Account Executive (Inside Sales), Federal

Sonatype; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Parental leave

Diversity & Inclusion groups

Flexible working practices

Job summary

Sonatype is seeking an Inside Sales Representative for the Public Sector in the Washington DC area. This role is the entry point to a quota-bearing career path, handling a high volume of deals typically ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 ARR, and advancing to an Account Executive path.

You will prospect aggressively, respond rapidly to inbound signals, navigate RFIs and RFPs, and collaborate with channel partners to close transactions.

Qualifications

• Transition Ready Agility: Proven success within a high-performing BDR or Inside Sales role ready to own a full quota.
• High-Velocity Stamina: Excellent organizational skills; manage 30+ active deal cycles concurrently.
• Public Sector Structural Aptitude: Foundational understanding of public procurement concepts or quick aptitude to learn.
• Value-Focused Communication: Ability to articulate AST and SBOM regulations to technical users and buyers.
• Collaborative Execution Mindset: Work cross-functionally with pre-sales, legal, channel partners, and regional field marketing teams.

Responsibilities

• Full-Cycle Territory Ownership: Prospect, qualify, advance, and close high-velocity transaction flows within your territory (Federal DC Metro or Central SLED).
• High-Volume Cadence Management: Maintain a high daily volume of outbound touches (calls, emails, social outreach) to uncover needs in target agencies.
• Bid & Proposal Execution: Lead internal orchestration and timely drafting of responses to public RFIs, RFPs, and solicitations.
• Channel Alliance Alignment: Partner with regional channel accounts, systems integrators, and distribution partners to track registrations and close deals.
• Value-Based Discovery Demonstrations: Conduct technical-commercial discoveries, positioning Sonatype’s software supply chain protection as a compliance standard.
• Forecast Guardrail Maintenance: Maintain territory forecasting hygiene through milestone updates in GTM platforms.

Skills

BDR experience

Inside Sales

Public sector know-how

High-velocity selling

Collaborative selling

Job description

Sonatype is the software supply chain security company. We provide the world’s best end-to-end software supply chain security solution, combining the only proactive protection against malicious open source, the only enterprise grade SBOM management and the leading open source dependency management platform. This empowers enterprises to create and maintain secure, quality, and innovative software at scale.

As founders of Nexus Repository and stewards of Maven Central, the world’s largest repository of Java open-source software, we are software pioneers and our open source expertise is unmatched. We empower innovation with an unparalleled commitment to build faster, safer software and harness AI and data intelligence to mitigate risk, maximize efficiencies, and drive powerful software development.

More than 2,000 organizations, including 70% of the Fortune 100 and 15 million software developers, rely on Sonatype to optimize their software supply chains.

The Inside Sales Representative (ISR) - Public Sector exists to accelerate net-new logo acquisition, run high-velocity transactional sales cycles, and secure land-and-expand revenue footprints within highly specialized government ecosystems.

This role serves as the premier entry point into a full quota-bearing Account Executive career path at Sonatype, specifically designed for high-performance Business Development Representatives (BDRs) ready to transition into full sales lifecycle ownership. This position demands an exceptionally high operational cadence, managing an expansive volume of high-velocity deals ranging typically from $5,000 to $25,000 ARR.

Depending on territory assignment, the ISR will specialize in one of two critical growth vectors:

• Federal Track: Based in the Washington, DC Metro Area, focusing on civilian agencies, defense nodes, and federal systemic frameworks.
• SLED Track: Based in the Central Territory, focusing on state and local agencies, municipalities, and higher education systems.

The role requires a relentless pipeline builder who thrives on high-activity volumes, proactively prospecting raw leads, responding rapidly to active inbound signals, navigating public procurement mechanisms (RFIs, RFPs, formal bid work), and collaborating deeply with channel distribution networks and fulfillment partners to close business smoothly.

Who you are:

• Transition Ready Agility: Demonstrated success within a high-performing Business Development Representative (BDR) or Inside Sales role, showing a clear readiness to own a full quota and close business directly.
• High-Velocity Stamina: Exceptional organizational skills and psychological resilience; comfortable managing 30+ active deal cycles concurrently without losing execution quality.
• Public Sector Structural Aptitude: Foundational understanding of public procurement concepts (e.g., FAR, agency purchasing schedules, or state-specific contracting vehicles) or a rapid aptitude to learn them.
• Value-Focused Communication: Ability to articulate complex Application Security Testing (AST) and SBOM compliance regulations in a clear, business-value manner to technical users and purchasing buyers.
• Collaborative Execution Mindset: Highly skilled at working cross-functionally with pre-sales engineering, legal, channel partners, and regional field marketing teams.

Role Outcomes:

• Success in this role looks like:

Role:

• Full-Cycle Territory Ownership: Prospect, qualify, advance, and close high-velocity transaction flows within your assigned territory framework (Federal DC Metro or Central SLED).
• High-Volume Cadence Management: Maintain a high daily volume of outbound touches (calls, emails, social outreach) to uncover latent application security needs inside target agencies.
• Bid & Proposal Execution: Lead the internal orchestration and timely drafting of technical and commercial responses to public RFIs, RFPs, and agency solicitations.
• Channel Alliance Alignment: Partner closely with regional channel accounts, systems integrators, and distribution partners to track registrations and secure transactional closure.
• Value-Based Discovery Demonstrations: Conduct precise technical-commercial discoveries, positioning Sonatype’s automated software supply chain protection as a non-negotiable compliance standard.
• Forecast Guardrail Maintenance: Protect territory forecasting hygiene through meticulous milestone updates inside our GTM execution platforms.

What we are proud of:

• Visionary in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Application Security Testing
• 2025 DEVIES Award to our SBOM Manager new product for its innovation and impact in developer technology
• 2024 Industry Leader in Forrester-Wave for Software Composition Analysis (2024 Q4 report)
• 2023 Fast Company Best Places for Innovators
• 2023 Gartner’s Magic Quadrant
• 2023 Software Report’s Top 100 Software Companies
• 2023 BuiltIn Best Places to Work
• 2022 Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Leader Award
• 2022 PeerSpot Silver Peer Award in Software Composition Analysis
• 2022 Tech Ascension Best DevOps Security Solution Award
• 2022 NVCT Cyber Company of the Year
• Company Wellness Week - We shut down company operations for a week to enable all employees to pursue personal growth and enjoy a much-needed and deserved rest.
• Paid Volunteer Time Off (VTO)

#LI-HP1

At Sonatype, we value diversity and inclusivity. We offer perks such as parental leave, diversity and inclusion working groups, and flexible working practices to allow our employees to show up as their whole selves. We are an equal-opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please do not hesitate to let us know.