Intervu is in beta — feedback welcome at support@intervu.io

OpenAI Sales Development Representative (SDR/BDR) Interview Questions

30 real practice questions for the entry-level Sales Development Representative (SDR/BDR) role at OpenAI (AI Research), spanning behavioral, problem solving, role knowledge, situational, and stakeholder. Open the sales funnel: prospect, qualify, run outreach and discovery, and book meetings for account executives. The first 3 questions below include what OpenAI interviewers actually listen for, plus likely follow-ups.

Practice these questions with AI feedback
Questions
30
Categories
Behavioral (6), Problem Solving (6), Role Knowledge (6), Situational (6), Stakeholder (6)
Difficulty mix
10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard
Avg. answer time
~4 min

Behavioral Questions (6)

  1. 1.Your background isn't a typical sales path — walk me through how something from a previous job, hobby, or field of study has actually made you better at prospecting or pitching.

    easy~3 min

    What interviewers look for

    • Candidate can articulate a specific, concrete skill or mindset from an unconventional background — not just 'I'm a hard worker' — and map it directly to SDR activities like cold outreach, objection handling, or qualifying leads.
    • Demonstrates self-awareness about how their path differs from a traditional sales hire, and frames it as an asset rather than apologizing for it — aligned with OpenAI's Mission Over Credentials principle.
    • Shows curiosity about AI or technology that predates the job application — a genuine interest in what ChatGPT or the GPT API platform enables, not just a rehearsed talking point.

    Likely follow-ups

    • Give me a specific example of using that skill in a real outreach situation — what did you send or say, and what happened?
    • Has your background ever created a blind spot or disadvantage in a sales context? How did you recognize and address it?

    Company context

    OpenAI explicitly rejects credential-driven hiring and looks for people whose unique experiences generate insights others miss. For an SDR role, this matters because OpenAI's buyers — developers, CTOs, heads of product — are sophisticated and allergic to generic pitches. A candidate who has worked in a technical field, taught themselves to code, or competed in an unrelated discipline often builds credibility with these buyers in ways a traditional SDR cannot. OpenAI values the Mission Over Credentials principle precisely because the company believes the most important perspectives come from people who approached a problem from an unexpected angle.

  2. 2.Tell me about a time you turned a rough idea or early experiment into something that actually worked at scale — even if it was just a new outreach sequence, a spreadsheet system, or a side project.

    easy~3 min

    What interviewers look for

    • Candidate describes a clear before/after: an early, unproven idea they tested in a limited way, then systematized or expanded after validating it — demonstrating the Research to Production mindset in a business context.
    • Shows they defined what 'working' meant before scaling — a metric, a conversion rate, a qualitative signal — rather than expanding something arbitrarily.
    • Connects the experience to the SDR context at OpenAI: understanding that an outreach approach that works for 10 prospects needs to be stress-tested before becoming the team playbook for a product used by hundreds of millions.

    Likely follow-ups

    • What was the failure mode you were most worried about when you scaled it up, and did it materialize?
    • If someone else tried to replicate what you built, what's the one thing you'd warn them about that isn't obvious from the outside?

    Company context

    OpenAI's Research to Production principle reflects the company's core challenge: turning breakthrough AI research into reliable, scalable systems like ChatGPT and the GPT API that serve hundreds of millions of users. For an entry-level SDR, the analog is building outreach motions, messaging frameworks, or qualification processes that start as experiments and become repeatable playbooks. OpenAI wants SDRs who think like mini-builders — people who don't just execute scripts but refine and systematize what works, mirroring how OpenAI itself iterates from prototype to production.

  3. 3.Describe a time you had to work closely with someone from a completely different function — marketing, product, finance, whatever — to close a loop or solve a problem. Where did the friction come from, and how did you navigate it?

    medium~4 min

    What interviewers look for

    • Candidate names a specific cross-functional partner, the concrete disagreement or communication gap, and the deliberate step they took to bridge it — not a vague claim of 'being a team player.'
    • Shows they sought to understand the other function's priorities and constraints before pushing their own agenda — the empathy and systems-thinking that OpenAI's Collaborate Across Boundaries principle requires.
    • Demonstrates awareness that SDR work at OpenAI requires tight collaboration with Account Executives, Solutions Engineers, and Marketing given the technical complexity of selling ChatGPT Enterprise or GPT API deals.

    Likely follow-ups

    • What would that person say about how you handled the friction — would they describe it the same way you did?
    • At OpenAI, SDRs work alongside Solutions Engineers who speak a very different language than salespeople. Based on that experience, how would you approach building that relationship from day one?

    Company context

    OpenAI's Collaborate Across Boundaries principle exists because AGI development demands that researchers, engineers, policy teams, and go-to-market functions work in concert. In the SDR role specifically, this means navigating constant handoffs between Marketing (inbound leads, campaigns), Account Executives (pipeline handoffs), and Solutions Engineers (technical qualification of GPT API prospects). Candidates who can only operate within their own lane will stall in OpenAI's fast-moving, cross-functional sales environment.

  4. 4.Tell me about a time you launched something quickly — a new outreach cadence, a campaign, a process — got real feedback, and had to significantly change your approach. What did you actually change?

    medium~4 min

  5. 5.You're cold-calling a senior engineer or CTO about the GPT API — someone who probably knows more about the technology than you do. Walk me through how you'd prepare for and handle that conversation.

    hard~5 min

  6. 6.Imagine you've tested a new email sequence for two weeks, got promising reply rates, and want to convince your manager to roll it out to the whole team. How do you make that case, and what would you need to feel confident it would hold up at scale?

    hard~5 min

Problem Solving Questions (6)

  1. 7.Estimate how many companies in the U.S. are realistic candidates to buy ChatGPT Enterprise this year. Walk me through how you get to a number.

    easy~3 min

  2. 8.You're an SDR focused on the GPT API. A prospect replies to your cold email saying they're already using OpenAI's free-tier API for a side project and don't see why they'd pay. What's your read on that reply, and what do you write back?

    easy~3 min

  3. 9.Your team's inbound lead volume from ChatGPT Enterprise demo requests dropped 30% last month compared to the prior two months. Marketing says nothing changed on their end. How do you think through what might be happening?

    medium~4 min

  4. 10.You're tasked with building a target account list of 200 mid-market companies for a new ChatGPT Enterprise push. You have access to a standard sales intelligence tool, LinkedIn, and your CRM. Walk me through exactly how you'd build that list and how you'd know it was good.

    medium~4 min

  5. 11.OpenAI just announced a major new capability in GPT-4 that your AE thinks is a game-changer for financial services accounts. You have two weeks before a competitor is expected to make a similar announcement. How do you build and run a blitz campaign in that window?

    hard~5 min

  6. 12.Imagine you're six months into the SDR role and your SQL conversion rate is consistently 15% below the team average — but your activity numbers are fine. Your manager asks you to self-diagnose. What's your process, and what are the top three hypotheses you'd bring to that conversation?

    hard~5 min

Role Knowledge Questions (6)

  1. 13.If you had 100 companies to prospect for the GPT API and only knew their industry and headcount, how would you prioritize who to contact first?

    easy~3 min

  2. 14.Walk me through the math on a basic SDR funnel — if your goal is 10 sales-qualified opportunities per month, what activity numbers are you working backward from?

    easy~3 min

  3. 15.A prospect you've been nurturing for six weeks — a VP of Engineering interested in the GPT API — just goes dark after a promising demo. How do you diagnose what happened and decide whether to keep pursuing them?

    medium~4 min

  4. 16.You're building your weekly outreach plan for ChatGPT Enterprise. How do you split your time between net-new prospecting and following up on accounts that have already shown some interest?

    medium~4 min

  5. 17.Your outreach sequence for mid-market SaaS companies converts at 4% to a booked meeting. Your teammate targeting the same segment gets 9%. Looking only at things you can actually observe or ask about, how do you figure out where the gap is?

    hard~5 min

  6. 18.Imagine you discover that 60% of the meetings you've booked over the last month were marked as 'not qualified' by the AE after the first call. What does that tell you, and what do you change?

    hard~5 min

Situational Questions (6)

  1. 19.A prospect replies to your cold email saying they already use a free ChatGPT plan and don't see why they'd pay for Enterprise. What do you say back?

    easy~2 min

  2. 20.You've got 20 outreach slots left this week and two lists in front of you — one is warm inbound leads from a ChatGPT Enterprise webinar, and the other is a cold list of Fortune 500 companies your manager flagged as strategic accounts. How do you split your time, and what would make you change that split?

    easy~3 min

  3. 21.You're mid-sequence with a Director of IT at a healthcare company who's been engaged but suddenly mentions they're worried about sending patient-related queries through any external AI. You're not sure what OpenAI's data handling policies cover in their specific case. What do you do in that moment, and what's your follow-up?

    medium~3 min

  4. 22.You notice a pattern: the accounts converting best to SQLs in your outreach all have an active GitHub Copilot or Azure OpenAI relationship. Your current target list doesn't filter for this. What do you do with that insight, and who do you tell?

    medium~3 min

  5. 23.A large financial services firm has been in your sequence for three months. They're finally ready to talk — but your AE tells you they may be evaluating you specifically as a replacement for a workflow currently handled by a team of junior analysts. How does that context change, if at all, how you approach the discovery call?

    hard~4 min

  6. 24.Three of your best-performing accounts — ones where you had real multi-thread engagement going — just went quiet in the same week. You have no idea why. You're already behind on your monthly SQL target. What do you do first, and how do you decide what's salvageable?

    hard~4 min

Stakeholder Questions (6)

  1. 25.Tell me about a time you had to get someone — a manager, a teammate, a professor — to change course on something they were already committed to. How did you do it?

    easy~3 min

  2. 26.You've booked a meeting that your AE is excited about. Right before the call, you learn from LinkedIn that the main contact just switched roles and probably no longer owns the budget. Do you say something to your AE, and if so, how?

    easy~3 min

  3. 27.Your manager tells you the marketing team has a new lead list from a ChatGPT Enterprise webinar they want SDRs to prioritize. You've been working a different segment and your early numbers look strong. How do you handle the tension between following direction and advocating for your own data?

    medium~4 min

  4. 28.A prospect emails you back and CC's their legal team, saying they want to understand OpenAI's data retention and model training policies before they'll take a meeting. You don't fully know the answers. Who do you loop in, and what do you say to the prospect in the meantime?

    medium~4 min

  5. 29.Your AE wants you to chase a large enterprise account that's been cold for four months. Your manager thinks it's a time sink and wants you focused on new pipeline. Both of them report to different leaders. How do you navigate that?

    hard~5 min

  6. 30.A Director at a company you've been prospecting calls your manager directly to complain that your outreach was too aggressive. Your manager comes to you wanting to understand what happened. Walk me through how you handle that conversation with your manager and what you do next.

    hard~5 min

More OpenAI interview questions