How long do SDRs stay in the seat? Half leave by month 14

The typical sales development rep (SDR or BDR) leaves the job 14 months after starting. With a published ramp time of 3.0 months, that leaves 11 months of full productivity per hire. That is the median across 431,550 SDR and BDR seats started from 2012 to 2025, in the public work histories in Ken internal data. And the 14 months is probably too high. People tend to leave short jobs off their profiles, and correcting for that brings the median down to about 12 months.

What we measured

We took every job title that names a sales or business development rep: sales development representative, business development representative or associate, SDR, BDR, account and market development reps, appointment setters and similar. The rule counts 64,417 distinct raw titles. In seats started from 2012 to 2025 they were held by 363,028 people in six countries: the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. Manager, director and VP titles are left out, so "Head of Sales Development" does not count as an SDR seat. A move from SDR to Senior SDR at the same company counts as one seat.

For each seat we measured the months from start to exit. Many people are still in their SDR job. We do not know when they will leave, so a standard survival method (Kaplan-Meier) counts them only for the time they have been in the seat so far.

The productive window is short

• Ramp. The Bridge Group's 2025 survey of SDR teams puts average ramp at 3.0 months, down from a peak of 3.8 months in 2014.
• In the seat. 95.3% of SDRs are still in the seat after 3 months, 82.3% after 6 months, 57.0% after 12 months and 25.6% after 24 months.
• The ratio. At the median, an SDR stays 4.7 times as long as the ramp. About one month in five of the typical SDR's time in the seat (21.4%) goes to ramping.

The Bridge Group's own survey, in which companies report their averages, put the median productive window at 16 months in 2023. Work histories give a shorter answer: 11 months at the median, and less once short jobs are counted. With the 2023 survey's ramp of 3.2 months, or the 2014 peak of 3.8, the window is 10.8 or 10.2 months.

Where SDRs go next

Of the 351,366 SDR seats that ended:

• 37.3% moved to another company. 34.8% of those took another SDR or BDR job, so 13.0% of all exits are a sideways move into the same role somewhere else.
• 29.9% left sales and marketing altogether.
• 28.2% were promoted or moved to another sales or marketing role at the same company. 41.3% of these moves were to an account executive title.
• 4.5% have no later job on their profile.

Only 17.7% of exits lead straight to an account executive title, at the same company or another. The classic "two years as an SDR, then AE" path is one route out of several, not the norm.

Company size matters more than anything else we tested

SDRs at companies with 1,001 or more employees stay a median of 16 months. At companies with 11 to 200 employees the median is 12 months. The biggest companies (5,001+) reach 17 months.

Large companies also keep more of their SDRs once they leave the seat. At companies with 5,001 or more employees, a move inside the same company is the most common exit (38.6% of exits). At companies with 11 to 50 employees it is 20.0%. A smaller company has fewer roles to promote an SDR into, so more of its SDRs move on by leaving.

Industry matters less. SDRs at software and IT companies stay a median of 13 months, against 15 months in all other industries. But software SDRs are more likely to stay with their employer when they move on: 36.9% of their exits are internal moves, against 23.8% elsewhere.

Each cohort stays a little less

Of SDRs who started in 2012, 68.3% were still in the seat after a year. For 2021 starters, the hiring boom year, it was 52.6%, the lowest of any year. It has risen slightly since, to 56.1% for 2024 starters. Part of the long decline is a quirk of the data, not a real change. Older profiles have had more time to lose their short early jobs. So older cohorts look more stable than they really were, and the trend before 2020 should be read with care.

The short-job problem

Profiles are written by the people themselves, and a three-month job that went badly often never makes it on. That makes SDR stints look longer than they are. To size the effect, we looked at 5,325 people seen leaving an SDR job for another company in June 2026. When they changed jobs, 16.4% had no entry left at the SDR employer at all. The job was gone from the profile. If every one of those missing jobs lasted six months or less, the true median falls from 14 months to 12. The stricter and looser versions of that check give 11 to 12 months.

What we expected

We registered seven predictions before reading any data. The median would be 14 to 20 months: it was 14, at the low edge. Fewer than 70% would last a year: 57.0% did. Moving to another company would be the most common exit: right, but leaving sales and marketing came second, ahead of moves inside the company. SDRs at companies of 1,001 or more would stay at least 2 months longer than at 11 to 200: they stayed 4 months longer. Software and IT would be shorter than other industries: right. The 2021 and 2022 starts would have the weakest first year: right for 2021, but the 2020 starts did worse than 2022. Counting short jobs would cut the median by 1 to 3 months: it cut it by 2.

What this data cannot show

• Links, not causes. Large companies may hire more experienced SDRs or run longer programs, so the size gap shows a link, not a cause.
• Short jobs go missing. The correction above is an estimate. Some missing jobs lasted longer than six months, which would shrink it, and some short jobs never show up at all, which would grow it.
• Today's company. Size and industry are each company's current values, not the values when the SDR worked there.
• Exit routes come from the next job listed. A move inside the company includes sideways moves as well as promotions, and "no later job" mixes job gaps, unlisted jobs and people who stopped updating.
• Six countries. The data covers people whose current profile is in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland or New Zealand, and 76% of seats are in the US.
• Ramp is a survey average. It comes from company surveys, not from the same SDRs, so the comparison is between a typical ramp and a typical stay.

What it means for an SDR plan

• Budget 3 months of ramp and 9 to 11 months of output. That is what an SDR hire gives before the seat turns over at most companies under 1,000 employees.
• Large companies get a few more months. At 1,001 or more employees the median is 16 months, and more SDRs stay on in a new role.
• Give the seat a visible next step. Where a step inside the company exists, the same person keeps working for you after the SDR seat ends.