The useful question is not which acronym is better. It is what the employer expects the person in that particular seat to own.
Current vacancies illustrate the range. Sitemate’s Sydney SDR role emphasises inbound qualification, while DevRev’s ANZ SDR role includes outbound prospecting and inbound qualification. The shared title does not produce a shared day.
Compensation examples use the documented QuotaClub model covered in the full SDR salary breakdown.
| Attribute | SDR | BDR |
|---|---|---|
| What it stands for | Sales Development Representative | Business Development Representative |
| Traditional focus | Sometimes inbound | Sometimes outbound |
| Daily activity | Employer-defined | Employer-defined |
| Quota model | Meeting-based or pipeline-based | Meeting-based or pipeline-based |
| Compensation | Compare written offer | Compare written offer |
| Promotion path | Employer-specific | Employer-specific |
| Reliable comparison | Duties, quota and level | Duties, quota and level |
Editorial comparison based on current employer examples. It is not a representative Australian title survey.
What “BDR” and “SDR” actually stand for
SDR stands for Sales Development Representative. The title can describe a role that qualifies demand, creates demand or does both.
BDR stands for Business Development Representative. title is also used for prospecting and qualification roles, sometimes with a stronger outbound emphasis.
The conventional shorthand is SDR for inbound and BDR for outbound, but it is not reliable enough to classify a vacancy without reading the responsibilities.
Why the title cannot answer the question
Employers design sales-development roles around their own pipeline engine. Check these features directly:
- Channel mix: inbound qualification, outbound prospecting or both.
- Ownership: research, first contact, qualification, discovery, handoff and pipeline creation.
- Level and reward: required experience, reporting line, quota and commission rules.
Two roles with different acronyms can be similar, and two roles with the same acronym can differ materially.
What each role does day to day, when the split is real
The inbound-leaning SDR day
An inbound-leaning role can include:
- Triage inbound leads (form fills, demo requests, content downloads, free-trial signups)
- Score and prioritise based on company size, role, and intent signals
- Outreach by email and phone within the employer’s defined response-time expectation
- Run qualification or discovery conversations where the role owns them
- Book qualified leads into the AE’s diary and write detailed handoff notes
Sitemate’s current Sydney SDR vacancy is one example of an inbound-focused role. It does not establish a market-wide model.
The outbound-leaning BDR day
An outbound-leaning role can include:
- Build target account lists from ideal customer profile (ICP) criteria (industry, headcount, tech stack, funding stage)
- Research individual prospects on LinkedIn, company news, and trigger events
- Multi-channel outreach by phone, email and LinkedIn
- Handle objections, set expectations, and book qualified meetings
- Track sequences, A/B test messaging, and review what’s working with the team
DevRev’s current ANZ SDR vacancy is one example that includes outbound prospecting alongside inbound qualification. Again, it is an employer example rather than a national benchmark.
A blended role
A role can combine both motions under either title. Ask the employer to quantify its current channel mix, explain priority conflicts and show how each motion affects quota credit.
For practical advice on what the work actually looks like (cold calling, cold email, LinkedIn play, cadence design), see the QuotaClub outbound playbook.
Pay: compare the offer, not the acronym
There is no representative Australian dataset proving a title-based pay difference. QuotaClub’s documented model provides directional context for SDR-market roles:
- Junior: A$66,500 base, A$90,000 to A$100,000 OTE
- Standard: A$75,000 base, A$100,000 to A$115,000 OTE
- Senior: A$86,000 base, A$115,000 to A$130,000 OTE
These are role-level editorial estimates, not separate BDR and SDR benchmarks. Compare the written base, target variable, quota, ramp, super treatment and crediting rules. Detailed methodology appears in the full SDR salary breakdown.
A$100k–115k
QuotaClub's standard Australian OTE estimate for both titles before super. Progression is employer-specific.
Career options after either title
Either role may lead to Account Executive, account management, customer success, partnerships, enablement or leadership. Employers use different level structures, so there is no universal sequence or timeframe.
If AE is your goal, ask how discovery, forecasting, negotiation and closing readiness are assessed, how many recent internal moves occurred and whether an open role is required.
Which one should you aim for as your first role?
The honest answer: don’t over-optimise on title. Optimise on company fit, manager quality, role scope and verified team data.
That said, three useful filters if you’re weighing two otherwise-similar offers:
- If you genuinely dislike cold outbound,lean toward inbound-heavy SDR seats at marketing-led SaaS companies. You can spot these in the interview process: ask “what percentage of your pipeline comes from inbound versus outbound?”
- If you want outbound practice, look for roles with explicit account research, proactive outreach and coaching. The title alone does not guarantee that exposure.
- If you’re unsure, ask to shadow or speak with a current team member and compare a real calendar with the job ad.
For the full path from no experience to a signed offer (resume, LinkedIn, application strategy, interview prep, and negotiation), see how to get into tech sales in Australia. For the questions you’ll get asked at interview (and the frameworks for answering them), see the SDR interview questions guide.
Take the better company, not the better title. The acronym matters less than the manager, role scope, compensation plan and written development criteria.
Sources & methodology
Salary context comes from the QuotaClub salary calculator. Role-scope examples come from two current employer vacancies:
- Sitemate, Sales Development Representative, Sydney: an inbound-focused current SDR example.
- DevRev, Sales Development Representative, ANZ: a current SDR example combining outbound and inbound duties.
These vacancies do not establish how Australian employers use BDR and SDR titles overall. QuotaClub has not found a representative national sample that maps title to seniority, duties, compensation or career outcomes. Last reviewed .