Top 30 jobs to kickstart your SaaS journey

These days, the whole world has gone SaaS, and we love it! But we know it can be pretty daunting for newbies looking to join the ranks of this vibrant industry.

The good news? The world of SaaS is diverse, and one of the major causes of its continual rise is the broad pool of talent that make up the SaaS ecosystem.

So, whether you’re a data wiz, a product maestro, or even someone who’s just really good at talking to customers, there’s a place for you.

The number of roles are endless. But to make it this as digestible as possible for you, we’ve broken the job titles listed here down into six major functions:

Sales
Marketing
Consultancy
Product management
Engineering
Operations

Ready to get started on your SaaS journey? Let’s dig into what’s waiting for you today!

Sales

In the world of SaaS, sales is the glue that connects your products with eager customers. It's not just about sealing the deal; it's about understanding folks' needs, proving your product's worth, and keeping the love alive with your users.

A great sales person will figure out what makes customers tick and how your solution can help. Simply put, they'll be able to showcase the virtues of your product so it resonates with user pain points.

SaaS sales consultant

SaaS sales consultants are the secret sauce in the SaaS sales journey. They're the bridge between sales smarts and tech wizardry, making sure sales opportunities soar and users get a smooth ride onboard.

What they do:

Tech guru: They're the go-to for all things technical.
Showtime: They dazzle with epic product demos.
Team players: They team up with the brains behind the product.
Feedback fiends: They gather intel to make your product even better.

Business development representatives

Meet the Business development rep (BDR) – the unsung hero of the sales world. They're the ones digging up new leads through phone calls, emails, and social media, then making sure the hot ones get passed to your account gurus.

What they do:

Lead hunters: They chase leads relentlessly.
Lead matchers: They pair the right leads with your account executives.
The first step: It's where many sales champs begin their journey.

SaaS sales account executives

Join the ranks of SaaS account executives – the deal-closers of the tech world. Your mission: take charge of the entire sales journey for your leads and accounts, from finding them to sealing the deal.

What you'll do:

Full-spectrum sales: You own the entire sales cycle.
Inbound action: You're the one they call when leads come knocking.
Ultimate flexibility: Your job's a mix of different sales adventures.

Enterprise sales executive

Step into the shoes of an Enterprise sales executive. In this role, you’ll be concerned with large enterprise accounts with intricate needs and marathon sales journeys.

What you'll tackle:

Big game hunting: You're after the large, complex accounts.
Top-level engagement: You bring senior-level skills to the table.
Tailored solutions: You're the product guru for your org.
Revenue rockstar: You're the cash cow for SaaS organizations.

SaaS sales engineer

The SaaS sales engineer is the tech guru behind successful sales journeys. They're the ones who light up demos, prove concepts, and have all the answers for users.

Here's what they do:

Tech support heroes: They're your go-to tech backup during sales.
The one with the answers: they should be able to solve user technical complaints.
Team tech advisors: They should keep the sales team informed on the technical aspects of the product.
Upsell opportunists: They have a hawk eye for upsell opportunities.

SaaS customer success manager

SaaS customer success managers are the champions of user satisfaction. Their mission: onboard, support, and be a helping hand for customers on their SaaS journeys. Even if you have no experience in SaaS, if you have a good track record of giving customers what they’re looking for, then customer success might be for you.

Here's their game plan:

Smooth sailing: You ensure customers sail smoothly through onboarding.
SaaS tour guide: You guide, train, and support users every step of the way.
Upsell opportunists: Spotting opportunities for growth is one of the crucial ways you’ll be able to help your org grow.

SaaS sales manager

As the SaaS sales manager you’re the captain of the sales ship. Your mission: lead a team of sales reps to victory.

Here's your playbook:

Quota setter: You're the one who sets the bar high.
Rep coach: You mold sales stars with your expertise.
Performance analyst: You dissect the numbers for success.
Marketing maven: You collaborate on growth strategies.
Revenue commander: Your team's success is your mission.

VP of sales

As the VP of sales you’re the driving force behind the entire sales machine. Your goal is to lead the charge, set the vision, and make revenue soar.

Here's what your roles would be:

Visionary leader: You set the sales course for growth.
Cross-functional maestro: You orchestrate harmony with other departments.
Report captain: You keep everyone updated with sales insights.
Revenue driver: You're the one who makes the numbers soar and hits target.

Chief revenue officer

The Chief revenue officer is in charge of all things revenue, from sales and marketing to customer success and strategy.

Here's their domain:

Revenue visionary: They chart the course for revenue growth.
All-in-one leader: Sales, marketing, and more fall under their command.
strategy architect: They design the blueprint for revenue success.

Marketing

Join the world of SaaS marketing, where creativity meets strategy. Marketers wear many hats, from content creation and email campaigns to social media magic and SEO tricks. They're the lead generators and funnel nurturers.

Let's dive deep into the whole plethora of roles you can take on in the marketing realm.

Marketing manager

As a marketing manager, your mission will be to craft, execute, and analyze marketing strategies that conquer trends, meet needs, and seize opportunities.

Here's what you'll do:

Trend tracker: You're always on top of market research, with a hawk eye for new trends that your company should be capitalizing on.
Channel maestro: You wield the power of social media, email, and ads to extend your company’s message.
Team collaborator: You’ll be reaching out to other teams to ensure your org ticks along like a well-oiled machine.
Metric maven: You’ll be tracking the numbers to ensure your team is well on the way to reaching and exceeding their goals, as well as always being aware of what the broader company objectives are.
Team leader: You inspire and lead the marketing team, supervising their work and ensuring that they’re carrying out company objectives.

Your role is pivotal, driving brand recognition, customer growth, and loyalty through market-savvy strategies and campaigns.

Content marketer

Content Marketers are the storytellers and strategists behind customer engagement. Their role: craft captivating content, perform keyword wizardry, and optimize for SEO.

Here's what you’ll be doing:

Content creators: You’ll whip up blogs, ebooks, videos, and more and find fresh, dynamic ways to present your company’s message.
Strategy architects: You’ll plot content calendars and distribution plans so that your content plan is strategically scheduled to really give your content the spotlight it deserves.
SEO wizards: Your job is to make sure that your company’s content stays visible in search results.
Audience captivators: Your role is to tap into those user pain points, creating content that resonates deeply to maximize conversions.
Multichannel maestros: You’ll be spreading content far and wide, giving your content the wings it needs to reach a wide audience.

As a content marketer, your focus is on using content to entice, engage, and convert target audiences across the entire customer journey. Content marketing is unique in the marketing sphere in that it’s value-led.

Customers today are savvy to traditional ‘CTA driven’ marketing. Content builds your brand reputation by solving real solutions that customers have, positioning your org as a problem solver and thought leader rather than cynical cash grabber.

From that foundation of trust rock solid retention is built, and conversion becomes inevitable.

Product marketing manager

You’ll be the mastermind behind strategic and tactical marketing for SaaS products, perfectly aligned with buyer needs.

Your job includes:

Messaging champion: You’ll craft compelling positioning and messaging that leads to conversions.
Go-to-market guru: You’ll outline winning strategies to ensure your product really shines on a global scale.
Trend tracker: You’ll analyze market and customer trends to make sure your brand stays ahead of the curve.
Pricing strategist: You’ll design effective pricing and packaging strategies so that users become paying customers.
Metrics expert: You’ll report on product performance and highlight ways that your strategy needs to change.
Dev team liaison: You’ll provide essential feedback to development, so that demands for features and improvements can be met.
Competitive analyst: You’ll keep an eye on rival offerings to ensure that your product stands toe to toe and exceeds the competition, becoming a real industry heavyweight.

In this role, you'll ensure SaaS products thrive through expert marketing strategies and insights.

Chief marketing officer

A Chief marketing officer (CMO) is the top marketing strategist who aligns marketing tactics with business goals, championing a customer-focused, data-driven approach.

In the position of CMO, you'll take on the role of:

Brand ambassador: You become the public face and voice of the brand.
Strategy leader: You harmonize marketing strategy with business strategy to ensure that marketing goals are always aligned with wider business goals.
Financial steward: You'll manage budgets and optimize resources to ensure that careless spending doesn’t cut into profits and that resources are distributed in the right direction.
Partner collaborator: You cultivate valuable relationships with agencies and vendor so your company’s message can be heard far and wide.
Innovation trailblazer: You explore new horizons for growth and improvement, keeping an eye open for new channels and marketing tactics.
Progress reporter: You keep executive leadership and stakeholders informed about outcomes and advancements.

VP of marketing

Here, you’ll be the strategic marketing leader at the helm of the entire marketing operation, driving it toward business success.

In this capacity, your key responsibilities encompass:

Team leadership: You manage marketing teams to peak performance.
Financial monitor: You wield budgets to maximize impact.
Strategic architect: You design and execute company-wide marketing strategies.
Sales collaboration: You partner with the sales department so that the team knows exactly what the unique selling points are to push.
Executive advisor: You provide insights on marketing opportunities so that the team has direction.
Creative director: You steer creative teams in line with the company’s wider vision.
Brand ambassador: You represent the company's image at industry events, putting a friendly, trustworthy face to your brand.

As the VP of marketing your role is pivotal in steering marketing efforts towards achieving organizational goals and fueling growth. Your team may be bursting with creativity and ideas, but are they in line with your company’s broader mission statement? This is what you’ll cement as VP of marketing.

SaaS consultancy

In the realm of SaaS consultancy expert advisors offer strategic guidance and hands-on support to help organizations shape, launch, and thrive with their SaaS products and platforms.

For most SaaS professionals this is the kind of role they consider later in their journey, however, it's still helpful to be mindful of the kind of roles waiting for you later down the road. SaaS is here to stay and with that comes career longevity.

SaaS business consultant

This role is a fusion of technical mastery and strategic guidance, guiding clients towards successful SaaS integration.

In this role, your mission encompasses the following roles:

Financial analyst: You model costs, benefits, and ROI for SaaS solutions.
Special advisor: You recommend optimal SaaS architecture and integrations.
Vendor navigator: You assist clients in selecting the perfect SaaS provider to resolve their problems.
Metric leader: You establish KPIs and metrics for SaaS performance, so leaders throughout your company know exactly what their north star is.

Your ultimate goal is to equip clients with the insights and strategies they need to thrive in the SaaS landscape. SaaS consultants will often be individuals who have already garnered quite a reputation in the industry.

Think of them like the old sages – they’ve been there, done that – and they’re here to pass on their wisdom to younger talent.

SaaS product manager

SaaS product managers are the architects of product strategy, roadmap, and the customer-centric masterminds behind feature prioritization.

As a SaaS product manager, your tasks include:

Strategic visionary: You craft the product's strategy and roadmap: your roadmap should outline goals and priorities, so that your whole team is in sync on what needs to be delivered.

Voice of the customer: You capture the voice of the customer by always being mindful of customer feedback, ensuring your product is always informed by customer demand and pain points.

Requirement guru: You ensure precise definition of customer needs. As a result the team are keenly aware of the product’s purpose and vision.

Engineering collaborator: You work hand-in-hand with engineers on the technical demands of the product. It’s all good and well to have great ideas but you have to ensure it’s technically feasible.

Ultimately your job is as follows: Understand, create, and deliver SaaS products that not only meet customer pain points, but exceed expectations, surprising and delighting customers.

Now, let's take a look at the various roles you can take on within product management.

Technical product managers

Technical product managers are the bridge builders between engineering and product development. Your job is a pretty herculean task: You decode technical complexities, define specs, and empower teams to create cutting-edge products.

As a technical product manager in the SaaS domain, your responsibilities include:

Engineering liaison: You facilitate seamless collaboration between teams, ensuring a close working relationship between your creative and technical talent.
Technical detective: You investigate feasibility and dependencies. Your product might be a great idea, but what are you going to need to make it a reality?
Spec creator: You craft detailed specs and documentation, so the whole org knows exactly what the product’s purpose and capabilities will be.
Prototyping pro: You bring new tech capabilities to life through prototypes which give everyone an idea of what the end product will look like.
Internal educator: You share technical insights with internal stakeholders; Everyone needs to be aware of how the product functions.

Your role is to ensure the technical prowess behind SaaS products can deliver on the product’s mission statement.

SaaS solutions architect

SaaS solutions architects collaborate with customers, sales, and various teams to craft tailor-made SaaS solutions.

In this role, your tasks encompass:

Integration orchestrator: You design integration and configuration strategies.
Requirement gatherer: You collect vital intel on customer needs and the current tech landscapes.What new solutions are available on the market, and how can you use them?
Solutions sage: You create holistic SaaS solutions covering processes, data models, integrations, and configurations.
Implementation planner: You assist with planning, including data mapping, imports, and testing.

In this role you’ll engineer SaaS solutions that fit like a glove, empowering businesses to thrive in the digital realm.

Growth product managers

growth product managers oversee user acquisition, activation, retention, and upsell strategies. Their mission: boost product growth through data-driven insights and feature enhancements.

In this role, your core duties include:

Testing trailblazer: You conduct A/B tests to refine product performance.
Data detective: You analyze user behavior data to uncover growth opportunities and locate spots in the customer journey where your product might be falling short of customer expectations and needs.
Strategy specialist: You devise and execute growth strategies by being mindful of how your product can improve and innovate.
Feature innovator: You implement features that are in line with customer expectations and make your product stand out on the global stage.

Your goal: Propel the product to new heights by enhancing user experiences and driving key growth metrics.

Engineering

Engineers are the backbone of SaaS companies, a metaphor that’s especially apt when you consider that, without the technical nuts and bolts, your product is all empty promises and abstractions.

You’ll be dedicated to crafting, maintaining, and expanding cloud-based products so that there are no fires to put out on your path to growth and innovation. Engineering teams blend technical prowess with a customer-centric mindset, meaning that your product can always walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

Devops engineer

A devOps engineer fine-tunes development and deployment processes for peak efficiency. You'll be tasked with designing, deploying, and maintaining automated tools that monitor applications, facilitate seamless code changes, and streamline development and release pipelines.

In this role, your core responsibilities include:

Automation expert: You design and implement automated deployment and monitoring tools.
Code tester: You ensure code changes are automatically built and tested.
Process streamliner: You craft strategies to optimize development and release workflows.

Your role is to ensure a perfect synergy of automation and efficiency, driving smooth and agile development and deployment in SaaS environments.

Data engineers

Data engineers are the architects of data infrastructure in SaaS companies. You’ll be designing, constructing, and upholding large-scale processing systems, crafting the backbone for data-driven decisions.

In this role, your key responsibilities encompass:

Infrastructure builder: You create and maintain data processing systems so everything ticks along like clockwork.
Data specialist : You design data architectures and integrate diverse sources, and the whole org can track their process and align their KPIs to the company vision, facilitating company synergy.
Reliability : You ensure data redundancy and backup procedures.
Pipeline mastermind: You develop and manage scalable data pipelines.

Your ultimate goal is to make sure insights and decision-making are informed by robust and scalable data infrastructure.

Quality assurance engineer

Quality assurance engineers are the guardians of SaaS software quality. Quality assurance engineers design and execute tests, ensuring that SaaS software meets stringent quality standards.

This includes both manual and automated testing. You’ll be safeguarding your brand from the damaging effects that software failure can bring to your brand.

In this role, your core responsibilities include:

Tester: You design and implement comprehensive test suites.

Quality gatekeeper: You ensure SaaS software meets the highest quality standards.

In this role think of yourself as the final safeguard of the integrity and reliability of SaaS software. It might not be the most flashy role, but you are absolutely integral to the survival of your org, and the sustained excellence of all functions within the org.

SaaS operations

SaaS operations are the unsung heroes who ensure seamless and reliable service delivery to customers. Operations teams are are like the solid beams that hold the ship together, working closely with various departments for smooth sailing.

Some people like to be leaders, others like to be facilitators, but both are necessary within the SaaS sphere.

SaaS operations manager

A SaaS operations manager is the orchestrator of operational efficiency, performance monitoring, and issue resolution. Operations managers are the driving force behind seamless service delivery.

In this role, your key responsibilities encompass:

Cross-team coordinator: You harmonize efforts across teams for operational excellence.

Metrics mastermind: You monitor performance metrics and KPIs.

Problem solver : You implement strategies to tackle challenges.

SLA enforcer: You ensure compliance with service level agreements so your company doesn’t fall into legal hardship

Internal operations overseer: You manage HR, finance, and legal aspects of internal operations.

Your ultimate goal is to optimize operations, uphold performance standards, and ensure operational compliance, both internally and externally.

Database administrator

A database administrator safeguards data integrity, performance, and security in the SaaS realm. You’ll be entrusted with maintaining the databases that power SaaS products.

The core aspects of your role include:

Data keeper: You safeguard data integrity, performance, and security.

Maintenance hero: You conduct routine tasks like backups, updates, and scaling.

Ultimately, if you decide to take on this role you’ll be making sure SaaS product's data infrastructure remain rock-solid, reliable, and secure.

Security operations engineer

You’ll be the vigilant protectors of the SaaS fortress. Security operations engineers are responsible for monitoring, fortifying, and staying one step ahead of potential threats to ensure the security of the SaaS product.

In this role, your core responsibilities include:

Sentinel on watch: You vigilantly monitor the SaaS platform for security breaches or vulnerabilities.
Fortification fighter: You design and maintain security tools and infrastructure.
Threat tracker: You stay updated with the latest threats and countermeasures to keep the SaaS product secure.

Your mission is to safeguard the SaaS fortress against all potential threats, ensuring it stands strong and secure.

Wrapping up

Whichever path you decide to take, you’ll find a home in the vibrant world of SaaS. This industry is home to a diverse ecosystem of talent – what will you bring to the table?

Let’s find out. Start your SaaS journey today – you’ll be in good company!

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Top 30 jobs to kickstart your SaaS journey

Anthony Witherspoon

Sales

SaaS sales consultant

Business development representatives

SaaS sales account executives

Enterprise sales executive

SaaS sales engineer

SaaS customer success manager

SaaS sales manager

VP of sales

Chief revenue officer

Marketing

Marketing manager

Content marketer

Product marketing manager

Chief marketing officer

VP of marketing

SaaS consultancy

SaaS business consultant

SaaS product manager

Technical product managers

SaaS solutions architect

Growth product managers

Engineering

Devops engineer

Data engineers

Quality assurance engineer

SaaS operations

SaaS operations manager

Database administrator

Security operations engineer

Wrapping up

Anthony Witherspoon