Business Development Representative

OpenRouter is hiring a remote Business Development Representative to help create new sales opportunities for its enterprise account team. The role focuses on reaching out to target companies by phone, email, and social channels, following up on leads from events and marketing, and qualifying prospects before passing them on with clear context. It also involves keeping CRM records up to date, working with account executives and marketing, and meeting monthly targets for meetings and qualified opportunities. This position suits someone who wants to build experience in AI and large language model technology, help shape outbound sales activity, and grow into a closing role at a fast-moving startup.

ABOUT OPENROUTER OpenRouter is the open AI routing and infrastructure layer that enterprises use to access, manage, and optimize the best large language models across providers—without lock-in, capacity constraints, or unnecessary cost. We power some of the most advanced AI teams in the world by giving them the flexibility to move fast, scale confidently, and stay future-proof as models evolve. As enterprise adoption of AI accelerates, OpenRouter sits at the center of how organizations operationalize LLMs across research, product, and production workloads. ABOUT THE ROLE We're looking for a Business Development Representative to generate outbound pipeline for our Enterprise Account Executives. You'll prospect into target accounts through cold calling, email, and social outreach to generate net-new pipeline for Account Executives. This role is perfect for someone who wants to become an AI/LLM technology expert, build an outbound motion from the ground up, and grow into a closing role at a fast-moving startup. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Prospect into target accounts through cold calling, email, and social outreach to generate net-new pipeline for Account Executives - Own follow-up on event leads, conference attendees, and marketing-sourced signals — turning interest into qualified meetings - Qualify outbound-sourced leads based on fit criteria and route high-potential opportunities to Account Executives with thorough context - Educate prospects on how OpenRouter helps them optimize LLM costs, improve performance, and access the best models for their needs - Maintain meticulous CRM hygiene with detailed notes on prospect needs, objections, timeline, and opportunity size - Collaborate with Account Executives to refine target account lists, messaging, and lead handoff quality - Partner with Marketing on event strategy, campaign feedback, and outbound messaging effectiveness - Meet or exceed monthly quotas for qualified opportunities created and meetings scheduled WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - 2+ years of experience in a BDR, SDR, or inside sales role at a B2B SaaS company - Track record of consistently hitting or exceeding quota in a metrics-driven environment - Strong discovery skills—you ask thoughtful questions, listen actively, and uncover real business needs - Ability to quickly learn technical products and explain them clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences - Excellent written and verbal communication with the ability to craft compelling, personalized outreach - Experience with CRM systems and comfort working in sales tools NICE TO HAVES - Being the first BDR hire at a startup or fast-growing company - Experience at an API-first, AI infrastructure company or technically similar - Experience with prompt engineering and LLM evaluation If you don't think you meet all of the criteria below but still are interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box, and we're looking for someone who is excited to join the team.