Account Executive - Higher Ed and SLED - TOLA/Midwest

VAST Data, Inc.; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

VAST Data, Inc. is seeking an Account Executive - SLED to drive revenue across State, Local, and Education accounts. You will build executive relationships, steer sales strategies, and manage complex cycles within colleges and universities.

Candidates should understand both technical solutions and public sector funding/procurement. The role emphasizes expanding VAST Data footprint through strategic account plans and post-sales success, with a fast-paced environment and collaboration with

Qualifications

• 7+ years of sales or account management in Higher Ed, SLED or Public Sector.
• History of exceeding quota and driving referenceable business with large strategic customers.
• Experience building selling regions from the ground up with limited resources.
• Passion for account expansion and post-sales customer success.
• Ability to communicate at both business and technical levels with customers and partners.
• Strong time management and communication skills.
• Familiarity with public sector funding/procurement processes.
• Knowledge of the storage industry: NFS, Object Storage, Enterprise Computing architectures.
• Proficiency with Salesforce.com and Microsoft Office.

Responsibilities

• Develop business across SLED enterprise-level customers.
• Generate revenue and collaborate with Channel Partners to sell VAST Data.
• Manage the sales process to align with customer buying cycles.
• Maintain customer relationships from first meeting through optional PoC and after-sale to enable expansion.
• Develop and present proposals that show how VAST solutions meet business objectives and justify the sale.
• Prospect, penetrate large accounts, engage decision-makers, and close business.

Skills

Sales & account management

Higher Ed / SLED

Quota attainment

Channel partner collaboration

Technical & business-level comms

Time management

Public sector procurement

Fast-paced environment

Salesforce

Microsoft Office

Tools

Salesforce

Microsoft Office

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 Manager will focus on higher education SLED (State, Local, and Education) accounts, the role involves 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 SLED 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 Higher ED, 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