SDR salary · base, commission and OTE, 2026

What an SDR earns, in base, commission and OTE

An SDR salary is a base plus commission, and the total at target is the OTE (on-target earnings).

Sales Recruit UK puts the 2026 SaaS SDR at £33,000 base and £49,000 OTE, averaged across seven UK regions.

In London, Robert Walters puts a business development representative, its title for the seat, at an average of £51,400 base in a medium enterprise.

The nearest official group, the ONS’s business sales executives, has a full-time median of £37,924.

Sector, city and level move the number more than the title does.

When you hire an SDR through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Brief us on an SDR hire →See the roles

How a brief runswhat we undertake

01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief

Shortlist3–5

£33,000

SaaS SDR, UK average · base; £49,000 OTE, across seven regions

Sales Recruit UK, 2026

£38,000

SaaS SDR, London & South East · mid base; range £32,000–£45,000

Sales Recruit UK, 2026

£51,400

BDR, London · average base, medium enterprise

Robert Walters, 2026

3–5

Shortlist · with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 set out

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a SDR

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with SDR candidates, their day rates and availability.

0115 minutes, video or phone
02We scope the role and the days a week
03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs

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On the board · last 3 months

SDR roles jobs on the board

9 on the board · 3 confirmed open

Browse every role on the board →

SDR roles on the board

Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a SDR brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.

01/ the role

What an SDR does, and what sets the pay

A sales development representative is the first seat in a B2B sales team.

The SDR researches target accounts, contacts buyers by phone, email and LinkedIn, and books first meetings for the account executives who close.

Many employers call the same seat a business development representative; see what a BDR does.

Roles on the board are listed on SDR jobs.

Pay comes in two parts: a base salary and commission on meetings booked or pipeline created.

Sales Recruit UK’s 2026 guide puts the SDR split at 60/40 to 70/30 base to variable, and OTE at 1.4–1.6 times base.

It calls the seat deliberately base-heavy.

Sector sets the pay first.

Sales Recruit UK finds technology and SaaS pays the highest entry base of the nine sectors it covers, while its B2B band runs widest, from £22,000 to £48,000 base.

That band spans a transactional outbound desk at one end and a salaried law-firm business development executive at the other.

Level comes next.

Live Digital, a SaaS recruiter, puts a junior or graduate SDR at £25,000–£32,000 base and a senior SDR or team lead at £38,000–£50,000.

The ISP’s Sales Capability Framework, from the Institute of Sales Professionals, sets out the capabilities expected at each level of a sales role.

02/ scope

How to set the pay when you hire an SDR

1. Decide what earns commission

Write down what the variable pays on: meetings booked, meetings held, qualified opportunities or pipeline.

Acas advises putting the commission entitlement in the written statement of employment particulars.

2. Set base and OTE together

Pitch the base for the sector and city, then set OTE on top.

Sales Recruit UK puts a London and South East SaaS SDR at £32,000–£45,000 base and £48,000–£78,000 OTE.

It reports, from RepVue, that about 66% of UK SDRs hit quota, so treat OTE as a target, not an expectation.

3. Plan the ramp

A new SDR is not at full output in week one.

The Bridge Group’s 2025 survey puts average SDR ramp at 3.0 months and average tenure at 1.9 years.

Its 351 companies are 78% North American, so read it as a direction for the UK.

What we do on an SDR brief

We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary hires, and non-executive directors.

We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.

For the steps, see hire an SDR.

03/ the board

What the board holds.

A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.

On this board, last 90 days · 9 roles · SDR roles

Engagement

Full-time9

Days a week

Stated in the posting4
Not stated5

Day rate

Verified rate0
Estimated (est)0
Rate not stated9

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote2
Hybrid5
On-site2

Newest posting on the board: 1 Oct 2026.

Postings per week on this board, last 90 days

9 postings on this board in the last 90 days, counted by the week each was published.

04/ the route

Fractional, interim or permanent?

Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.

How much of the week does the work fill?

Is there a fixed end or a programme?

Does the seat sit on the board for years?

Is the need now, or can it wait for a search?

The route · Fractional

A fractional SDR.

The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.

A fractional SDR holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.

The fractional SDR route Talk it through

05/ rates by stage

SDR salary by source, region and level

Permanent SDR pay as each publisher states it, 2025–26. Sales Recruit UK’s figures are technology and SaaS only, with a range and a mid for each region. Robert Walters reports the seat as business development representative (BDR), London only, basic salary from advertised roles. Glassdoor and RepVue figures are as reported by Live Digital. The ONS group is broader than the SDR title. Robert Walters, Sales Recruit UK and Live Digital are recruiters.

SeatPayBasisSource

SaaS SDR, UK average£33,000 base · £49,000 OTEMean of seven regional midsSales Recruit UK, 2026

SaaS SDR, London & South East£32,000–£45,000 base, mid £38,000 · OTE £48,000–£78,000, mid £58,000Technology & SaaSSales Recruit UK, 2026

SaaS SDR, East of England£30,000–£42,000 base, mid £35,000 · OTE £45,000–£68,000, mid £52,000Technology & SaaSSales Recruit UK, 2026

SaaS SDR, North of England£28,000–£38,000 base, mid £32,000 · OTE £42,000–£58,000, mid £48,000Technology & SaaSSales Recruit UK, 2026

SaaS SDR, West Midlands£27,000–£38,000 base, mid £32,000 · OTE £40,000–£58,000, mid £48,000Technology & SaaSSales Recruit UK, 2026

SaaS SDR, South West & Wales£27,000–£38,000 base, mid £32,000 · OTE £40,000–£58,000, mid £48,000Technology & SaaSSales Recruit UK, 2026

SaaS SDR, Scotland & Northern Ireland£27,000–£35,000 base, mid £32,000 · OTE £40,000–£52,000, mid £46,000Technology & SaaSSales Recruit UK, 2026

SaaS SDR, East Midlands£26,000–£36,000 base, mid £30,000 · OTE £38,000–£55,000, mid £45,000Technology & SaaS; the source rates this cell indicativeSales Recruit UK, 2026

BDR, London, medium enterprise (50–250 staff)£31,000–£72,000, average £51,400Basic salary, advertised rolesRobert Walters, 2026

BDR, London, large enterprise (250+ staff)£31,000–£93,000, average £50,500Basic salary, advertised rolesRobert Walters, 2026

SDR, national average base£39,685GlassdoorGlassdoor, via Live Digital

SDR, national median£39,523 base · £59,636 OTERepVueRepVue, via Live Digital

Junior or graduate SDR£25,000–£32,000 base · OTE £33,000–£46,000By levelLive Digital, 2026

SDR, 1–2 years’ experience£30,000–£40,000 base · OTE £45,000–£62,000By levelLive Digital, 2026

Senior SDR or SDR team lead£38,000–£50,000 base · OTE £56,000–£78,000By levelLive Digital, 2026

SDR, London£38,000–£48,000 base · OTE £58,000–£78,000By locationLive Digital, 2026

SDR, Manchester or Leeds£28,000–£38,000 base · OTE £42,000–£58,000By locationLive Digital, 2026

SDR, Bristol or Bath£28,000–£36,000 base · OTE £42,000–£55,000By locationLive Digital, 2026

SDR, Edinburgh or Glasgow£27,000–£35,000 base · OTE £40,000–£52,000By locationLive Digital, 2026

Business sales executives (SOC 2020 3552)£30,244–£52,105, median £37,924Full-time gross annual pay, lower to upper quartile; a broader group than SDRONS ASHE, 2025

06/ economics

What the salary costs the business, beyond the base

A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.

For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).

On a £33,000 base, that is £4,200 a year (15% of £28,000, our arithmetic).

Under automatic enrolment, the employer must also pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings (GOV.UK).

Commission is pay too.

HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, taxed through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the commission as well as the base.

Acas notes that commission counts towards the National Minimum Wage, and that an employer must top up pay if commission falls short of it.

Add the tools an SDR needs and the months of ramp before full output.

Budget the package at OTE, not the base, and check it against what the seat is expected to book.

07/ vetting

How we vet SDRs

What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.

01
Qualification screen
Verify SDR tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING
02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING
03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY
04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5

08/ sdr salary uk

SDR salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side

The national figures measure different things.

Sales Recruit UK’s SDR salary UK benchmark, £33,000 base and £49,000 OTE, is a SaaS figure averaged across seven regions, built from RepVue, ONS data and job adverts.

Glassdoor’s £39,685 average base and RepVue’s £39,523 median, both as reported by Live Digital, come from pay that people report themselves.

For an official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings has no SDR code.

The nearest group is business sales executives (SOC 2020 3552), with a 2025 full-time median of £37,924; the range runs from £30,244 to £52,105 between the lower and upper quartiles.

Skills England maps the sales executive occupation, whose job titles include business development executive, to that code.

Read any single figure as one view of the market.

The useful question is which band your seat sits in: its sector, its city and the experience you need.

09/ sdr salary london

SDR salary London, and the regions

The SDR salary London employers pay sits at the top of every source.

Live Digital puts it at £38,000–£48,000 base with £58,000–£78,000 OTE.

Sales Recruit UK puts London and the South East at £32,000–£45,000 base for a SaaS SDR, with a mid of £38,000, about 19% above the rest of the country.

Robert Walters puts a London BDR at an average £51,400 base in a medium enterprise and £50,500 in a large one.

Outside London, Live Digital gives £28,000–£38,000 base in Manchester and Leeds, £28,000–£36,000 in Bristol and Bath, and £27,000–£35,000 in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Sales Recruit UK’s SaaS mids run from £30,000 in the East Midlands to £35,000 in the East of England.

Sales Recruit UK calls entry-level pay the most compressed tier in its guide, because the National Living Wage lifts the bottom of every region at once.

Remote roles at London-headquartered companies often pay close to London rates.

10/ sales development representative salary

Sales development representative salary and OTE: how the package splits

A sales development representative salary is quoted with its OTE.

Sales Recruit UK puts the split at 60/40 to 70/30 base to variable, with senior SDRs and team leads moving towards 60/40.

At Live Digital’s 1–2 years’ experience level, £30,000–£40,000 base carries £45,000–£62,000 OTE.

OTE assumes the rep hits target.

Sales Recruit UK reports, from RepVue, that about 66% of UK SDRs hit quota, so about a third miss it.

Write the plan so that a rep who books good meetings can see how to reach it.

The seat is a first step.

The usual next move is account executive, where Live Digital puts an SMB account executive at £38,000–£52,000 base.

See SDR jobs for roles on the board now.

11/ the other routes

Salary or day rate: the other ways to pay for the seat

Read this sectionClose this section

A permanent salary buys an SDR every day, with commission on top.

A contract SDR is paid by the day for a fixed period: Robert Walters puts a contract business development representative (BDR) in London at £200–£300 a day, average £260, as a PAYE rate paid through payroll.

It publishes no contract rate for the seat outside London.

A fractional SDR works part of the week; we have found no market survey of fractional SDR pay, only outsourced-SDR firms’ own price lists, so we quote no market rate for it.

Fractional SDR salary and interim SDR salary spread this salary across working days instead (our arithmetic, not a market rate).

Compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.

12/ questions

SDR salary FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a SDR.

Glassdoor’s UK average SDR base is £39,685 and RepVue’s median is £39,523, both as reported by Live Digital in 2026. Sales Recruit UK puts the 2026 SaaS SDR salary at £33,000 base and £49,000 OTE, averaged across seven UK regions. The ONS’s nearest group, business sales executives, has a full-time median of £37,924.

Live Digital puts the London SDR salary at £38,000–£48,000 base, with £58,000–£78,000 OTE. Robert Walters puts a London business development representative at an average £51,400 base in a medium enterprise. See SDR salary London, and the regions for the other cities.

RepVue’s UK median SDR OTE is £59,636, as reported by Live Digital. Sales Recruit UK puts SaaS SDR OTE at £49,000 averaged across seven regions, and £48,000–£78,000 in London and the South East. OTE assumes the rep hits target, and Sales Recruit UK reports that about 66% do.

On Sales Recruit UK’s £33,000 SaaS base, an SDR earns £2,750 a month before tax (£33,000 ÷ 12, our arithmetic). On Robert Walters’ £51,400 London average, it is about £4,283 a month (our arithmetic). Commission is on top.

Live Digital puts a junior or graduate SDR at £25,000–£32,000 base, with £33,000–£46,000 OTE. Sales Recruit UK’s SaaS ranges start at £26,000–£32,000 base, depending on the region.

Write the brief: inbound or outbound, what earns commission, and who coaches the rep. Set base and OTE for the sector and city, plan the ramp, and test candidates on real outreach. See hire an SDR for the steps.

Start with the package at OTE: Sales Recruit UK puts a SaaS SDR at £33,000 base and £49,000 OTE. Add employer’s National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year, on commission as well as base, and at least 3% pension on qualifying earnings. On a £33,000 base, the National Insurance alone is £4,200 a year (our arithmetic). We set out pay for every candidate on the shortlist.

They are paid on different bases. A permanent SDR gets a salary and commission; a contract SDR is paid by the day for a fixed period. Robert Walters puts a contract BDR in London at £200–£300 a day, average £260 (PAYE); for a permanent London BDR it gives an average £51,400 base in a medium enterprise.

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A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

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