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Salary: USD 230,000 - 430,000 / annual
Cohere is a leading enterprise AI company building foundation models and end-to-end products for businesses. As a Senior Account Executive focused on Federal Defense and Intelligence, you will own the full sales cycle for U.S. Department of Defense, Combatant Commands, and national security organizations.
You will drive net-new customer acquisition through targeted outbound activity, senior leader engagement, and relationship building across federal defense and intelligence agencies. Your responsibilities include developing and executing sales plans for the Department of Defense and related national security departments, acting as a trusted advisor to government decision-makers, and structuring AI solutions that deliver measurable mission outcomes.
You will work closely with channel partners including distributors, VARs, and major system integrators to scale outreach and accelerate adoption. You'll leverage senior-level relationships with executives and government decision-makers to drive strategic opportunities and long-term partnerships. Collaboration with Product and Engineering teams is essential to deliver enterprise and public-sector solutions tailored to government needs.
The role requires managing the complete sales cycle—discovery, technical and business validation, proof-of-concept, procurement, and deal closure—within a team-selling environment. You'll partner with Sales Development Representatives and Marketing to drive top-of-funnel activity and overall territory growth, while serving as the voice of the field to help Product and Engineering prioritize the roadmap.
Ideal candidates have 10+ years of direct public sector sales experience in Defense and Intelligence communities with a proven track record of closing $5M+ annual quotas. You should have deep knowledge of federal procurement cycles, an established network in the D.C. metro area including federal agencies and prime contractors, and experience selling SaaS, AI/ML, or enterprise software to government clients. You must be comfortable with ambiguity, capable of building markets from the ground up, and skilled at managing multiple internal and external stakeholders. Based in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia with willingness to travel 25-35%.
About Cohere
AI / Data / Infrastructure — enterprise generative AI models and tooling for businesses.
