Manager, SMB Sales
About Toptal
Toptal is a global network of top talent in business, design, and technology that enables companies to scale their teams, on-demand. With $200+ million in annual revenue and team members based around the globe, Toptal is the world’s largest fully remote workforce.
We take the best elements of virtual teams and combine them with a support structure that encourages innovation, social interaction, and fun. We see no borders, move at a fast pace, and are never afraid to break the mold.
Job Summary:
Toptal’s inbound sales team is a driving force behind our growth, converting inbound interest from small- and medium-sized businesses into Toptal clients. As Manager, SMB Sales, you will lead a team of Client Advisors, coaching them towards growth and holding them to a high standard of excellence in a high-velocity, consultative selling role. You will keep the team responsive to new inquiries while ensuring active opportunities continue to move. You will coach advisors through stalled decisions, specialist involvement, and client follow-up, stepping in where your judgement can help secure the next commitment. You will lead a team that is responsible for executing strong discovery, disciplined qualification, portfolio selling across Toptal’s full offering with complete ownership of the client relationship from first conversation through close. Your team’s job is to position Toptal as a strategic services partner, not a single-transaction talent vendor, and you set that standard.
You will be accountable for improving conversion of inbound leads by identifying conversion leakage, bringing accountability to individuals’ performance, hiring Client Advisors with consultative potential, reviewing calls, demonstrating stronger approaches, and coaching each advisor on changes to improve their sales skill and industry knowledge. Internally, this position works closely with leadership across Client Services, Talent Operations, Client Experience, and People to support a team-based approach to best-in-class service.
Our ideal candidate is ambitious, competitive, driven by team success, and pairs that drive with genuine curiosity about what makes a sales team excellent. If you want to sharpen a team’s performance and be recognized for the results, this is the team you want to be part of.
This is a remote position. We do not offer visa sponsorship or assistance. Resumes and communication must be submitted in English.
Responsibilities:
The following information is intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or required skills.
- Coach: Coach Client Advisors on discovery, qualification, portfolio selling, and deal management. Demonstrate how to bring a useful point of view, support recommendations with relevant proof points, address concerns, and ask for commitment.
- Develop: Review live and recorded calls, examine active opportunities, and identify specific changes that will improve each Client Advisor’s results. Run focused role-plays, demonstrate stronger approaches, and give clear, actionable feedback.
- Hire and Build: Recruit and interview Client Advisors against our Client Advisor Core Competencies, hiring for consultative potential - curiosity, business acumen, and coachability - as well as sales experience.
- Playbook Ownership: Own and continuously refine the Client Advisor inbound playbook, using call audit findings and conversion data to keep it current and effective.
- Manage Performance: Understand causes of underperformance and agree specific corrective actions and timelines with Client Advisors. Demonstrate sustained improvement in team conversion and sales performance, supported by stronger discovery, qualification, follow-through, and portfolio expansion.
- Onboard and Ramp: Manage onboarding for new Client Advisors, ensuring they complete sales training and assessing each new advisor against the skill-based Client Advisor ramp milestones — running discovery unaided, qualifying a live opportunity, surfacing needs beyond the initial request — on the path to independent, quota-carrying performance.
- Career Development: Support career development and succession planning for Client Advisors, including the path into leadership.
- Pipeline Oversight: Challenge the evidence behind each Client Advisor’s view of an opportunity: why it may proceed, what remains unresolved, when decisions are likely, and use that judgment to improve qualification and prioritize support, and strengthen forecasting discipline..
- Operational Excellence: Identify process improvements that increase Client Advisor efficiency, productivity, and scalability.
- Cross-Functional Partnership: Work seamlessly with cross-functional partners that include, but are not limited to: Client Services, Talent Operations, Client Experience, and People leadership. Additionally, be able to bring in the right specialists (matching, delivery, HireGlobal, service-offering experts) at the right time.
- Reporting: Deliver presentations to cross-departmental partners covering metrics, key takeaways, and action plans based on data analysis.
- Motivation and Recognition: Motivate the team through recognition, incentives, and transparent communication of expectations and results.
- Culture: Drive a culture of high performance, accountability, and continuous improvement within the team — including a learn-it-all habit of self and peer call review, and a library of strong calls that show the standard.
In the first week, expect to:
- Onboard and integrate into Toptal leadership.
- Learn Toptal’s model, our team members, and our story.
- Become acquainted with the team members who will report to you.
In the first month, expect to:
- Complete Toptal’s leadership/sales training program and build a deep understanding of who our clients are and how Client Advisors sell across our full portfolio.
- Understand your team and their current performance levels, the SMB Sales Leadership and expectations, and identify the main causes of conversion leakage.
- Begin 1-1 coaching with each team member based on ongoing live and recorded call reviews.
In the first three months, expect to:
- Develop and roll out your strategy to increase team performance and productivity, with individual goals set for each team member.
- Run consistent coaching and opportunity-review cadences with specific improvement priorities for each Client Advisor.
- Deliver your first cross-departmental presentation covering metrics, key takeaways, and action plans.
In the first six months, expect to:
- Demonstrate measurable commercial improvement in conversion and sales performance from Client Advisors being coached, supported by stronger call quality scores, opportunity progression, and qualified HireGlobal and services opportunities.
- Regularly assess performance against KPIs, partnering with sales enablement and operations to continuously improve.
- Continue building, coaching, and mentoring your team toward greater results.
In the first year, expect to:
- Run an optimized, well-managed inbound sales function that maximizes Toptal’s ability to capture SMB market demand profitably.
- Develop senior Client Advisors who mentor new team members and serve as reference points on discovery quality and portfolio positioning.
- Sustain a culture of high performance, continuous improvement, and record-breaking results and client experiences.
Qualifications and Job Requirements:
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree required.
- Three or more years in business-to-business sales, featuring one to two years direct leadership of inbound, inside, or end-to-end small business sales teams.
- Demonstrated record of improving individual and team sales performance through specific coaching, disciplined opportunity management, and clear performance expectations. Ability to learn and coach to a structured sales methodology.
- Experience managing pipeline and forecast rigor across a team in a CRM. Genuine, demonstrable passion for AI in the world of work, including using AI to improve how a sales team researches, reviews calls, and coaches.
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills; comfortable presenting metrics and strategy to cross-departmental partners.
- Comfortable operating in a dynamic environment with evolving processes and priorities.
- Full availability during working hours to support your team and step into client escalations as needed.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, rapidly growing company and handle a wide variety of challenges, deadlines, and a diverse array of contacts.
- You must be a world-class individual contributor to thrive at Toptal. You will not be here just to tell other people what to do.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience leading a team that sells more than one product or service line into the same account (portfolio selling).
- Experience with a named sales methodology (MEDDPICC, Challenger, SPIN, Sandler, or similar).
- Software, tech, or professional-services sales leadership experience.
- Fluency with modern sales tooling, including AI-assisted call review, conversation intelligence, and CRM workflows.
Core Competencies
These are the skills we evaluate during interviews and continue to develop with you after you join.
- Consultative sales mastery. You can run and model an excellent discovery call yourself — open-ended discovery, disciplined qualification, and a dated, named next step — and show your team what good looks like.
- Coach-first leadership. You develop people through call review, role-play, and specific feedback, not just dashboards. Your team gets better because you are in the details with them.
- Talent judgment. You can spot curiosity, business acumen, and coachability in an interview, and you can tell real potential from polish.
- Insight-led selling. You can teach Client Advisors to bring a point of view, reframe a client’s thinking when needed, and position Toptal as a strategic services partner rather than a talent marketplace.
- Accountable. You take ownership of your team’s results and hold your team accountable to raising their own bar.
- Critical thinker. Strong analytical and problem-resolution skills, with a demonstrated ability to develop data-driven solutions.
- Proactive, collaborative communicator. You drive toward the mission without being told, and you communicate clearly across your team, cross-functional partners, and clients essential in our remote environment.
