Sales Development Representative - Automotive
PodiumPodium is expanding its Auto team in Melbourne and is looking for a Sales Development Representative to join onsite. The company helps local businesses turn conversations into revenue using AI-powered agents, supporting tens of thousands of clients across automotive, home services, and aesthetics. This is a hands-on chance to grow within a team that values initiative, coaching, and career progression.
As an automation-enabled SDR focused on the automotive vertical, you’ll be the first point of contact for new-car dealerships and dealer groups. The work blends research with strategic outreach, aimed at opening executive-level conversations that lead to qualified product demonstrations for the Account Executives. Podium’s growth in AI-powered customer engagement has earned recognition from industry leaders and media, and the company believes this is a rewarding place to learn and advance your career.
The company emphasises operating principles that shape daily behavior and hiring choices. If you’re hungry for growth and aligned with those principles, this could be the right environment to deepen automotive industry knowledge and move toward a closing role.
What You’ll Be Doing on the Auto Team
In this role you’ll map out dealer group structures to spot the right accounts and the best moments to reach out, ensuring your outreach lands with the right stakeholders. Preparation is key, so you’ll research each dealership’s situation, systems, and likely pain points before you pick up the phone. You’ll engage dealer principals, general managers, and other decision-makers at OEM or multi-location dealerships, using thoughtful conversation to build interest and demonstrate how Podium’s platform can help them grow.
Working closely with Account Executives and Customer Success Managers, you’ll gain context on each account and help ensure that conversations are credible and well-timed. You’ll qualify opportunities through a consultative approach and book high-quality product demonstrations for the AE team, handling the handoff smoothly to keep the customer journey seamless from first contact through to handover. Record-keeping and pipeline activity live in Salesforce will reflect your progress, and you’ll aim to meet monthly targets for qualified meetings and pipeline generation, prioritising quality and fit over sheer volume.
The Right Candidate For Podium’s Auto Team
- Strong understanding of the automotive industry, ideally gained at a dealership, an automotive IT provider, or a related automotive technology business
- A mature, professional communication style with a strong phone presence and the ability to carry a credible, high-impact conversation early in an engagement
- High autonomy, capable of taking ownership of a task or territory and driving it forward with minimal direction
- Coachability and initiative, with a demonstrated ability to apply feedback quickly
- Comfort with the preparation and research needed before making contact, and the patience to work through internal checks and coordination without frustration
- Persistence balanced with patience, valuing thoroughness over speed
- Commitment to staying with a role long enough to build expertise and grow rather than moving on quickly
- A growth mindset with the ambition to progress into an Account Executive role over time
- Experience selling into or working with dealerships is highly desirable; previous SDR or outbound sales experience is a bonus but not essential
Pay and Practical Details for This Melbourne Opportunity
Podium offers a clear career pathway into an Account Executive role on the Auto team, supported by structured coaching and ongoing sales development. The package includes a competitive base salary, superannuation, and uncapped commission with accelerators for overachievement. A monthly Benefits & Wellbeing Allowance of $650 gives you flexibility to spend on what supports your work and life balance. You’ll receive comprehensive onboarding, ongoing sales training, and continuous professional development to keep you advancing in your career.
The role is based in modern Melbourne CBD offices in the Queen & Collins precinct, with end-of-trip facilities, bike storage, and lockers, plus a fully stocked kitchen with free snacks and drinks. Podium emphasizes a collaborative, high-performing culture that rewards ambition and success. Successful candidates will undergo a background check and must have full-time Australian working rights on an ongoing basis.
Podium is an equal opportunity employer and we pride ourselves on fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We encourage everyone of all ages, genders and backgrounds to apply.
Advice for Applicants for Podium’s Auto SDR Role
Lead with your automotive experience on the first line of your resume or summary. Show how you’ve engaged dealerships or automotive tech vendors, and highlight any outbound outreach you led that resulted in concrete meetings or opportunities.
When you prove the must-have skills, include a brief example of a time you owned a task from start to finish, conducted account research before outreach, and secured a meaningful conversation with an executive. If you can point to a specific outcome, such as a dataset you mapped or a sales stage you influenced, that helps demonstrate your impact.
For interview prep, be ready to discuss how you would map a dealer group’s structure, identify the right stakeholders, and time outreach to align with their decision process. You should also be prepared to articulate dealership pain points and how Podium’s AI platform could address those issues, with a focus on measurable impact.
Ask a targeted question about growth within the Auto team, such as how the organization defines success for SDRs and how handovers to Account Executives are coordinated with Customer Success Managers to ensure a smooth customer journey.