the title that candidates in your market will understand.
Before publishing a B2B sales job description, answer the following internally.
Do not write “end-to-end sales” unless the role genuinely covers prospecting, discovery, solutioning, proposal, negotiation, closing and handover. In an early-stage company, that may be true. In a scaled team, it is often not. Precision earns trust with serious candidates.
State whether the person carries an individual revenue target, a pipeline creation target, a meeting target or a team target. Also state what portion of pipeline they are expected to self-source. This is especially important for account executive job descriptions, where many candidates have experience closing opportunities generated by marketing or SDR teams but limited cold prospecting experience.
You do not need to publish a compensation plan in full. You should, however, explain the performance model clearly: fixed and variable structure, payout logic in principle, probation expectations, ramp support and whether targets are based on bookings, collections, qualified pipeline or another measure. Do not call the variable component “attractive incentives” and leave it there.
Define the patch. Is it a city, state, region, industry vertical, named-account list or national coverage? Are accounts assigned, or must the person create their own list? Does an existing account remain with the hunter after the initial sale, or does it move to customer success or an account management team?
For sales hiring in India, location matters beyond commute. A territory seller may need familiarity with local business networks, regional buying practices, travel routines and languages. If this is required, say so directly. If the role can be performed from another city with planned travel, say that too.
Describe the people the seller must influence. For a simple product, the buyer may be an owner or department head. For a B2B platform or services sale, the candidate may need to engage users, functional leaders, IT, finance, procurement, legal and a senior sponsor.
This is one of the fastest ways to distinguish sales maturity. Someone who has only sold to one operational contact may still succeed, but they need coaching before handling a complex buying committee. Someone who can build a business case, map decision roles and maintain executive access has experience that should be visible in the job description and the interview.
Ask for evidence, not polished claims. “Consistently exceeded targets” is too easy to write and too difficult to assess without context. Your sales recruitment template should state the proof you will explore during selection.
Do not require candidates to share confidential customer data, employer information or compensation documents. Ask them to explain the work in a way that demonstrates ownership and commercial judgement.
Use this version for a seller who owns prospecting and closes business in a defined segment. Edit every bracket before posting.
Role title: Sales Executive, [segment or territory]
Role purpose: Own new customer acquisition for [company/product] in [territory or segment]. Build a qualified pipeline through [outbound, inbound follow-up, partners or a stated mix], run discovery, position the commercial value of our solution and close business that meets our customer-fit criteria.
What you will own:
What good performance looks like: You create enough qualified pipeline to support your target, progress deals with clear next steps, protect value during negotiation and provide a forecast that reflects real buyer commitments rather than optimism.
What you bring: Experience selling [similar solution or commercial environment] to [buyer type]; evidence of owning [new business, pipeline generation or a defined territory]; confidence engaging [named buyer roles]; and discipline in CRM, pipeline reviews and follow-up.
In the interview, be ready to discuss: one self-sourced opportunity, one complex deal involving multiple stakeholders, one loss, and the methods you use to decide where to spend your selling time.
A business development manager job description should be explicit about whether the role creates opportunities, closes business or manages strategic partnerships. Avoid using BDM as a catch-all title.
Role title: Business Development Manager, [market/vertical]
Role purpose: Build new routes to market and create qualified commercial opportunities in [segment]. The role will [own deals through close / pass qualified opportunities to account executives / develop and activate partners].
Core responsibilities:
Required evidence: Tell us about a market, vertical or partner route you opened; how you identified the opportunity; the stakeholders involved; what you personally did; and how the opportunity converted into revenue or qualified pipeline.
For a pure business development role, do not assess candidates as though they are quota-carrying closers. Measure account research, outreach quality, qualification judgement, relationship creation and opportunity handoff. If they must close, state that plainly and use the account executive scorecard too.
An account executive job description needs to make a critical distinction: will this person inherit qualified opportunities, self-source a material share of pipeline, or do both? The answer changes the profile you need.
Role title: Account Executive, [segment]
Role purpose: Convert qualified opportunities into new customers by leading discovery, solution alignment, stakeholder engagement, commercial negotiation and close planning. The role is expected to self-source [state expectation] while managing opportunities generated through [inbound, BDRs, partners or events].
Responsibilities:
What we will assess: Your ability to lead a multi-stakeholder deal, diagnose weak qualification, maintain value in negotiation and explain why an opportunity is forecast at a particular stage.
If you are hiring for SaaS, ensure the candidate understands adoption risk, implementation ownership and recurring revenue quality, not merely the initial signature. Our SaaS and tech sales recruitment work is built around this distinction.
A sales manager is accountable for the team’s operating rhythm. The job description should not read like a senior sales executive job description with people management added at the end.
State whether the manager will inherit a team, build one, manage managers or remain a player-coach. Define their responsibility for hiring, onboarding, territory design, pipeline inspection, forecast quality, deal coaching, performance management and cross-functional escalation.
Role purpose: Lead [team type] to achieve [team outcome] by setting clear operating standards, coaching observable sales behaviours, inspecting pipeline quality and developing capable sellers.
Evidence required: Ask candidates to explain how they improved a rep’s performance, how they handled repeated weak pipeline creation, how they challenged an unreliable forecast, and how they made a hiring decision. Look for a management cadence, not only inspirational language. Good managers coach the work between the numbers. For more on that discipline, read why managers should coach behaviour, not numbers.
The scorecard prevents interviewers from hiring the candidate they personally liked most. Create it before the first application arrives. Each interviewer should assess a limited set of capabilities, capture evidence and recommend a decision against defined standards.
Use a practical role-play for every customer-facing sales hire. Give the candidate a short account brief and enough preparation time to form a point of view. Assess how they open, question, listen, summarise, handle uncertainty and secure a next step. Do not overvalue a polished presentation when the role requires prospecting and discovery.
For sharper interviewer prompts, use these sales interview questions that reveal a real hunter. If your internal team lacks capacity to run structured assessment and shortlist work, consider a specialist sales recruitment process rather than relying only on CV filtering.
Simpli5Sales helps founders and sales leaders turn an unclear vacancy into a defined commercial hire. We support role design, scorecards, candidate assessment and targeted searches for B2B sales teams, including account executives, BDRs and sales leaders.
Before you post your next role, write the sales motion, quota ownership, territory, buying committee and proof requirements on one page. Then use that page to build the job description and interview process. If you need help making those decisions, start with our sales assessments or speak to the team through our contact page.
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