What are the responsibilities and job description for the Business Development Representative position at Shields Group Search?
Business Development Representative (BDR)
Redwood City, CA
In person 5 days per week
Experience: 1 to 2 years
We care more about ambition and hunger than a perfect resume
Early stage AI procurement startup
Company Overview
Our client is building the operating system for procurement in the consumer packaged goods industry.
Today, ingredient and packaging sourcing still runs through inboxes, PDFs, and spreadsheets. It is slow, opaque, and costly. This company replaces that chaos with an AI powered procurement platform that creates structure, visibility, and leverage without forcing suppliers into portals.
The result is real ROI. One customer saved over $200,000 in the first three months, paying for their annual contract in the first 30 days.
The company is led by a repeat founder who previously built and exited a successful procurement platform. They are backed by top tier venture investors and have paying customers, real usage, and a product that works.
The Role
This is the first sales hire.
You will own top of funnel prospecting and early conversations with mid market food and beverage brands. You will work directly with the CEO to shape messaging, qualify real customer pain, and help define how the company sells.
This role has a clear path to Account Executive as the company scales.
What You Will Do
- Prospect into mid market food and beverage brands with $50M to $500M in revenue
- Book and run first call discovery with CEOs and leaders in procurement, operations, finance, and supply chain
- Use outbound email, phone, LinkedIn, and inbound leads to generate qualified opportunities
- Tell a clear and credible story grounded in customer outcomes and ROI
- Capture feedback from prospects to improve messaging, ICP, and sales process
- Help build the foundation of outbound motion, tools, and playbook
What We Are Looking For
We care more about judgment, communication, and hunger than a perfect resume.
You are a strong fit if you:
- Are early in your sales career and want to learn fast in a real startup environment
- Can explain complex ideas clearly and confidently
- Are comfortable picking up the phone and engaging senior stakeholders
- Like building from zero and operating without a rigid playbook
- Care about doing good work and impact over effort
- Want to work in person closely with founders and customers
What Success Looks Like in the First 6 to 12 Months
- Consistently booking high quality discovery meetings
- Developing strong product and customer fluency
- Contributing directly to a repeatable outbound motion
- Earning trust with prospects, the CEO, and the team
- Growing into expanded responsibility and a potential AE role
Compensation and Benefits
- Base salary $95,000
- Bonus $20,000, OTE with no cap
- Meaningful equity
- Full health, dental, and vision coverage
- Unlimited vacation
- Hands on mentorship from a repeat founder and CEO
- Clear path to Account Executive
- Early exposure to how a startup is built
- A real product with real ROI
- In person team that values craft and ambition
Salary : $95,000 - $200,000