Senior Account Executive Federal Defense and Intelligence
Toronto-founded enterprise AI company building foundation models, agentic AI, enterprise search, and private deployment products.
About Cohere
Cohere provides enterprise-focused AI models and end-to-end products, including North for agentic workplace AI, Compass for enterprise search, and models for generation and retrieval. It supports private, VPC, and on-premises deployment options.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will develop business with U.S. defense and intelligence organizations, including the Department of War and Combatant Commands. You will build senior government relationships, execute a territory sales plan, and manage discovery, validation, proof of concept, procurement, and close. You will shape AI solutions, partner with distributors and integrators, and coordinate with product, engineering, SDRs, and marketing.
Requirements
- 10+ years of direct public-sector sales experience in U.S. defense and intelligence communities
- Track record of closing $5M+ annual quotas
- Knowledge of federal procurement cycles and decision-making processes
- Experience working with resellers, VARs, and distributors
- Established network in the D.C. metro area, including federal agencies, prime contractors, AFCEA, and AUSA
- Experience selling SaaS, AI/ML, or enterprise software to government clients
- Ability to manage multiple internal and external stakeholders
- Technical acumen
- Experience presenting to technical and non-technical audiences
- Must be based in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia
- Willingness to travel 25-35%
Responsibilities
- Drive new customer acquisition across U.S. federal defense and intelligence organizations
- Develop and execute a sales plan for the Department of War and Combatant Commands
- Advise national-security customers and shape AI solutions
- Partner with distributors, VARs, and system integrators
- Build relationships with executives and government decision-makers
- Collaborate with Product and Engineering on public-sector solutions
- Partner with SDRs and Marketing on territory growth
- Own discovery, validation, proof of concept, procurement, and deal close
Benefits
- Weekly lunch stipend of $75/£75 or local equivalent
- Health and dental benefits
- Mental health budget
- RRSP matching, 401K, and Pension Scheme
- Parental leave top-up for up to 6 months
- Arts and culture, fitness and wellness, quality-time, and workspace-improvement credits
- Education and learning stipend
- Six weeks of paid vacation
- Travel budget for other offices and annual company offsite
- Co-working benefit
- $500 home office stipend