San Francisco SDR Salary: Tech OTE Benchmarks (2026)

SDR compensation at 20 San Francisco tech companies

The table below uses public job postings and compensation pages available or indexed on September 24, 2026. “Comparable” means the employer or job listing explicitly describes the figure as OTE, annualized compensation including commission, or total target cash.

Company and role	Published cash compensation	Comparison status and experience context
Anthropic BDR	$116,480–$131,040 OTE	Comparable; 2–3+ years in a startup or adjacent professional field
Harvey SDR	$110,000 OTE	Comparable; 80/20 split; 1–2+ years preferred
Plaid SDR	$106,971 OTE	Comparable; Zone 1 compensation; 1–3 years of pipeline or sales experience
Rippling SDR	$105,000 OTE	Comparable; 70/30 split
Ramp University Graduate SDR	$76,000–$104,500 OTE	Comparable; university graduate role; 70/30 split
Adapt BDR	$100,000–$130,000 OTE	Comparable; $70,000 base reported in another indexed copy; 1+ year
Gong SDR	$90,000 OTE	Comparable; employer-provided figure in an indexed job listing
Notion BDR	$100,000–$115,000 annualized compensation	Comparable; includes a $30,000 annual commission target; prior outbound experience expected
Amplitude SDR	$74,000–$112,000 total target cash	Comparable; entry-level listing; pipeline experience preferred
WRITER SDR	$90,000–$110,000 OTE	Comparable; equity; 2+ years in SaaS sales development
CodeRabbit SDR	$102,000 OTE	Comparable; $72,000 base; 1–3 years of sales, business-development or customer-facing experience
Chalk SDR	$95,000–$110,000 OTE	Comparable; $75,000–$90,000 base; 0–1 years
Scribe SDR	$95,000 OTE	Comparable; 80/20 split; 6 months to 2+ years in sales or a customer-facing role
Handshake SDR	$90,000–$100,000 OTE	Comparable; early-career role; no hard minimum stated
Brex Outbound SDR	$82,535–$92,852 OTE	Comparable; prior sales or related customer-facing experience
Salesforce BDR	$55,640–$74,490 base	Context only; Glassdoor reports $99,000–$114,000 total pay for its current San Francisco range
Snowflake SDR	$48,000–$66,000 base	Context only; current listing is in Menlo Park and gives base pay only
Fivetran BDR	$99,000 recent Oakland total-pay report	Context only; no current comparable Bay Area employer posting was verified
OpenAI Account Associate	$144,000–$160,000 base	Context only; 4–6+ years; equity and potential bonus are separate
Baseten Outbound SDR	$80,000–$110,000 salary + equity	Context only; posting labels the range as salary; cloud or security sales experience preferred

The 20-company screen contains 15 comparable OTE or target-cash figures and five context points that measure something else.

What is the average SDR salary in San Francisco?

Across the 15 comparable roles in this selected company set, the median advertised OTE or target cash is $102,000. For broader context, Built In reports $91,752 in average total compensation across San Francisco SDRs.

Thirteen of the 15 comparable roles have midpoints between $90,000 and $115,000. I used the midpoint when a company publishes a range. The ordered midpoints are:

$87,694, $90,000, $90,250, $93,000, $95,000, $95,000, $100,000, $102,000, $102,500, $105,000, $106,971, $107,500, $110,000, $115,000 and $123,760.

Anthropic is the clearest high-end exception at a $123,760 midpoint. Brex sits below the cluster at an $87,694 midpoint. Everyone else lands inside it.

That makes the practical 2026 interpretation:

• Around $90,000 OTE: credible, but toward the lower end of this selected set.
• $100,000–$110,000 OTE: the competitive center of the set.
• $110,000–$115,000 OTE: strong for an early-career SDR role.
• Above $115,000 OTE: possible, especially in AI, but inspect experience requirements and quota design.
• Above $130,000: the comparable screen stops at a $123,760 midpoint. Treat larger claims as outliers until the employer can show current attainment data.

This selected-company benchmark covers a narrower and better-paid group than the citywide market. Built In breaks its citywide figure into an average base salary of $65,974 plus $25,778 in additional cash compensation.

RepVue scores are company-level signals

A job posting tells you what the company is willing to advertise. RepVue can add a second layer: how sales reps rate the broader sales organization and how large the response base is.

As of September 24, 2026, RepVue had a public company score and employee-rating volume for 12 of the 20 companies:

Company	RepVue score	Employee ratings	Public SDR quota attainment
Anthropic	97.85	11	Not publicly displayed
Ramp	93.57	459	Not publicly displayed
Plaid	89.86	172	Not publicly displayed
Snowflake	88.69	1,628	Not publicly displayed
Gong	87.62	1,240	Not publicly displayed
Notion	85.97	127	Not publicly displayed
Rippling	85.44	1,339	Not publicly displayed
Fivetran	84.63	458	Not publicly displayed
Salesforce	84.51	12,146	Not publicly displayed
Brex	84.49	418	Not publicly displayed
Amplitude	78.90	272	Not publicly displayed
Handshake	74.58	206	Not publicly displayed

RepVue calls the volume metric “employee ratings.” It covers SDRs, account executives, sales leaders and other revenue roles. The overall score is company-wide and cannot stand in for SDR quota attainment.

Sample size changes how much weight to place on the score. Anthropic’s 97.85 comes from 11 employee ratings. Salesforce’s 84.51 comes from more than 12,000. A small-sample score can point you toward questions to ask, but it carries less confidence than a mature profile.

RepVue’s current public SDR salary pages did not reveal a numerical SDR quota-attainment percentage for any company in this set. The table leaves that field unavailable because company-wide attainment and older search snapshots are different measures.

For the eight companies without a matching public RepVue profile, or where the matching company identity could not be verified, no score is reported here. That group is Harvey, Adapt, OpenAI, WRITER, CodeRabbit, Chalk, Scribe and Baseten.

Is $110,000 OTE good for a San Francisco SDR?

For an SDR with roughly zero to two years of relevant experience, $110,000 OTE is competitive within this selected company set.

On a 70/30 pay mix, the package breaks down as:

• $77,000 base salary
• $33,000 target variable compensation
• $110,000 total OTE at 100% quota attainment

The pay mix changes the risk carried by the rep. Harvey advertises the same $110,000 OTE on an 80/20 split, which implies $88,000 in base salary and $22,000 in variable compensation. The headline OTE is identical, but the guaranteed and at-risk portions differ by $11,000.

Baseten shows why pay type matters too. Its salary range reaches $110,000 before equity. The posting omits an OTE label and commission target. That could carry less cash risk than a $110,000 OTE with a large at-risk component. A direct comparison requires the compensation plan.

OTE is only useful when the quota is credible

OTE combines base salary with the variable compensation a rep should earn at 100% of quota. A job posting confirms the target. It cannot confirm how many people reach it.

Two companies can advertise the same OTE while producing very different outcomes. One may have stable territories, a proven quota and most fully ramped reps near target. Another may have an untested quota, little historical data and a large share of compensation tied to outcomes outside the SDR’s control.

Before treating an OTE as realistic, ask for:

1. The base and variable split.
2. The exact quota and payout event.
3. The percentage of fully ramped SDRs who hit quota in each of the last two quarters.
4. Median attainment and the best rep’s result as separate figures.
5. Ramp length and whether variable compensation is guaranteed during ramp.
6. Territory, segment and inbound-versus-outbound differences.
7. The number of SDRs included in the attainment figure.
8. How many reps earned at least the advertised OTE.
9. What changed the last time the company revised quota, territories or payout rules.

The denominator matters. “Sixty percent hit quota” is weak evidence if the team includes three fully ramped SDRs, or if the calculation excludes recently hired and exited reps without explanation.

The compensation metric should fit the sales motion

The amount of variable compensation is only half of the design. The company also has to choose what earns it.

For a short, transactional cycle, paying part of the variable on closed-won revenue can make sense. The feedback arrives quickly, and the SDR can see a clearer connection between account selection and revenue.

In a six-to-twelve-month enterprise cycle, today’s SDR pay can depend on pricing, procurement, product and AE execution long after the handoff. A company may still include a revenue component, but the main variable can sit closer to accepted opportunities or an agreed stage of pipeline progression.

Outbound maturity matters too. An early team still proving its targeting and message may begin with meetings held. A team with a known ICP, a proven playbook and enough conversion history can move compensation further down the funnel.

There is no universal payout event. The plan should reward the outcome the company needs while keeping most of the SDR’s pay connected to work the SDR can influence.

What a strong San Francisco SDR package looks like in 2026

For an early-career role at a well-funded San Francisco technology company, a strong package has five characteristics:

• OTE around the competitive cluster for the role and experience level.
• A base salary large enough that missing quota does not create extreme income volatility.
• A quota supported by attainment data from fully ramped reps.
• A payout metric that reflects sales-cycle length and SDR control.
• Clear territory, ramp and promotion rules.

$110,000 OTE clears the first test in this selected set. The remaining four determine whether the package works in practice.

If the company cannot explain how many fully ramped SDRs earned the advertised OTE, the number remains a recruiting claim rather than a reliable compensation benchmark.

Methodology and source boundaries

Research for this article used public employer job postings, indexed job listings, employee-reported compensation pages and RepVue company profiles available on September 24, 2026. Compensation, scores and job listings can change.

The $102,000 median:

• includes 15 roles explicitly labelled OTE, annualized compensation including commission, or total target cash;
• uses the midpoint when a company publishes a range;
• excludes equity because employers do not provide comparable annual values;
• excludes Salesforce, Snowflake, Fivetran, OpenAI and Baseten from the calculation because their cited figures measure base pay, employee-reported pay, salary without a disclosed variable target, or a materially different role;
• describes advertised target compensation, not verified rep earnings; and
• does not estimate quota attainment where current public role-specific evidence is unavailable.

Compensation is one input into SDR economics. Before adding headcount, model the full cost and expected output using the outbound capacity modeling guide. If the motion is still unproven, use the first-SDR readiness framework before benchmarking the offer.