Account Executive - Higher Ed and SLED - TOLA/Midwest

VAST Data; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A growing AI infrastructure company is seeking an experienced Account Executive - SLED to manage higher education accounts. This role involves building relationships, driving sales strategies, and managing complex sales cycles. The ideal candidate has over 7 years of sales experience, particularly in the public sector, and is skilled in account management and technical solution understanding. A passion for new technologies and a competitive attitude are essential for success in this fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of sales or account management experience in SLED or Public Sector.
• Proven track record of exceeding sales quotas.
• Strong understanding of funding and procurement processes in the public sector.

Responsibilities

• Develop business with enterprise-level customers.
• Manage sales process aligned with customer buying cycles.
• Build executive-level relationships and drive sales strategies.

Skills

Sales experience

Account management

Technical solution understanding

Communication skills

Time management

Salesforce.com proficiency

Microsoft Office proficiency

Job description

VAST Data is looking for an Account Executive - SLED to join our growing team!

This is a great opportunity to be part of one of the fastest-growing infrastructure companies in history, an organization that is in the center of the hurricane being created by the revolution in artificial intelligence.

“VAST's data management vision is the future of the market.” – Forbes

VAST Data is the data platform company for the AI era. We are building the enterprise software infrastructure to capture, catalog, refine, enrich, and protect massive datasets and make them available for real-time data analysis and AI training and inference. Designed from the ground up to make AI simple to deploy and manage, VAST takes the cost and complexity out of deploying enterprise and AI infrastructure across data center, edge, and cloud.

Our success has been built through intense innovation, a customer‑first mentality and a team of fearless VASTronauts who leverage their skills & experiences to make real market impact. This is an opportunity to be a key contributor at a pivotal time in our company’s growth and at a pivotal point in computing history.

The Account Executive will focus on higher education SLED (State, Local, and Education) accounts, building executive-level relationships, driving sales strategies, and managing complex sales cycles within colleges and universities. A successful candidate needs a strong understanding of both technical solutions and the specific funding and procurement processes of the public sector.

The Role

• Develop business across a mix of enterprise level customers across the spectrum
• Generate revenue and work closely with a network of Channel Partners to successfully sell the VAST Data offering
• Manage the sales process to align with customer buying cycles
• Manage customer relationships from first meeting through (optional) proof of concept as well as after the sale to enable opportunities to expand the VAST Data footprint.
• Develop and present proposals to customers with information that demonstrates the ability of the VAST solution to meet customers’ business objectives and justify the sale.
• Prospect, penetrate large accounts, reaching decision‑makers, and closing business.

Requirements

• 7 or more years of sales or account management experience, with a background in the SLED or Public Sector vertical.
• Consistent track record of exceeding quota and driving referenceable business with large strategic customers.
• A history of developing selling regions from the ground up, with little resources.
• Passion for developing account expansion strategies and the value of post‑sales customer success.
• Excellent time management and communication skills.
• Desire to drive change and evangelize new technologies in a way that resonates with customers.
• Ability to thrive in a fast‑paced environment; experience is key, a mix of large company and startup experience.
• The ability to speak with customers and partners at both a business‑level and technical-level.
• Knowledge of the storage industry specifically: NFS, Object Storage and Enterprise Computing architectures.
• Competitive attitude and strong work ethic with the ability to enthusiastically represent the company.
• Proficient with Salesforce.com and Microsoft Office.