High-Paying Remote Jobs in Sales and Business Development

That second part matters more than most salary blogs let on. A $200,000 OTE in a US job ad tells a rep in Lagos very little. The role may be closed to anyone outside the US, and even reps who are eligible often earn well below the headline.

This guide ranks the main sales and business development roles by pay, using US government data and published compensation research. It explains how OTE is put together, with worked examples in dollars and naira. It also shows which of these roles you can realistically land from Nigeria, which territories to target, and how to check an ad before you spend an evening on the application.

Quick answer

The highest-paying remote sales jobs are enterprise and mid-market account executive roles at software companies, followed by sales engineering, channel or partner sales, and sales management. Pay usually comes as OTE: a base salary plus commission that you earn by hitting quota. US benchmarks run well above $100,000 a year. Nigeria-based reps usually get lower offers, mainly in EMEA, Africa or worldwide territories.

Which remote sales roles pay the most

Sales pay depends mostly on two things: how big the deals are and how much of the deal you personally close. That's why someone who closes a $150,000-a-year software contract with a bank earns more than someone booking meetings for a small-business product.

The table below ranks the main roles using one published benchmark. Apollo, a sales software company, compiled the OTE figures from industry surveys including the Bridge Group and CaptivateIQ (Apollo's OTE guide). The figures are US-market OTE ranges in US dollars, gross, a year. Treat them as ceilings for comparison, not as what you'll be offered from Nigeria.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) gives a government benchmark for the same idea. In May 2025, the median pay for sales managers was $148,270 a year, and the top 10% earned more than $290,540. Sales managers in finance and insurance had a median of $174,440 (BLS, Sales Managers). Sales engineers had a median of $124,900 (BLS, Sales Engineers). Wholesale and manufacturing reps selling technical and scientific products had a median of $104,920, against $72,080 for reps selling other products (BLS, Wholesale and Manufacturing Sales Representatives). BLS wage figures include commissions and bonuses.

The pattern is the same in both sources. Technical products, big buyers and closing responsibility pay best.

Enterprise account executive

An enterprise AE sells to large organisations (banks, telcos, insurers, governments). Each deal takes months, involves many decision-makers and is worth a lot. The Backbase "Senior Account Executive Africa" posting we found asks for 10+ years in a quota-carrying role, which is typical of this level. It's the best-paid individual sales job, and it's rarely open to anyone who hasn't already closed large deals somewhere else. Our planned guide to becoming an enterprise account executive remotely covers that route.

Mid-market and SMB account executive

These AEs sell to smaller companies, close faster deals and handle more of them. This is the realistic first closing job for most Nigerian sales professionals going remote. Our account executive career guide covers the skills, tools and route in, and the account executive salary guide has pay in dollars and naira.

Sales engineer and solutions consultant

A sales engineer (sometimes called a solutions engineer or pre-sales consultant) is the technical expert on the sales team. They run product demos, answer security and integration questions and build proofs of concept. The pay mix leans heavily towards base salary (80:20 or 90:10 in Apollo's table), so income is steadier. If you have a software, IT or cloud background and you like talking to customers, this is often an easier route than straight sales. BLS says the role usually needs a bachelor's degree in engineering or a related field, though some people get in through sales and technical experience instead.

Channel and partner sales

Partner sales managers recruit and manage resellers, distributors and system integrators, who then sell the product for them. This kind of role tends to be given a wide territory, which is good news for Nigeria-based candidates. One of the clearest worldwide sales ads we found is a channel role (see the section on who hires from Nigeria below).

Business development manager

"Business development" means different things at different companies. At a software company it often means partnerships or opening new markets. At an agency or outsourcing firm it usually means finding and closing new clients. Pay varies more than for AE roles, so read the duties, not just the title. Our business development manager career guide explains the variations.

Account manager and customer success

Account managers and customer success managers (CSMs) look after existing customers, keep them from cancelling and sell them upgrades. More of the pay is fixed than for AEs. These roles can lead into closing roles later, and they reward the relationship skills many Nigerian bank and telco staff already have. The customer success manager guide covers that path.

What OTE means and how sales pay actually works

OTE stands for on-target earnings: what you're expected to earn in a year if you hit your target. QuotaPath, a commission software company, defines it as base salary plus commission plus any bonuses, and points out that it's a forecast, not a promise (QuotaPath OTE glossary).

The parts of a sales compensation plan

• Base salary: paid whether or not you sell. This is the only guaranteed part.
• Variable pay (commission or bonus): earned as you hit your quota, often paid monthly or quarterly.
• Quota: the amount of revenue you're expected to close in a period, for example $600,000 of new annual contract value a year.
• Pay mix (split): the ratio of base to variable pay at target. A 50:50 split on a $120,000 OTE means $60,000 base and $60,000 variable.
• Accelerators: a higher commission rate once you pass 100% of quota, for example 1.5 times the normal rate.
• Caps: a ceiling on how much commission you can earn. "Uncapped" means no ceiling.
• Ramp period: the first few months, when quota is reduced or part of the commission is guaranteed while you learn the product. Apollo says ramp commonly takes three to six months.
• Clawbacks: commission you have to pay back if the customer cancels or doesn't pay within a set period. Always check the contract for these.

Why most reps earn less than OTE

Apollo reports average quota attainment for account executives of 42.7%. In other words, the typical AE does not hit their number, and their real pay sits between the base and the OTE. Apollo also suggests that if fewer than half the reps at a company hit quota, the OTE in the ad is more a hope than a forecast.

That's why the best question to ask in an interview is not "What's the OTE?". Ask "What percentage of your reps hit quota last year?". Our planned guide on how to evaluate a remote sales job offer goes through the rest of the questions.

Example (hypothetical): what a 50:50 plan pays at different results

Imagine a mid-market AE role offered to a Nigeria-based contractor at $80,000 OTE with a 50:50 split ($40,000 base, $40,000 variable), uncapped, with a 1.5 times accelerator above 100%. The figures are illustrative, not market data. Conversions use ₦1,362 to $1 (CBN NFEM weighted average, 23 October 2026), rounded.

At 120%, the first 100% earns $40,000 of variable pay. The extra 20% earns 1.5 times its normal $8,000, which is $12,000. These are gross figures before tax and before any fees for getting the money into Nigeria.

The same $80,000 OTE on a 70:30 plan would guarantee $56,000. Lower risk, less upside. Early in your remote career, a higher base is often worth more than a bigger OTE, especially while you're still learning a new product and market.

Commission-only offers

Some "high-paying" ads, especially in appointment setting, coaching programmes, real estate and some agencies, pay no base at all. They can pay well for strong closers, but you carry all the risk. Our planned article on commission-only remote sales jobs covers when they're worth it, and the planned guide to finding remote sales jobs with a base salary shows how to filter for paid base.

Can you get these jobs from Nigeria? Territory decides

The biggest thing separating a Nigerian applicant from a high-paying sales role is usually the territory, not skill. A sales rep is assigned a territory: a region, a country or a set of named accounts. Companies hire reps who live in, or can cover, that territory.

Why most US-listed AE roles are closed to Nigerians

A "Remote, US" enterprise AE role usually means selling to US companies, in US hours, often with occasional travel to customers. The employer also has to employ you legally, and many only have payroll in a few countries. Those ads are rarely realistic from Lagos, however good the OTE looks. Our planned explainer on US-only and Canada-only remote job restrictions goes into the details.

Territories that suit Nigeria-based reps

• Africa or West Africa: selling to Nigerian, Ghanaian or Kenyan businesses for a foreign or pan-African company. Your local knowledge is the selling point.
• EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa): Lagos shares a time zone with much of Europe for part of the year, so you can cover European working hours. Read the ad closely: many "EMEA" roles actually want someone in the UK, Germany or another named country. See our planned guide to what EMEA means in a job ad.
• Worldwide or "home based, worldwide": the company covers you wherever you are, usually as a contractor or through an employer of record (EOR).
• Outbound into the US or UK from abroad: common for SDR and appointment-setter roles at agencies and smaller firms. These are often lower-paid, but they give you dollar-paid experience that counts towards an AE role.

Example of an employer advertising worldwide sales roles

Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, lists several sales roles as "Home based - Worldwide" on its Greenhouse careers board, including Channel Partner Sales Executive, Partner Sales Director and Embedded Devices Software Solution Sales roles (checked as of October 2026, Canonical's job board). The Channel Partner Sales Executive ad gives no salary figure. It says pay is a base salary plus a performance-based annual bonus or commission, set by location, experience and performance. It asks for a bachelor's degree, past software or technology sales experience, a record of meeting targets and fluent English. It also says applications using AI-generated content will be disqualified, and that staff travel to company events two to four times a year, which may need visas. Roles and eligibility change, so check the live ad before applying.

Omilia, a conversational AI company, has advertised a fully remote "Sales Development Representative - EMEA" role covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Omilia SDR ad on Workable, opened October 2026). It asks for one to three years of outbound prospecting experience and skills in Salesforce, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and tools such as Outreach, Salesloft or Apollo. The ad doesn't name the countries candidates must live in, so email the recruiter to confirm Nigeria is included before applying.

What Nigeria-based sales reps are likely to be paid

Location-adjusted pay is normal in remote sales. Canonical's ad says outright that location is one of the things it considers. Offers to Nigeria-based reps are usually below the US benchmarks in the table above. Africa or EMEA territories also tend to have smaller deals than US enterprise deals, and that lowers the OTE further.

There is very little reliable public data on Nigeria-specific sales pay. One global payroll platform, Plane, shows a median base of $55,641 a year for remote account executives in Nigeria, with a 10th percentile of $19,635 and a 90th percentile of $100,094 (Plane, account executive salary in Nigeria). Plane doesn't publish its method, sample or date, so treat this as a rough indication only. The spread is the useful part: what you earn depends heavily on who you sell for and what.

What pushes your offer up:

• Selling a technical product (security, data, cloud, payments infrastructure) rather than a simple tool
• A track record with numbers: quota percentages, deal sizes, sales cycle length
• Experience selling to the same buyers the company targets (banks, insurers, telcos, governments)
• A territory the company badly needs covered and can't easily fill locally
• French, Portuguese or Arabic, for francophone or North African markets

For a closer look at how employers set remote pay by location, see our planned article on how international companies set salaries for remote employees.

The route into a high-paying remote sales role

Very few people start as enterprise AEs. The usual remote path looks like this:

1. SDR or BDR (sales or business development representative). You book meetings for AEs through cold email, LinkedIn and calls. Our SDR career guide and SDR salary guide cover the role.
2. SMB or mid-market AE. You run your own deals from discovery to signed contract. The planned guide on moving from SDR to account executive covers the step up.
3. Senior AE or enterprise AE. Bigger accounts, longer cycles, much higher OTE.
4. Sales manager, partner sales or sales engineering, depending on whether you want to lead people, manage partners or go technical.

If you already work in sales in a Nigerian bank, fintech, telco or B2B company, you may be able to skip step 1. Translate your experience into the language remote employers use: annual contract value, quota attainment, pipeline generated, win rate. "Exceeded targets" says nothing. "Closed ₦480m of corporate accounts, 118% of annual target, average cycle of four months" says a lot. Add the dollar equivalent and the rate you used.

Tools to learn before you apply

• CRM: Salesforce or HubSpot. Both have free training (Salesforce Trailhead, HubSpot Academy). Our planned guide to CRM skills for remote sales professionals explains which matter.
• Prospecting: LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, and sequencing tools such as Outreach or Salesloft.
• Calls and demos: Zoom, Google Meet, and call recording tools such as Gong, which many sales teams use to review calls.

Prepare for the role-play

Most AE interviews include a mock discovery call or demo. You'll be judged on your questions, how you handle objections and how you agree next steps. Practise with our account executive interview questions and the planned guide on completing a sales role-play assessment.

Nigeria-specific practicalities for remote sales work

Time zones

Nigeria is on West Africa Time (WAT, UTC+1) all year. For EMEA roles that's convenient: Lagos is on the same time as London in summer and one hour ahead in winter, and the same time as Central Europe in winter. US roles are harder. A 9am to 5pm US Eastern day runs from 3pm to 11pm in Lagos once US clocks go back on 1 November 2026, and from 2pm to 10pm in summer. Sales calls happen when the buyer is free, so US-facing reps work evenings.

Power and internet

A dropped call in the middle of a demo can lose a deal. Run an inverter or solar backup for your laptop, router and ring light, and keep two internet connections (for example fibre plus a MiFi, or a MiFi plus a phone hotspot on a different network). Use a decent headset. Buyers notice background noise from generators and traffic.

Contract type, payment and tax

Most foreign companies hire Nigeria-based reps either as contractors or as employees through an employer of record (EOR). The difference affects benefits, leave and how commission is paid. See contractor vs employee (EOR) for Nigerians. For getting base pay and commission into Nigeria (Payoneer, Wise, Grey, Deel withdrawals, domiciliary accounts), read how to receive dollar payments in Nigeria. Commission is taxable income, so plan for it with our guide to tax for remote workers in Nigeria.

Red flags in "high-paying" sales ads

Sales is one of the easiest categories for bad offers to hide in, because "uncapped earnings" sounds attractive and costs the advertiser nothing. Be careful when:

• The ad promises a huge OTE but no base salary and no product details
• You're asked to pay for "sales training", a "starter kit" or a "lead list" before you start
• The "company" has no website, no LinkedIn presence and no named people, or the role is only advertised on Telegram or WhatsApp
• They refuse to say what percentage of reps hit quota, or how commission is calculated
• You're asked to sell investments, crypto schemes or "opportunities" to friends and family

Legitimate employers don't charge you to apply or to start. Our guide to spotting remote job scams in Nigeria covers the warning signs in detail.

Frequently asked questions

What is the highest-paying remote sales job?

At the individual level, enterprise account executive roles at software companies usually pay the most, and sales leadership (sales director, VP Sales) pays more. Apollo's compiled benchmarks put US enterprise AE median OTE at $200,000 to $250,000 a year. These roles usually need several years of closing experience, and many are restricted to specific countries.

What does OTE mean in a sales job ad?

OTE means on-target earnings: your base salary plus the commission or bonus you'd earn by hitting 100% of quota. Only the base is guaranteed. If you hit less than your quota, you earn less than the OTE, and many reps do.

Can Nigerians get remote account executive jobs that pay in dollars?

Yes, when the company hires in Nigeria and the territory is one you can cover, usually Africa, EMEA or worldwide. Many US-listed AE roles require US residence, so check the location line and ask the recruiter before applying. Pay offered to Nigeria-based reps is usually below US levels.

Is a 50/50 base and commission split good?

A 50:50 split is normal for account executive roles, but it means half your target pay depends on results. If you're new to the product or to selling abroad, a 60:40 or 70:30 split with a proper ramp period carries less risk. Always ask what share of reps hit quota.

Do I need a degree for high-paying remote sales jobs?

Not always. Many AE and SDR ads ask for a bachelor's degree, and Canonical's channel sales ad does too, but a strong sales record often counts for more. Sales engineering is the role most likely to expect a technical degree or equivalent experience.

Is sales engineering a better route than account executive for tech people?

Often, yes. Sales engineers support deals with technical expertise, and more of their pay is base salary (80:20 or 90:10 in Apollo's benchmarks), so income is steadier. BLS reports a US median of $124,900 for sales engineers in May 2025.

How long does it take to move from SDR to account executive?

There's no fixed timeline. It depends on the company, your results and whether AE seats open up. Promotion usually follows a steady record of hitting meeting and pipeline targets. Some reps move internally and others step up by joining a new company.

Key takeaways

• The best-paid remote sales jobs are enterprise and mid-market account executive, sales engineer, partner or channel sales, and sales leadership roles, mostly at software companies.
• OTE is base plus commission at 100% of quota. Only the base is guaranteed, and Apollo reports average AE quota attainment of 42.7%.
• Territory decides eligibility. Nigeria-based reps have the best chance with Africa, EMEA and worldwide roles. Many US-listed roles require US residence.
• Pay for Nigeria-based reps is usually below the US benchmarks, and reliable Nigeria-specific data is thin, so judge an offer by its base, quota and attainment history.
• Quantify your sales record in revenue, quota percentage and deal size, and learn Salesforce or HubSpot before you apply.

Next steps

Pick the role that fits where you are now: SDR if you're new to B2B sales, mid-market AE if you already close deals, or sales engineer if you're technical. Then look at sales and business development openings in WorkRemote's business and marketing listings. Each listing shows the company, its website and where applicants may live. After searching, use "Get email updates" to get a free daily alert for new matching jobs. If your CV doesn't show your sales numbers well, our CV and LinkedIn rewrite service is part of Premium. Applying for jobs on WorkRemote is always free.

Sources

• Sales Managers, Occupational Outlook Handbook, US Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Sales Engineers, Occupational Outlook Handbook, US Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Wholesale and Manufacturing Sales Representatives, Occupational Outlook Handbook, US Bureau of Labor Statistics
• What Is OTE Salary? Compensation guide, Apollo
• On-target earnings (OTE) glossary, QuotaPath
• Canonical job board, Greenhouse
• Channel Partner Sales Executive, Canonical (Greenhouse)
• Sales Development Representative - EMEA, Omilia (Workable)
• Account Executive salary in Nigeria, Plane
• CBN exchange rates by currency, Central Bank of Nigeria