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Salary: USD 144,000 - 200,000 / annual
Skydio is the leading US autonomous drone company, serving defense, public safety, and enterprise customers. This is a first-line management role leading a regional sales team focused on mid-sized public safety agencies (41–100 sworn personnel) across the Western US territory.
You will lead a team of Key Account Leaders selling autonomous drone systems and AI-powered flight technology into public safety agencies. Your core responsibilities are recruiting, coaching, and retaining top sellers—your number is your team's number. You will not carry your own accounts. Instead, you will sharpen deal strategy, join competitive pursuits in the field, build pipeline discipline, and set the standard for how the team operates.
Key responsibilities include:
**RECRUIT**: Build a continuous talent pipeline and run a rigorous hiring process. Screen for integrity, team instinct, conversational craft, and AI fluency—not just closed-won history. Personally close candidates and onboard new Key Account Leaders with a clear ramp path.
**COACH**: Run 1:1s and deal reviews that build judgment. Get in the field for demos, customer meetings, and executive conversations, then provide specific feedback. Coach competitive strategy, MEDDPICC rigor, channel fluency, and forecast discipline. Raise the team's fluency with AI tools and ensure nothing AI-drafted reaches a customer unreviewed.
**RETAIN**: Build a team people don't want to leave through clear expectations, real development paths, and recognition. Own territory and quota design for equity and achievability. Address disengagement early and be the escalation path your team trusts.
**RUN THE REGION**: Own pipeline coverage, forecast accuracy, and linearity. Partner with Channel on strategy and deal structures. Act as executive sponsor on largest pursuits. Represent customer insight, competitive intelligence, and product gaps to Marketing and Product.
You will work alongside peer Directors, Sales Engineering, Business Development, Marketing, Strategic Relationships, Government Relations, and Mission Success. The role emphasizes high integrity, team sport mentality, conversational craft, and systematic use of AI tools as a normal part of work.
Travel requirement: at least 50% of the time within the Western region (AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, HI, IA, ID, KS, LA, MN, MO, MS, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OK, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY).
**REQUIREMENTS**
Required:
- 2+ years leading quota-carrying sellers as a first-line manager, with documented team attainment year by year, including a year missed and what you changed
- 4+ years total in enterprise software, hardware, or SaaS sales, including personal success closing complex, multi-stakeholder deals
- Demonstrated success recruiting sellers: real network, clear point of view on what good looks like, structured process you can describe, ability to close candidates
- Articulated coaching approach with specific examples of people who got measurably better working for you
- Strong voluntary retention history, record of developing people into larger roles, judgment to move quickly when someone isn't right
- Experience selling or leading teams into SLED (State, Local, Education) customers, with working knowledge of procurement vehicles and budget/grant cycles
- Fluency selling with and through channel partners
- Daily, systematic use of AI tools in your own work; at least one workflow, analysis, or tool you built or changed in the last two years that made you or your team measurably better (you will be asked to demonstrate it)
- Executive presence with both customer leadership and your own team; high personal integrity under quota pressure
- Ability to travel at least 50% of the time and based in West Region
- Working knowledge of what it takes to get a program approved by a council or commission
- FAA Part 107 certification within first 60 days of employment is strongly encouraged and required for certain positions
Preferred:
- Experience in public safety (law enforcement, fire, emergency management)
- Experience building a team from a small base rather than inheriting a mature one
- You have built something with AI that other people use (research tool, analysis, team workflow) and can discuss what the first version got wrong
- Curiosity demonstrated through ability to explain how something outside sales works (agency budget, airspace waiver, aircraft autonomy) in plain language; fast learner
- Familiarity with MEDDPICC, Salesforce, Clari, BGov, GovWin, Slack, Google Workspace
- UAV, robotics, or emerging technology background; comfort in fast-moving environment
About Skydio
Defense / GovTech; Industrial — autonomous drones for defense, public safety, and enterprise.
