Founding GTM / BDR

About TalkApply

TalkApply is a voice AI pre-screener for recruiting. When a candidate applies, our agent calls them within minutes, runs the phone pre-screen in their language and, if they do not pick up, finishes it over SMS chat. Recruiters get answers, recordings and summaries in their ATS. It is built by Next Dialog, a Polish voice AI company running outbound and inbound calling for clients in Poland, Germany, Europe and the US. We are a small founding team; you work directly with the founders.

The role

You are our first commercial hire. Sales has been founder-led so far. What is missing is a scalable system to find, reach and sell — you build it, together with the team.

This is not a follow-the-script BDR role: no inbound, no playbook to inherit. You help sharpen our ICP, build the outbound engine and shape the sales playbook the next hires will run.

What you will do

• Help sharpen our ICP based on what prospects actually tell you.
• Build target account lists and find the people who own the problem.
• Prospect every day across phone, LinkedIn and email. The phone is core.
• Run sharp first conversations: workflow, candidate volume, current screening, who decides, why now.
• Lead gen, qualification and closing end to end, together with the team.
• Test messages and sequences, measure what turns into qualified pipeline, improve fast.
• Manage pipeline and maintain the CRM; track outbound conversion and pipeline velocity.
• Bring what prospects say back to the team, the product and the positioning.
• Shape our sales playbook and build a repeatable sales process.

How we measure the role

Qualified meetings against ICP, pilots started, contracts closed from your pipeline. Dials, emails and open rates are diagnostics, not the goal.

What makes you a great fit

• 2+ years of outbound experience in B2B SaaS, or you have done 0→1 before: first SDR/BDR at a startup, ex-founder.
• Comfortable picking up the phone.
• You write exceptionally well.
• Curious about how businesses work; HR-tech or staffing experience is a plus.
• AI-native: you use AI tools for research, list building and personalisation, and you know where human judgment stays.
• Entrepreneurial, high agency, low ego: you figure things out without a playbook and take feedback directly.
• Strong communicator in English.

You may not be a great fit if

• You need inbound leads, a finished script or detailed direction to start.
• You do not like being on the phone.
• You value meeting counts over whether the prospect has a real problem.
• You want to hand off a meeting and move on; here you stay in the deal.
• You are looking for a 9-to-5.

Hiring process

Four steps, usually within two weeks:

1. Intro call with a founder — 30 min.
2. Practical round — a mock cold call and a short outbound exercise — 60 min.
3. Final call with the founders — 45 min.
4. Offer.