Author: Adam Richardson

How many stages does your AE process have? Do you know what each one is for? And if two of your interviewers disagreed about a candidate tomorrow, could you say which of them was assessing the right thing?

Most sales hiring processes are not designed. They accumulate. Someone adds a stage after a bad hire, nobody removes one after a good one, and eventually you have six conversations that all cover the same ground and none that test the work.

So here is what a process worth running actually looks like, stage by stage.

 

 

Start with the Motion, not the Stages

Before you decide who interviews and in what order, write down what the person will actually be selling and how.

Deal size. Cycle length. Who signs. Where the pipeline comes from.

That last one does most of the work. An AE who has spent three years converting inbound at a well-known brand and an AE who has spent three years cold-building a territory are not the same hire, even if their numbers look identical on paper. If you have not decided which one you need, no amount of interviewing will save you, because you will end up picking whoever interviews best.

Write the motion down in four or five lines. Everything after this hangs off it.

 

Stage one: The Conversation about what they have actually run

Not a competency interview. A conversation.

You are trying to work out whether their experience maps onto your motion, and the way to do that is to get specific fast.

Which accounts did they target, and why those.

What did the first touch look like.

How many of their closed deals started with them rather than with marketing.

What was the largest deal they ran end to end, and what nearly killed it.

Reps who have genuinely built pipeline answer these without pausing. They remember the accounts. They remember the objection that came up in three deals running. Reps who have always sat on a full inbound queue tend to drift towards process language – talking about the team, the methodology, the tooling – because the specifics are not theirs to remember.

That difference is usually visible inside fifteen minutes, and it is worth more than any scored competency framework.

 

Stage two: The work sample

This is the stage most teams skip, and it is the one that tells you the most.

It does not need to be elaborate.

A discovery call role-play against a realistic buyer persona.

Or a short written account plan for a target you actually care about.

Forty minutes of someone doing the job in front of you beats three hours of them describing it.

What you are watching for is not polish. Plenty of weak Reps are excellent at the polished version. You are watching whether they ask questions before they pitch, whether they can hold a conversation when the buyer does not cooperate, and whether they think in terms of the buyer’s problem or their own product.

Give them the brief in advance. You are not testing improvisation, you are testing thinking.

 

Stage three: The peer conversation

Someone who will work alongside them, not above them.

This does two things. It gives you a read from a person who knows exactly what the job involves day to day, and it gives the candidate a chance to ask the questions they will not ask a hiring manager. Good reps use this stage to work out whether the pipeline story they have been told is true. Let them.

If your team is small enough that the peer is also the manager, use a customer-facing colleague instead. Someone from CS or solutions will spot things a sales interview will not.

 

And then Stop

Three stages.

Maybe a short final conversation with a Founder if that matters to the way you hire.

Every stage beyond that is a chance to lose someone for a reason that has nothing to do with fit. Good Reps are almost always in another process at the same time, and the market rewards speed more than thoroughness at this level. If you genuinely cannot decide after three well-designed stages, the problem is the design, not the amount of evidence.

 

Brief your Interviewers properly

This is the cheapest fix on the list and the one most often missed.

If two people on the panel are assessing different things, you do not have a process, you have a collection of opinions. Before the first interview, agree who is testing what. One person on motion fit. One on the work. One on how they will land in the team. Write it down and send it round.

Then debrief separately before anyone shares a view. The first opinion voiced in a debrief pulls the rest of the room towards it, every time.

 

Decide the bar before you meet anyone

Write down the four or five things this person has to be able to do in their first year. Not attributes – things they have to be able to do.

Do it before the first CV lands, because once you have met a few people the bar quietly becomes whoever you liked most. That is a different thing entirely, and it is how teams end up with a group of reps who interview brilliantly and sell inconsistently.

 

The part nobody wants to hear

A well-designed process will not rescue a badly-defined role. If you have not agreed what the job is, three stages will produce a confident decision about the wrong person just as reliably as six will.

Most of the sales searches we see go wrong were broken before anyone was sourced. The brief said “AE, SaaS, five years” and left everything that matters unsaid.

So before you book the first interview, ask the awkward question: if this person hits their number in twelve months, what exactly did they do to get there? If the room cannot answer that in a sentence, the process is not the thing to fix yet.

 

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We recruit AEs, SDRs and the wider commercial team for B2B software companies across the UK, the US and Europe, and a good deal of that work is helping teams answer that question before the search starts.

If you are about to open a role and you are not completely sure what you are hiring against, that is the conversation worth having first.

Book a call and we will work through it with you.

 

 

Hiring your first – or your next – cohort of B2B SaaS salespeople is one of the highest-stakes decisions a Founder makes, and one of the least systematised.

Most Founders approach it reactively: revenue targets rise, a board deck asks for coverage, and a job advert goes live before anyone has agreed what the role actually is. The result is a long, expensive search that produces a plausible CV rather than a productive rep.

A better approach treats sales hiring as a sequence of deliberate steps – defining the motion before the role, the role before the profile, the profile before the process, and the process before the offer.

This blog walks through that sequence for B2B SaaS founders hiring in 2026, with the practical detail that turns a hiring plan into hired people.

Let’s Dive In!

 

 

Step one: Define the sales motion, not the job title

Before you write a job description, write down how your product is actually bought. Is it a self-serve motion where sales assists conversion, a mid-market motion with a three-to-six-month cycle and two or three stakeholders, or an enterprise motion with security review, procurement and a nine-month runway? Each implies a different hire. A rep who thrives at £15k–£40k ACV running high-velocity cycles is often the wrong person for a £250k enterprise deal, and vice versa. Founders who skip this step end up hiring the most impressive salesperson they meet rather than the one whose experience maps to the motion they run.

Write two or three sentences describing your typical won deal: entry point, buyer, cycle length, average value, and the objection that most often kills it. Everything downstream should be traceable back to those sentences.

 

Step two: Sequence the roles correctly

The order in which you hire matters more than the speed. A common and costly pattern is hiring a VP of Sales first in the hope they will build everything. In practice, most VPs are scalers, not founders of a motion – they inherit a repeatable process and multiply it. If you have not yet closed a handful of deals yourself and cannot articulate why they closed, a senior leader will spend six months discovering what you already needed to know, at a senior salary.

For most B2B SaaS companies the workable sequence is: founder-led sales until roughly ten to fifteen closed deals; then one or two founding account executives who can sell without a playbook; then pipeline generation support (SDR or outbound-heavy AE); then a first-line leader once you have three or more reps; then RevOps once reporting takes more than an hour a week. Marketing and customer success hires interleave, but the principle holds – do not hire a layer of management above a layer that does not yet exist.

 

Step three: Build a scorecard instead of a wish list

Most SaaS job descriptions are indistinguishable from one another: hunter mentality, consultative approach, five years’ experience, SaaS background preferred. None of that predicts performance. Replace the wish list with a scorecard of four to six outcomes the person must achieve in their first year, each with a measure. For a founding AE that might be: generate 40% of their own pipeline; close £350k new ARR; document a repeatable discovery framework; win two deals in a new vertical.

Then list the competencies that produce those outcomes – the ability to sell without collateral, comfort with ambiguity, evidence of self-sourced pipeline – and the handful of hard requirements that genuinely cannot be trained, such as domain credibility with a technical buyer. Everything else is negotiable. A scorecard also gives you something honest to interview against, which is where most processes fall apart.

 

Step four: Get the package right before you go to market

Compensation is where founders lose good candidates late and expensively. Decide before you start: base and OTE, split (typically 50/50 for AEs, 60/40 or 70/30 for enterprise, 70/30 or 80/20 for SDRs), quota, ramp, accelerators, and equity. Quota should be a defensible multiple of OTE – four to five times is the common benchmark for mid-market SaaS – and it should be based on evidence, not aspiration. If no one in the business has hit the number you are setting, you are hiring someone into a target designed to fail.

Be equally clear about ramp. A three-month ramp for an enterprise seller with a nine-month cycle is arithmetic that does not work. Candidates notice this, and the good ones ask.

 

Step five: Run a process that tests the job

A four-stage process is usually enough: an initial screen against the hard requirements; a competency interview against the scorecard using evidence-based questioning; a practical exercise; and a founder or leadership conversation on motivation and fit. The practical stage is the one most often skipped and most predictive. Give candidates a realistic scenario – a discovery call with a member of your team playing a real buyer persona, or a short account plan for a named target – and score it against agreed criteria before you debrief. Do not ask for free work, and do not make it a performance of confidence; you are looking for the quality of their questions, not the polish of their pitch.

Keep the process to two to three weeks end to end. In a market where strong GTM candidates run three or four processes at once, speed is a competitive advantage that costs nothing.

 

Step six: Reference properly and close deliberately

Take references from a former manager and, where possible, a former customer or peer. Ask about quota attainment in specific years, what the territory looked like, and what support existed. “Consistent overachiever” means little without knowing whether the quota was £400k or £1.2m and whether marketing supplied 80% of pipeline.

Close deliberately. The best candidates are usually not motivated primarily by base salary; they are motivated by whether they believe they can win. Sell the evidence – win rates, reference customers, why deals are being lost and what you are doing about it. Founders who are candid about the hard parts convert better than those who oversell.

 

Step seven: Plan the first ninety days before day one

The hire is not complete at signature. Agree what the first thirty, sixty and ninety days look like: product certification, shadowing calls, a first solo discovery by week three, first pipeline milestone by week six. Assign an owner for onboarding who is not the founder alone. The difference between a rep who ramps in four months and one who ramps in eight is rarely raw ability; it is almost always whether someone planned their first quarter.

 

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Invest in a SaaS Sales Recruitment agency and accelerate your path to success.

Reach out to a member of the team here about Step seven: Plan the first ninety days before day one, or see more about how we can support your growth here about Step seven: Plan the first ninety days before day one.

 

 

Boston has long been one of the most established technology hubs in the United States, and that maturity cuts both ways when you are hiring Account Executives.

The city offers a deep pool of experienced SaaS sellers, but it also concentrates fierce competition for them.

Established vendors, high-growth startups and a fast-expanding cohort of AI companies are all fishing in the same talent pool.

For SaaS employers, winning in Boston is less about finding candidates and more about standing out, moving quickly and getting your offer right.

Here is what you need to know.

 

One of the most competitive SaaS Talent Markets in the US

Boston’s density of software and technology businesses means experienced AEs are being approached constantly.

When you open a role, you are competing with dozens of credible alternatives for the same person’s attention. Standing out requires a genuinely compelling opportunity – a differentiated product, a credible growth story and a clear reason why this role beats the others on the candidate’s desk. Assume every strong candidate you meet is in at least one other process.

 

Compensation Expectations are high – and rising

The concentration of well-funded technology businesses in Boston has pushed compensation expectations up across the board.

Candidates routinely weigh multiple offers at once, scrutinising base salary, on-target earnings, commission mechanics, equity and progression.

If your package is off market, you will lose people late in the process after investing weeks of effort.

Benchmark carefully against current Boston conditions before you go to market, and be ready to articulate the full earning potential, not just the base.

 

Proven SaaS Experience is in heavy demand

Many Boston employers specifically want AEs who have sold into similar verticals, at similar deal sizes, to similar buyer profiles.

That makes candidates with directly relevant SaaS track records some of the most heavily targeted people in the market.

Be realistic about how narrow your must-haves can be while still hiring on a sensible timeline. Sometimes the strongest hire is a high-slope seller with adjacent experience rather than a perfect-on-paper candidate who ten other companies are also chasing.

 

Employer Brand does real work

In a crowded market, candidates evaluate far more than the comp plan.

Company culture, leadership quality, funding stability and long-term growth potential all weigh heavily on their decision.

SaaS businesses with clear messaging around mission, progression and vision consistently punch above their weight in attracting commercial talent.

Treat your employer brand and your interview experience as part of the product you are selling to candidates – because that is exactly how they see it.

 

Speed decides who wins

Top-performing Boston AEs do not stay on the market long.

Drawn-out interview loops, unclear decision-making and slow feedback are the most common reasons employers lose candidates to faster-moving competitors.

The companies that win are the ones that align stakeholders early, compress their process without lowering the bar, and move decisively once they find the right person. If your hiring process takes six weeks when a competitor’s takes two, you will lose more candidates than you land.

 

What Good looks like in Boston

The strongest Boston AEs combine polished, consultative selling with the resilience to thrive in a high-competition, high-expectation market.

Look for evidence of consistent quota attainment, disciplined pipeline management and the ability to win competitive deals rather than only greenfield ones.

In a market this mature, the ability to displace an incumbent and differentiate against well-known alternatives is often the trait that separates good from great.

 

Learn more about hiring AEs in Boston here. 

 

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How Strive helps

Hiring in a market as competitive as Boston rewards speed, market intelligence and a strong candidate experience – all of which are far easier with a specialist partner who lives in this talent pool.

We help SaaS businesses benchmark compensation accurately, position their opportunity to stand out, and move quickly enough to secure top AEs before the competition does.

Invest in a SaaS Sales Recruitment agency and accelerate your path to success.

Reach out to a member of the team here about How Strive helps, or see more about how we can support your growth here about How Strive helps.

 

Europe’s SaaS market has grown rapidly, and with it the demand for experienced Account Executives across hubs such as London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam and Dublin.

But hiring AEs ‘in Europe’ is not a single search,  it is a set of distinct, country-specific markets with different salary norms, notice periods, languages and cultural expectations, all overlaid with competition from US companies expanding into the region.

For SaaS businesses scaling across EMEA, the winners are those who treat Europe as the diverse, multi-market landscape it really is.

Here is how to approach it.

 

A diverse and highly Competitive market

Europe’s rapid SaaS growth has created strong demand for proven commercial talent across every major hub. You are competing not only with local vendors but with well-funded US companies building out EMEA teams.

Each market has its own dynamics: London is deep but expensive, Germany is de-centralised with long notice periods, the Nordics and Benelux are smaller but high-quality, and Southern Europe offers growing, often more cost-effective talent.

A one-size-fits-all approach rarely works – calibrate your search market by market.

 

Compensation varies significantly by Region

Salary expectations, commission structures and benefits differ substantially across European markets, and candidates increasingly weigh flexibility, equity and development alongside cash.

A package that is generous in one country may be uncompetitive in another.

Before hiring internationally, invest in a clear, current understanding of local compensation norms in each target market – getting this wrong is one of the most common reasons cross-border searches stall.

 

Language skills and International Experience add real value

Many European SaaS businesses need AEs who can operate across multiple markets and manage international sales cycles. Multilingual candidates with experience selling across EMEA are especially sought after, and become more valuable still as you scale into new territories.

When you define a role, be clear about which languages and regional experience are genuinely required versus nice-to-have – over-specifying can shrink an already competitive pool dramatically.

 

Employer Brand and flexibility shape hiring success

Across Europe, candidates increasingly evaluate culture, leadership, remote and hybrid working policies and long-term growth before accepting a role.

SaaS vendors with strong employer brands and flexible working environments attract top talent more easily – particularly in competitive markets where good AEs have multiple options.

In a cross-border search, a consistent, compelling employer narrative that still respects local expectations is a significant advantage.

 

Fast, well-structured hiring wins

Experienced European AEs are in high demand and typically progress through several processes at once. Lengthy cycles or inconsistent communication lose candidates to more organised competitors – a risk that multiplies when you are running searches in several countries simultaneously.

The companies that succeed are decisive and internally aligned, with a process that is consistent across markets even as the local nuances differ.

 

What Good looks like across Europe

The strongest European AEs combine consultative selling with genuine cross-border fluency – the ability to adapt their approach to different buyers, cultures and languages.

Look for consistent quota attainment, comfort with complex international deals and the adaptability to operate across markets.

As you scale, sellers who can help you enter new territories rather than only cover a single country become disproportionately valuable.

 

Click here to learn more about hiring AEs in Europe

 

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How Strive helps

Building a go-to-market team across Europe rewards local market knowledge at scale – something few in-house teams have across every territory at once.

With offices and networks spanning the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, we help SaaS companies benchmark compensation country by country, navigate local nuances, and run fast, coordinated searches that land strong AEs across multiple European markets.

Invest in a SaaS Sales Recruitment agency and accelerate your path to success.

Reach out to a member of the team here about How Strive helps, or see more about how we can support your growth here about How Strive helps.

 

New York’s rise as a technology hub has created strong demand for Solutions Engineers across SaaS, Fintech, Cybersecurity and AI – and a familiar shortage of the people who can genuinely do the role.

A great SE has to be both deeply technical and genuinely commercial, and that combination is scarce in any market.

In a fast, competitive city like New York, securing one means competing hard on opportunity, running a sharp technical assessment and moving quickly.

Here is what SaaS companies should know before hiring SEs in NYC.

 

Growing demand across Diverse Sectors

New York’s technology ecosystem now spans Fintech, Enterprise Software, Cybersecurity and AI, all of which need strong technical pre-sales talent.

That breadth is an advantage — there is genuine depth of experience in the city – but it also means SEs are targeted from many directions at once. When you hire, assume your strongest candidates are already in other processes, and lead with a clear, compelling reason to choose your role.

 

Balancing technical and commercial ability is the core challenge

A Solutions Engineer must support technical evaluations and demonstrations, handle objections and translate business problems into technical solutions – while communicating clearly with customers and internal teams.

Candidates who are strong technically but weak commercially, or vice versa, will not thrive. Finding people genuinely strong in both is what makes SE searches longer than AE searches, and why a technical assessment that reflects the real job is essential.

 

Sector and Enterprise experience are highly valued

Many New York employers want SEs with experience in specific domains – Fintech, Cybersecurity, AI or Enterprise Software – and with complex implementations or high-value sales cycles.

That makes experienced technical pre-sales talent difficult to secure. Be clear about which domain knowledge is essential versus learnable; strong engineers frequently ramp on a new vertical faster than a narrow brief assumes, and a sensibly broader search opens up a stronger pool.

 

AI and Infrastructure competition is intensifying

New York’s expanding AI and Infrastructure scene competes aggressively for technical pre-sales talent, often with strong compensation, equity and the appeal of cutting-edge work.

To compete, SaaS vendors need to communicate their technical vision, product differentiation and the interesting problems an SE will own – and to benchmark compensation against current NYC conditions, because candidates here weigh several strong offers at once.

 

Speed and Candidate experience are decisive

Top New York SEs move quickly and usually run multiple processes simultaneously. Slow timelines, inconsistent communication or an unclear technical assessment lose candidates fast.

The companies that win align stakeholders early, keep the process tight and communicative, and move decisively once they identify the right person – while clearly demonstrating career growth and product innovation throughout.

 

What good looks like in New York

The strongest New York SEs combine genuine technical credibility with the commercial instinct to advance a deal and the communication skills to win trust across technical and business buyers.

Given the city’s sector diversity, adaptability matters: look for engineers who can master a new domain and product quickly, own technical wins in complex sales cycles, and operate confidently across different buyer types. That versatility is often what separates a good hire from a great one.

 

How Strive Helps

Hiring Solutions Engineers in New York rewards specialist knowledge of a scarce, in-demand and highly diverse talent pool.

With a US presence and deep networks across SaaS, fintech, cybersecurity and infrastructure, we help companies define the right technical-plus-commercial profile, benchmark compensation accurately, and run a fast, well-structured process that secures strong SEs before the competition.

Learn more about hiring SEs in New York here.

 

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Invest in a SaaS Sales Recruitment agency and accelerate your path to success.

Reach out to a member of the team here about How Strive Helps, or see more about how we can support your growth here about How Strive Helps.

Hiring a high-performing sales team in SaaS isn’t just about filling seats — it’s about building a predictable revenue engine.

But many companies struggle with the same questions:

How many reps should we hire?

How long should ramp take?

What quotas actually make sense?

Getting these benchmarks wrong leads to missed targets, burned cash, and frustrated teams. Getting them right creates clarity, accountability, and scalable growth.

Let’s Dive In!

 

1. Sales Headcount Benchmarks

There’s no universal “right” number of sales reps — but there are patterns based on stage, deal size, and sales motion.

Early Stage (Pre-Seed to Seed)

At this stage, founders typically lead sales.

Benchmark:

• 0–2 Account Executives (AEs)
• Founder-led sales dominates

Focus:

• Finding product-market fit
• Testing messaging and ICP

Hiring too early here often leads to underperformance — because the playbook isn’t defined yet.

 

Growth Stage (Series A–B)

This is where structured sales teams begin to form.

Benchmark:

• 2–10 AEs
• 1 Sales Leader (Head of Sales / VP Sales)
• 1–3 SDRs per 2–3 AEs

Key ratio:

• 2:1 or 3:1 AE-to-SDR ratio depending on outbound vs inbound motion

Focus:

• Building repeatable pipeline generation
• Establishing sales process

 

Scale Stage (Series C+)

Sales becomes more specialized and segmented.

Benchmark:

• 10+ AEs (often segmented by SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise)
• Dedicated SDR/BDR team
• Sales Ops / RevOps support

Focus:

• Efficiency and specialization
• Territory and segment optimization

 

2. Ramp Time Benchmarks

Ramp time is one of the most misunderstood metrics in SaaS sales hiring.

Many companies assume reps should perform quickly — but realistic ramp expectations depend on deal complexity and sales cycle.

Typical Ramp Time by Sales Motion

• SMB / Transactional: 2–4 months
• Mid-Market: 4–6 months
• Enterprise: 6–12+ months

Rule of Thumb

Full productivity = 2x your average sales cycle

For example:

• 60-day sales cycle → ~4-month ramp
• 180-day sales cycle → ~9–12 month ramp

What Impacts Ramp Time?

• Product complexity
• Deal size
• Enablement quality
• Lead flow consistency

Companies that invest in onboarding, enablement, and clear playbooks can shorten ramp significantly.

 

3. Quota Benchmarks

Setting quotas is where many SaaS companies either overreach — or leave growth on the table.

The Golden Rule: Quota Should Reflect Reality

Quotas must align with:

• Average deal size (ACV)
• Sales cycle length
• Win rates
• Pipeline coverage

 

Common SaaS Quota Benchmarks

SMB AEs:

• £300K–£600K annual quota

Mid-Market AEs:

• £600K–£1.2M annual quota

Enterprise AEs:

• £1M–£3M+ annual quota

 

Quota Capacity Model

A simple way to sense-check quotas:

• Required pipeline = 3–5x quota
• Win rate = 20–30%

Example:

• £1M quota
• 25% win rate
  → £4M pipeline required

If your reps don’t have that pipeline, the quota isn’t realistic.

 

4. The 80/20 Rule of Sales Performance

A healthy SaaS sales team should see:

• 60–70% of reps hitting quota
• Top performers exceeding 120%+
• Bottom 10–20% underperforming consistently

If fewer than 50% of reps are hitting quota, the issue is usually:

• Unrealistic targets
• Poor enablement
• Weak pipeline generation

 

5. Hiring Benchmarks That Actually Matter

Beyond headcount, ramp, and quotas, strong SaaS companies track:

• Time-to-first-deal
• Time-to-full-quota
• Pipeline per rep
• Revenue per rep

These metrics give a clearer picture of hiring success than headcount alone.

 

6. Common Mistakes to Avoid

Hiring Too Early

Bringing in reps before product-market fit leads to churn and wasted spend.

Overhiring After Funding

Scaling headcount faster than pipeline creates underperformance and morale issues.

Unrealistic Quotas

Aggressive targets without supporting pipeline lead to burnout.

Ignoring Ramp Reality

Expecting enterprise reps to close deals in 3 months is a recipe for failure.

 

Final Thoughts

SaaS sales hiring isn’t just about growth — it’s about predictability.

The best companies don’t just hire more reps — they:

• Align headcount with pipeline
• Set realistic ramp expectations
• Build quotas grounded in data

When these three elements work together, sales teams become scalable, efficient, and repeatable.

 

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Choosing the right SaaS Sales recruitment agency is about fit, expertise, and trust.

By asking the right questions and digging into their processes, you can find a partner who not only fills roles – but helps you build a sales team that fuels long-term SaaS growth.

Invest in a SaaS Sales Recruitment agency and accelerate your path to success.

Reach out to a member of the team here, or see more about how we can support your growth here about Final Thoughts.