While the precise responsibilities of business development representatives (BDRs) vary across the tech industry, their relationship-building skills are critical for engaging prospective customers and introducing them to solutions tailored to their business needs. Partnering with an experienced recruiting agency can help you navigate the nuances of this role and find candidates capable of securing target accounts.
BDRs are entry-level sales professionals who build pipelines by prospecting and qualifying leads. The majority of BDRs pursue “cold” outbound leads before passing promising prospects to account executives. Meanwhile, sales development representatives (SDRs) follow up on inbound leads generated from marketing content such as social media, blog posts, or website form fills.
In this format, BDRs aim to expand your company’s presence by proactively reaching out to customers in new industries and markets. They spend a large portion of time researching target organizations, discovering their current needs, and developing personalized outreach messages.
Many early-stage organizations, however, are increasingly blending the tasks of traditional SDRs and BDRs into a hybrid role focused on prospecting, qualifying, and nurturing leads from every channel. In most environments, BDRs maintain the responsibility of serving as a prospect’s first point of contact and explaining how the product aligns with their organizational goals. This requires exceptional relationship-building skills, especially as the demand for hyper-personalized services intensifies.
Below are the top ten recruiting agencies for BDRs in tech. These firms leverage deep role expertise to match you with candidates whose persistence and results-driven approach create new opportunities for deeper customer relationships and long-lasting business success.
1. Betts Recruiting
Founded in 2009, Betts Recruiting has matched over 10,000 tech companies with exceptional GTM talent, with more than 50 eventually reaching IPO. The firm has combined verticalized expertise, tech-enabled solutions, and data-driven insights into evolving market trends, the startup lifecycle, and compensation benchmarks to successfully place top BDRs for numerous innovative organizations, including Adthena and Grammarly.
Betts partnered with Adthena, a competitive intelligence platform provider, to help it expand from London and establish its U.S. presence in Austin. The firm drew on an extensive network, one of the largest in North America, to connect Adthena with three BDRs for its first-ever business development cohort. The quality of this talent pool enabled Betts to identify candidates who not only demonstrated strong culture fit, but also had the capabilities to prospect customers in a new market.
The firm uses Betts Connect, an AI-powered talent marketplace platform featuring the profiles of tens of thousands of GTM candidates, to quickly find salespeople through filters such as target salary, location preferences, and industries sold to. This tool helped Grammarly, an AI-powered writing assistant tool provider, dramatically accelerate the search for their first BDRs.
Companies needing to hire at scale can choose the firm’s subscription-based Recruitment-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, a cost-effective solution that pairs access to Betts Connect with full recruiter support, eliminating expensive fees for individual placements.
2. Sales Talent Agency
Founded in 2007, Sales Talent Agency has established itself as a pioneer in sales recruiting by developing both a proprietary candidate evaluation process and a specialized talent pipeline program. The firm matches candidates with organizations in all industries, including software and technology.
The firm’s STA NEXT Program provides participating organizations with a frequent pipeline of curated, high-performing SDRs and BDRs. Upon joining this program, Sales Talent Agency shortlists and delivers five to 15 candidates each week, with the average client moving forward with four professionals per cycle.
Recruiters also implement the firm’s proprietary DNA/PRO assessment methodology to evaluate each candidate’s sales DNA and job readiness, such as their drive, emotional intelligence, previous performance, and long-term retention potential.
3. Sloane Staffing
Sloane Staffing has placed sales, marketing, and technical talent across diverse industries, including numerous software domains such as AI, cybersecurity, FinTech, and MarTech, since 2017. Recruiters leverage a specialized BDR recruiting focus to screen candidates for the hard and soft skills essential to this role.
The firm gains a deep understanding of your business and role requirements to guide its outbound candidate sourcing. Recruiters only send resumes after interviewing and pre-vetting candidates, drawing on their BDR expertise to evaluate their persistence, communication, and prospecting skills. This involves thorough inquiries into their process for qualifying leads, fluency with sales tools, and definition of a successful discovery meeting.
4. salestalent.com
Founded in 2021 by a six-time sales executive, salestalent.com draws on deep firsthand expertise to place permanent sales talent for tech and SaaS organizations. Recruiters bring at least three years of sales or organizational leadership experience, making them trusted partners for sourcing and vetting top candidates.
After developing a custom search strategy and candidate scorecard, recruiters executive a targeted, multi-channel outreach campaign to deliver three to five prospects within two weeks. The firm leverages its sales expertise to identify candidates with alignment across verticals, deal sizes, sales cycles, and target customers.
5. QC Growth
Founded in 2023, QC Growth provides founder-led sales coaching and sales development recruiting services for Seed to Series A startups. The firm leverages its niche focus to help companies build their first sales teams, bounce back from early hiring churn, and scale from founder-led sales to a full GTM function.
QC Growth taps into a wide talent network of early-stage GTM professionals and applies a high-touch approach to source, interview, and shortlist candidates. Recruiters ensure that you are matched with BDRs who bring adaptability, coachability, and grit.
In line with its commitment to supporting early-stage organizations, the firm offers an affordable, risk-free payment model with a flat $500 success fee per hire.
6. TheLIONS
Founded in 2010 by a former startup sales leader, TheLIONS is a principles-driven firm dedicated to delivering high-caliber GTM talent, with extensive experience across the enterprise SaaS and AI, Internet of Things, and FinTech sectors.
The firm establishes trust with clients by nurturing a network of “lions” who demonstrate leadership, independence, and accountability. It aims to triple the size of your talent pool by leveraging its deep California roots and strong relationships with founders and venture capitalists nationwide, connecting you with top talent who thrive in competitive environments.
7. Hire DNA
HireDNA has adopted a scientific, data-driven approach to exclusively recruit sales talent for SaaS and tech companies, with a strong focus on sales development roles, since 2018.
The firm begins the hiring process by understanding your ideal candidate’s personality traits, industry experience, and product knowledge. Recruiters implement the firm’s proprietary FitScore ranking system, which measures 26 data points across each candidate’s role, culture, and experience fit. This is complemented by a sales-specific assessment that evaluates 21 additional capabilities such as drive, coachability, and prospecting.
8. Hirewell
Founded in 2001, Hirewell is a full-service recruitment and advisory firm with expertise spanning numerous industries and functional areas, including GTM, tech, and SaaS. The firm’s broad capabilities make it a strong partner for companies scaling operations.
Recruiters manage the entire hiring process and implement GTM strategies when sourcing candidates who align with your organizational structure and growth goals. They streamline the search by leveraging Rainmakers, a sales-only talent marketplace featuring 350,000 professionals, to engage active and passive candidates.
9. Sales Talent Inc.
Founded in 1999, Sales Talent Inc. is a contingent and retained GTM recruiting firm that partners with companies across the tech, SaaS, industrial, medical, and healthcare industries. The firm prioritizes accuracy and speed, leveraging an intensive headhunting approach to deliver qualified candidates in just over a week.
Recruiters commit around 62 hours to each contingent search and over 80 during retained engagements, significantly more than the industry average of 23 hours. The firm targets passive salespeople to present three to five candidates who meet your exact criteria, completing most hiring processes in just over nine days.
10. Captivate Talent
Captivate Talent has recruited GTM and RevOps candidates exclusively for early- to growth-stage SaaS startups since 2017. The firm leverages its founder-centric approach and niche specialization to deliver candidates who align with your current stage of growth.
Recruiters design a customized search strategy based on your company culture, revenue goals, and ideal candidate profile, drawing on market insights and your feedback to refine the search as many times as needed. The firm’s startup fluency helps it accurately vet candidates for technical fluency, communication skills, cultural fit, and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment.
Compensation Trends for Business Development Representatives
Entry-level BDRs in traditional tech hubs earn comparable average base salaries, though those based in the Mountain or Central time zones typically have lower on-target earnings (OTE) than their peers in other regions.
NY/SF-based BDR (Entry-level)
Base + OTE: $50K–$70K | $80K–$90K
Pacific-based BDR (Entry-level)
Base + OTE: $55K–$70K | $80K–$90K
Mountain/Central-based BDR (Entry-level)
Base + OTE: $55K–$70K | $70K–$85K
Eastern-based BDR (Entry-level)
Base + OTE: $55K–$65K | $75K–$90K
Remote BDR (Entry-level)
Base + OTE: $50K–$70K | $70K–$95K
BDRs with six months of experience or more earn an average base salary of at least $60K. The upper end of average base salary ranges is highest for BDRs working remotely or based in New York, San Francisco, or the Eastern time zone. OTE typically ranges from $80K to $100K across the country.
NY/SF-based BDR (6+ Months Experience)
Base + OTE: $60K–$80K | $80K–$100K
Pacific-based BDR (6+ Months Experience)
Base + OTE: $60K–$75K | $85K–$100K
Mountain-based BDR (6+ Months Experience)
Base + OTE: $60K–$70K | $85K–$100K
Central-based BDR (6+ Months Experience)
Base + OTE: $60K–$75K | $80K–$100K
Eastern-based BDR (6+ Months Experience)
Base + OTE: $65K–$80K | $85K–$100K
Remote BDR (6+ Months Experience)
Base + OTE: $60K–$80K | $85K–$100K
Check out our 2025 Compensation Guide and the 2025 Enterprise Compensation Guide for more insights into competitive salary ranges and evolving market trends. Our data-driven Comp Engine also provides real-time benchmarks based on our recent placements across all GTM roles.
Looking to build your business development team? Contact Betts here to get started today.