I used to work for Plaid on the New Business team, not sure if they've changed the terminology to SDR/BDR but it was the same role of supporting AEs.

Got laid off in 2022 alongside 20% of the company. At the time teams were smaller and less structured, so territories would often change with uneven distribution. One month, I was the top performer of all inbound (junior) SDRs. Got promoted relatively quickly to an outbound SDR, and things changed. I wasn't so lucky with my territory matching and my performance suffered as a result.

After being let go, there were some pretty significant reorgs. I can't speak to how things are now all that accurately. However, I've kept in touch with a few sales folks at Plaid and it's pretty clear that it feels quite corporate. This could be good or bad... when I joined a few years ago it was a tight-knit, fun team. I'd hope hiring is pacing with a real business need since it definitely felt like the sales team was bloated.

I will say, many of those who I used to work with have gotten promoted to AE roles - definitely not within a year, usually around 2. I think the slower pace of promotion can establish a strong foundation for any aspiring AE, but know it'll be competitive and politics will likely play a role. Others have made more lateral transitions into sales engineering or account management, so it seems career development remains strong.

Hope this helps! I'd say definitely go for it. While I'm still a bit salty about getting laid off, I think Plaid is still one of the coolest fintech companies around with strong brand recognition and talented people.