About YourStory YourStory is India's most strategic ecosystem influence platform — built over 18 years to turn visibility into influence across Startups, Developers, Enterprise Leaders, GCCs and MSMEs. We reach 10M+ monthly users, 2.5M+ newsletter subscribers, and 4.6M+ followers across channels, and we host the country's most influential tech moments: TechSparks (17th edition, 10,000+ attendees), GCC Summit, SheSparks, MSME Sparks and the DevSparks city series. Brand Solutions is how we partner with the world's most ambitious companies — Dell, Google Cloud, AWS, Microsoft, Snowflake, NVIDIA, Accenture, Airtel Business, Delhivery and others — to build narratives, IPs, sponsorships and ecosystem programs that shape India's tech story. About The Role What You will Own - We're hiring an Associate Sales & Partnerships Manager — Inside Sales to lead the inbound revenue engine for YourStory Brand Solutions. This is a desk-led, high-velocity role: you'll convert inbound interest — from our website, microsite enquiries (TechSparks, GCC Summit, SheSparks), newsletter advertiser leads, sales mail, LinkedIn DMs, and warm referrals — into qualified pipeline, closed-won revenue, and long-term accounts. You won't be doing cold-call outbound prospecting. Your job is to be the fastest, sharpest, most consultative response India's tech brands meet when they raise their hand. You'll qualify, scope, package and close — turning inbound curiosity into multi-quarter partnerships across newsletter takeovers, articles & video IPs, branded content, event sponsorships, and bespoke programs. You'll work hand-in-glove with Brand Solutions Content, Events, and Marketing. You will be reporting to the SVP — Strategic Initiatives & Business Development for commercial direction and deal strategy. What You'll Do, Day To Day Own the inbound funnel end-to-end Speed-to-lead — Be the first human response to every qualified inbound lead — across web forms, microsite enquiries, sales inbox, newsletter & display-ad enquiries, LinkedIn, and warm intros — within a defined SLA (target: under 2 business hours during working hours). Qualify with rigor — Run discovery calls to understand the prospect's brand objective, funnel stage (awareness, consideration, conversion, brand recall), audience target, budget band, and decision timeline. Disqualify early — Use our standard qualification framework (BANT / MEDDIC-light) to disqualify fast and focus calendar time on the leads that will actually close. Package, propose, close Map need → offering — Translate prospect goals into the right YourStory offering — newsletter inclusions across YS Buzz, Weekly Wrap and Dev Digest; articles & branded content; signature video IPs (Inside the AI Boardroom, GCC Beyond Borders, Mavericks, Tech Transformers); event sponsorships across TechSparks, GCC Summit, SheSparks, MSME Sparks and DevSparks; or bespoke campaigns combining the above. Proposal velocity — Build polished, audience-data-backed proposals in PPT/PDF using approved templates, with clear deliverables, timelines, and commercials. Turn around first drafts within 48 hours of a qualified discovery call. Commercial confidence — Run pricing conversations confidently — anchor on value (audience quality, 46% open rate vs. 21% industry average, 64% CXO/founder readership, 200K+ stories told), defend margins, and negotiate within approved guardrails. Closing discipline — Drive deals from proposal to PO, coordinating legal, finance, and content teams to compress cycle time. Pipeline & CRM rigour Single source of truth — Maintain every opportunity in our CRM with current stage, next step, expected close date, and accurate INR value. CRM hygiene is non-negotiable — if it isn't in the CRM, it doesn't exist. Forecasting — Provide accurate weekly forecasts and quarterly commits to the Brand Solutions leadership. Own your numbers — Track and improve your own conversion metrics — response time, qualification rate, proposal-to-close ratio, average deal size, win/loss reasons — and run a fortnightly retrospective on what's working and what isn't. Account growth & repeat business Expand inside accounts — After closing the first deal, stay engaged through delivery alongside the Customer Success and Content teams. Use campaign performance moments to surface upsell, cross-sell and renewal opportunities. Build durable relationships — For repeat advertisers (~50% of our base) and 5-year+ key accounts (~10%), build a relationship cadence that keeps YourStory top-of-mind ahead of every brand planning cycle. Cross-functional collaboration Close the loop with marketing — Work with Marketing on inbound lead-quality feedback — which campaigns send leads that actually close, which don't. Sell what we can deliver — Coordinate with Brand Solutions Content and Events teams to scope deliverables accurately, so what's sold is what's delivered. Voice-of-customer — Feed insights from lost deals and prospect objections back to leadership to sharpen our positioning and pricing. What We're Looking For MUST HAVE - Inbound / inside sales DNA — 3–6 years selling digital media, brand solutions, SaaS, B2B services, event sponsorships, or branded content — with at least 2 years in an inside sales, inbound sales, or desk-based revenue role. Quota carrier — A consistent track record of meeting or beating quota, with conversion numbers you can speak to in detail. Cycle-running ability — Demonstrated ability to qualify ruthlessly, build crisp proposals fast, and run a multi-stage deal cycle from first call to PO without dropping balls. CRM-fluent — Hands-on proficiency with a CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho or equivalent) and comfort with sales tooling — email sequencing, calendar tooling, e-sign, deck/proposal tools. Communicator — Sharp written and verbal English. You can write a 5-line follow-up that gets replied to, and structure a 20-minute discovery call that gets a second meeting. Ecosystem-curious — A genuine interest in India's startup, developer and enterprise tech ecosystem — you read about it, you have a view on it, and you can talk to a CMO or a founder without sounding scripted. NICE TO HAVE - Prior experience selling to marketing or brand teams at tech companies, GCCs, enterprise SaaS, or D2C brands. Familiarity with media-sales constructs — CPM, CPL, share-of-voice, takeovers, integrated campaigns, multi-touch attribution. An existing network across brand, agency, or startup marketing teams in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR. Exposure to event sponsorship sales (conferences, summits, multi-city activations). How You'll Know You're Winning Inbound enquiries are getting a same-day, useful first response — and prospects are saying so. Your qualified pipeline is consistently 3.5x your quarterly quota, with clean stage data. Proposals go out within 48 hours of discovery, and feel custom — not boilerplate. You're closing deals across the full product surface, not just one or two SKUs. Accounts you closed last quarter are coming back this quarter. Marketing and Content teams ask for your input because your loop-back is sharp. WHY YOURSTORY Sell something real — Sell a product the market actually wants — 2.5M+ engaged newsletter subscribers, 46% open rate (2x industry), 64% founder/CXO readership, and India's most influential tech IPs. Front-row seat — Work with the brands shaping India — Dell, Google Cloud, AWS, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Snowflake, Accenture, Airtel Business, and 30+ industry sectors served. Compounding career — Learn from a leadership team with 100+ years of cumulative experience building India's most trusted founder & business storytelling platform. Earn for outcomes — Competitive base, uncapped incentives tied to outcomes, and a clear growth path into Senior Manager / Key Account Skills: media sales,crm,d2c,sales,inboubd sales