Federal Account Executive

CIQ; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Remote work

Stock options

Job summary

CIQ seeks a Federal Account Executive to drive growth in the U.S. Federal Government sector, covering civilian agencies, DoD, the Intelligence Community, and federal systems integrators.

You will own a quota-carrying territory and develop a robust federal sales strategy across complex acquisition environments. Success requires hands-on experience selling to DoD and federal customers, deep knowledge of the federal buying process from budget formulation to contract award, and the ability to align

Qualifications

• Direct experience selling to DoD and federal civilian agencies, with quota attainment.
• Knowledge of full acquisition lifecycle, including budget cycles, contract vehicles, and end-of-fiscal-year buying.
• Forecasting history with CRM discipline on long, multi-stakeholder cycles.
• Familiarity with FIPS 140-3, DISA STIGs, NIST 800-53/800-171, CMMC, FedRAMP, ATO processes.

Responsibilities

• Own a quota-carrying federal territory in the U.S.
• Drive federal sales strategy across civilian, DoD, and IC customers.
• Build and manage forecasts with accuracy and customer alignment.
• Translate open-source infrastructure advantages to federal security/compliance needs.
• Develop ecosystem relationships with program offices, primes, and partners.
• Structure and negotiate compliant deals with teaming arrangements and primes.
• Lead pilots and convert to funded production awards.
• Communicate effectively with contracting officers and senior leaders.

Skills

Direct federal selling

Federal buying process

Forecasting rigor

Compliance fluency

Ecosystem relationships

Channel deal structuring

Pilot-to-production

Communication

Self-direction

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Public sector IT modernization knowledge

Tools

HubSpot

Job description

CIQ builds the enterprise infrastructure that powers the world's most demanding workloads. From the operating system layer through AI infrastructure, high-performance computing, and cloud-native orchestration, CIQ delivers the speed, security, scalability, and sovereignty that major enterprises, government agencies, and research institutions depend on.

CIQ is the founding support and services partner of Rocky Linux and the developer of the RLC Pro family of Enterprise Linux distributions, Fuzzball workload orchestration, Warewulf Pro cluster provisioning, and Ascender Pro automation. Our customers include some of the largest and most technically sophisticated organizations in the world, working across HPC, AI/ML, defense, and regulated industries.

We are a company of builders, operators, and open source practitioners. If you want to do work that matters, at a company that is genuinely changing how enterprise infrastructure gets built and run, we want to talk.

As a Federal Account Executive, you will drive CIQ’s growth in the U.S. Federal Government sector, covering civilian agencies, the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and federal systems integrators. You will own a quota-carrying territory, build and run a federal sales strategy, work through complex acquisition environments, and deliver accurate, predictable forecasts.

Success in this role requires first-hand experience selling directly to DoD and other federal customers, fluency in the federal buying process from budget formulation through contract award, and the ability to align CIQ’s open-source infrastructure with federal security and compliance requirements.

This position is based in the Washington, D.C. metro area and requires up to 40% travel to customer and partner sites, as well as relevant federal industry events.

NEEDED TO SUCCEED

• Direct federal selling: Proven track record of selling software or infrastructure directly to U.S. Federal customers, including DoD (Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, DISA, combatant commands) and/or civilian and Intelligence Community agencies, with a history of meeting or exceeding quota.
• Federal buying process: Working knowledge of the full acquisition lifecycle: PPBE/budget cycles, requirements development, acquisition strategy, contract vehicles (GSA MAS, NASA SEWP, DoD ESI, IDIQs, BPAs), OTAs, CSOs, and end-of-fiscal-year buying.
• Forecasting rigor: A demonstrated history of accurate, defensible forecasting (within ±10% quarterly) and disciplined CRM pipeline management on long, multi-stakeholder sales cycles.
• Compliance fluency: Familiarity with FIPS 140-3, DISA STIGs, NIST 800-53/800-171, CMMC, FedRAMP, and ATO processes, and the ability to tie those requirements to open-source infrastructure.
• Ecosystem relationships: Existing relationships with federal program offices, primes/FSIs, resellers, and the public‑sector partner ecosystem.
• Channel deal structuring: Experience building compliant deals through teaming agreements, 8(a) and small‑business partners, and federal primes.
• Pilot‑to‑production: Ability to run technical pilots that prove mission fit and convert them into funded production awards.
• Communication: Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation skills with contracting officers, program managers, technical evaluators, and senior leaders.
• Self‑direction: A strategic, self‑motivated operator with a growth mindset who thrives in a fast‑paced startup environment.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• 12-15 years of federal sales, account management, or business development experience in the public sector, with at least 3 years in a quota-carrying role selling directly to DoD and/or federal civilian agencies.
• Bachelor’s degree in business, public policy, marketing, computer science, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Deep understanding of public‑sector IT modernization, open‑source adoption, Linux/infrastructure, HPC/AI, and hybrid/cloud trends.
• Track record of landing new‑logo agencies and growing them into multi‑year, enterprise‑wide agreements.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATIONS

• Active U.S. security clearance (Secret or TS/SCI) is preferred but not required; U.S. citizenship is required to support clearance eligibility and customer access requirements.
• Experience selling Linux, open‑source, HPC, or DevSecOps platforms in federal environments.
• Experience with MEDDPICC or a similar qualification methodology and with HubSpot.

BENEFITS

Medical, dental, and vision insurance.

Flexible paid time off.

Employee stock options.

Remote work; no travel required for most positions.