Manager, Sales Development - Chicago

Get to Know Us

Horizon
3.ai is a fast-growing, remote cybersecurity company dedicated to the mission of enabling organizations to proactively find, fix and verify exploitable attack vectors before criminals exploit them. Our flagship product, the NodeZeroTM platform, delivers production-safe autonomous pentests and other key assessment operations that scale across the largest internal, external, cloud, and hybrid cloud environments. Node Zero has been adopted by organizations of all sizes, from small educational institutions to government agencies and Global 100 enterprises.

It is used by IT Ops/Sec Ops teams, consulting pentesters, and MSSPs and MSPs.

We are a fusion of former U.S. Special Operations cyber operators, startup engineers & operators, and formerly frustrated cybersecurity practitioners. We're committed to helping solve our common security problems: ineffective security tools and false positives, resulting in alert fatigue, blind spots, "checkbox" security culture, cybersecurity skills shortage, and the long lead time and expense of hiring outside consultants. Collectively, we are a team of learn it alls, committed to a culture of respect, collaboration, ownership, and results.

What You'll Do

Horizon
3.ai is building a world-class outbound motion, and we're looking for a Manager of Sales Development to help lead, coach, and scale our SDR organization. This role will be one of several frontline SDR leaders, each responsible for managing a pod of 7-10 SDRs, while operating as part of a broader, globally distributed team of roughly 30 SDRs.

As an SDR Manager, you'll collaborate closely with peer managers across regions to drive consistency in execution, share best practices, and collectively deliver pipeline impact. This role is ideal for a hands-on leader who loves developing talent, driving results, and operating with rigor in a fast-growing cybersecurity company

• Lead and develop the SDR team: Build, motivate, and manage a high-performing Sales Development Representative (SDR) team to consistently generate high-quality sales pipeline from target accounts.
• Develop high-impact sales skills: Coach SDRs on cold calling, objection handling, qualification, and multi-channel outreach to develop them into top sellers.
• Optimize SDR operations: Partner with Rev Ops, Enablement, and other cross-functional teams to continuously improve tools, processes, and playbooks for efficiency, consistency, and scalability.
• Cultivate a strong team culture: Celebrate success, learn from mistakes, ensure psychological safety, and use healthy competition and games to maintain high energy and performance.
• Drive performance and process: Own the SDR sales funnel end-to-end. Analyze data to forecast pipeline, refine strategies, and ensure accountability to targets and SLAs.
• Hire and onboard top talent: Recruit, onboard, and ramp new SDRs with clear expectations and structured training to ensure rapid productivity.
• Maintain a culture of excellence: Champion ownership, continuous improvement, and process discipline (including CRM hygiene and SLAs), while continually refining tools and playbooks.
• Provide market intelligence: Translate daily SDR conversations into actionable insights (objections, use cases, competitive intel) that inform GTM strategy, campaigns, and sales plays.

What You'll Bring

• 2+ years of SDR management experience, ideally in a high-growth SaaS or cybersecurity environment, scaling and coaching high performing teams.
• Experience in cybersecurity, SaaS, or other technical B2B environments.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to turn data into action.
• Strong knowledge and practical application of modern sales methodologies (MEDDIC, Challenger, SPIN, etc.)
• Hands-on experience with Salesforce and Sales Engagement Platforms (Outreach, Salesloft, Apollo, etc.)
• Experience leveraging AI to drive productivity, insights, and coaching
• Excellent communication, analysis and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Must be located in the Chicago area.

Location: Chicago, IL
- * We're office first with one day a week remote flexibility

Travel Required

This job may require up to 15% of travel to be successful.

Compensation and Values

At Horizon3, we believe that our people are our greatest asset, and our compensation philosophy reflects this core value. We are committed to fostering an environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and rewarded for their contributions. Our compensation structure is designed to be fair, competitive, and transparent, ensuring that every team member is recognized and compensated equitably across roles, levels, and locations.

In accordance with various State's transparency regulations, we provide the following salary range information for this position:

• Total On-Target Compensation: $150k - $160k OTE annually on a 60/40 split. The exact salary will be determined based on the selected candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and relevant…