Newsletter · 10 min read

Who's actually hiring in GTM right now? AI companies are doubling SDR hiring

Kyle Poyar · Growth Unhinged Free Advanced

Actual job posting data instead of opinion: GTM posts down 15 percent, SDR posts down 21 percent, support down 37 percent, while GTM engineering headcount doubled and AI native companies more than doubled their SDR teams. It is the antidote to both the everything is automated and nothing has changed camps.

  • Overall GTM job posts fell 15 percent in Q1 2026 versus Q1 2025, across 22,988 postings.
  • SDR posts are down 21 percent overall, yet AI-native companies more than doubled SDR hiring.
  • At AI-native companies support is 2.2 percent of GTM headcount, 67 percent smaller than peers.
  • 3 in 5 open GTM roles are account executives or solutions engineers.
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It answers 2 questions

  1. We handed outbound to AI and reply rates fell. Where does AI actually help, and where does it backfire?
  2. How is AI actually changing what a GTM team does day to day?

Read with it

  1. The clearest definition yet of the role that is quietly reshaping outbound teams, with how Intercom, Canva, Notion and Ramp... Clay Article · long read GTM Engineering: What It Is, How It Works, and How to Hire Mishti Sharma and Varun Anand
  2. It gives you a four part test (autonomy, reasoning, tool use, memory) to tell a real agent from a renamed feature, which is the... Mutiny Article · 20 min read The best AI agents for B2B sales in 2026: What's real vs. hype Matt Ratchford
  3. Shows the specific places AI earns its keep in outbound (closed-lost re-engagement, champion job-change tracking,... Growth Unhinged Newsletter · 15 min read The best AI-native GTM plays you're not running Kyle Poyar and Brendan Short
  4. The counterweight to every AI SDR pitch deck, with the failure modes named and numbered: sender reputation collapse,... Digital Applied Article · 18 min read The Case Against AI SDRs: Contrarian Analysis 2026 Digital Applied
  5. Podcast · 11 min The AI SDR Is Overhyped - Here's What Actually Works | Cold To Close Episode 4 Smartlead
  6. Podcast · 46 min How to Run B2B GTM When Your Buyer Asks ChatGPT First Alon Waks
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