SDR Career at Grafana Labs - Tech Sales Growth Role in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
This SDR role at Grafana Labs is an excellent entry point into B2B tech sales, particularly for someone targeting the fast-growing observability and cloud infrastructure space. Grafana's client roster — Anthropic, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Bloomberg — provides immediate credibility on a CV.
Compensation vs. Market: The OTE of €58,750–€61,850 is slightly below the Dutch SDR market median (typically €55,000–€75,000 OTE for tech SDRs in Amsterdam), but RSU inclusion at this level is a meaningful differentiator — equity compensation at SDR level is rare and signals a company that truly invests in all team members.
Skills You'll Build:
- Multi-channel prospecting (email, LinkedIn, phone) — transferable to any AE or sales leadership role
- Salesforce CRM proficiency — a baseline requirement for virtually all revenue roles
- AI-assisted sales workflows — an increasingly in-demand and future-proof skill set
- Open-source go-to-market motion — a niche but highly valuable expertise as OSS-led growth becomes the dominant SaaS model
Green Flags: Defined career growth pathways, 30 days PTO plus shutdown days, a culture that offers direct interview feedback, and managers who are described as genuinely invested in professional development. The emphasis on humility and coaching receptiveness suggests a psychologically safe environment.
Watch For: SDR roles at high-growth companies can be high-pressure with aggressive pipeline targets. The phrase "demanding and rewarding" is honest signaling — expect a fast pace. Ensure you clarify promotion timelines to AE during the interview process.
Grafana Labs is the company behind Grafana Cloud, the fully managed observability platform trusted by more than 10,000 organizations to ensure reliability, resolve incidents faster, and optimize telemetry at scale. Built on open source and open standards and designed for interoperability across any stack, Grafana Cloud brings AI to observability and observability to AI, giving teams unified visibility so they can see, understand, and act on all their disparate data. Customers including Anthropic, Bloomberg, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Salesforce rely on Grafana Labs. We are a 100% remote company with team members across 40+ countries, backed by leading investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, GIC, Coatue, J.P. Morgan, CapitalG, and Lead Edge Capital. Learn more at grafana.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X.
We're scaling fast and staying true to what makes us different: an open-source legacy, a global collaborative culture, and a passion for meaningful work. Our team thrives in an innovation-driven environment where transparency, autonomy, and trust fuel everything we do.
You may not meet every requirement, and that's okay. If this role excites you, we'd love you to raise your hand for what could be a truly career-defining opportunity.
The Opportunity:
As a Sales Development Representative (SDR), you will focus on three core missions:
- Help users and prospects navigate their Grafana journey by engaging with and listening to them in order to provide appropriate resources and guidance.
- Partner with our Sales Team to connect with influential people in target organizations, identifying new business opportunities that fuel our company's revenue pipeline.
- Develop valuable, transferable skills to help you achieve your own career goals.
We understand that our commercial success is linked to our open source DNA and users' success with our software. We want team members who can effectively leverage this connection and support the long-term health of our company.
In this role, you will balance reactive and proactive work — responding to inbound inquiries as well as outreaching to target accounts. You will need a detective mindset to craft thoughtful, value-add messaging, confidence driving business conversations on the phone, and the ability to use AI tools to constantly improve your productivity.
This is a demanding and rewarding role in a fast-paced, challenging environment. We work alongside teammates from more than 15 different countries and are looking for driven, humble, technically curious people who embrace a team-first attitude and demonstrate extreme ownership. Whether you're just starting your career or looking to pivot into tech, you'll have managers and teammates who care deeply about you as a professional and human.
What You'll Be Doing:
- Build and maintain knowledge of our technology, competitors, open source ecosystem, and industry trends
- Follow up on inbound leads effectively and efficiently
- Use a multi-channel approach (email, social, calling) to proactively outreach to new leads within target accounts; our top SDRs are confident and effective on the phone
- Use Salesforce and Grafana dashboards for lead and account management and research
- Use research and data to prioritize and customize outreach to target prospects and accounts via email and LinkedIn
- Drive effective discovery conversations to understand users' needs and goals, and communicate how Grafana can help them
- Consistently meet new business opportunity and pipeline targets
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams such as marketing and sales to win as a team
What Makes You a Great Fit:
- Fluent in English (written and spoken)
- Open to feedback and coaching, always looking for ways to improve
- Clear and concise written and verbal communication style
- Excellent organizational skills and the ability to prioritize many tasks and demands
- Willingness and ability to take on any task — no matter how small or big — with a focus on quality
- Resourceful and proactive in an environment that is constantly evolving
- Driven by purpose and by winning with a team-first attitude
- Located in the Netherlands
Bonus Points & Interview Preparation:
Interviewing is not easy, but we want you to come prepared and succeed. When we interview, we're trying to determine:
- Would you be successful if you were part of our team?
- Will you love working here and be a positive influence on your fellow colleagues?
- Will you grow professionally and personally during your time here?
- We're looking for people who are curious and passionate about technology — invest time in learning about Grafana Labs, our community, the industry, what we offer, and how we set ourselves apart.
- During your interview, you'll be sharing stories about your current and past roles. The best way to frame this is with the CARR model: Context, Action, Results, Reflection — allowing you to succinctly share the experiences you've gained.
- Humility drives learning. Throughout the interview process, you will receive feedback, often directly in the interview. Listen to that feedback and incorporate it into each next step.
Compensation & Rewards:
In the Netherlands, the OTE (On-Target Earnings) compensation range for this role is 58,750 EUR – 61,850 EUR. Actual compensation may vary based on level, experience, and skillset as assessed throughout the interview process. All roles include Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), giving every team member ownership in Grafana Labs' success.
*Compensation ranges are country specific. If you are applying from a different location, your recruiter will discuss your specific market's defined pay range & benefits at the beginning of the process.
Why You'll Thrive at Grafana Labs:
- 100% Remote, Global Culture – Talent from around the world, united by collaboration and shared purpose.
- Scaling Organization – Tackle meaningful work in a high-growth, ever-evolving environment.
- Transparent Communication – Open decision-making and regular company-wide updates.
- Innovation-Driven – Autonomy and support to ship great work and try new things.
- Open Source Roots – Community-driven values that shape how we work.
- Empowered Teams – High trust, low ego culture that values outcomes over optics.
- Career Growth Pathways – Defined opportunities to grow and develop your career.
- Approachable Leadership – Transparent execs who are involved, visible, and human.
- Passionate People – Smart, supportive teammates who care deeply about what they do.
- In-Person Onboarding – Thrive from day 1 with fellow new 'Grafanistas' to learn what we do and how we do it.
- Balance is Key – Global annual leave policy of 30 days per annum, including 3 Grafana Shutdown Days for the team to truly disconnect. *We will comply with local legislation where applicable.
Equal Opportunity Employer: Grafana Labs is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of race, colour, nationality, origin, caste, sex, gender reassignment identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, religion or belief, disability, veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy, maternity, marital, family or carer status, or any other characteristic which is protected by local law.
Grafana Labs may utilize AI tools in its recruitment process to assist in matching information provided in CVs to job postings. The recruitment team will continue to review inbound CVs manually to identify alignment with current openings.
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