SLED Government AI Account Executive

Cohere; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 230,000 - 430,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Weekly lunch stipend

Health and dental benefits

401K / RRSP matching

Parental leave top-up

Education stipend

Paid vacation 6 weeks

Home office stipend

Job summary

Cohere is seeking an Account Executive for the SLED market in the Western United States. You will own the full sales cycle from prospecting to close, with State, Local, and Higher Education customers, partnering with Success, Marketing, and Engineering to tailor AI solutions for government needs.

You will lead business development, navigate complex procurement processes, and build strategic partnerships with distributors, VARs, and system integrators.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of direct public sector sales experience with a proven track record of closing $2M+ annual quotas.
• Deep knowledge of SLED procurement cycles and how to work with resellers, VARs and distributors.
• Established regional network with state/local departments, prime contractors, and industry associations.
• Experience selling SaaS, AI/ML, or enterprise software solutions to government clients.
• High tolerance for ambiguity and ability to build a market from the ground up.

Responsibilities

• Drive net-new customer acquisition through targeted outbound activity and relationship building across SLED organizations.
• Develop and execute a sales plan for the SLED market in your territory to scale growth regionally.
• Act as a trusted advisor to SLED customers and shape AI solutions that deliver measurable value.
• Collaborate with channel partners, distributors, VARs and system integrators to scale outreach and adoption.
• Drive opportunities through full sales cycle: discovery, validation, PoC, procurement, and close.
• Partner with SDRs and Marketing to drive top-of-funnel activity and territory growth.
• Own the full sales cycle and coordinate with cross-functional teams to close deals.

Skills

Public sector sales

SLED knowledge

Communication skills

Strategic partnerships

Travel willingness

Job description

Cohere is seeking an Account Executive for the SLED market in the Western United States. You will own the full sales cycle from prospecting to close, with State, Local, and Higher Education customers, partnering with Success, Marketing, and Engineering to tailor AI solutions for government needs.

You will lead business development, navigate complex procurement processes, and build strategic partnerships with distributors, VARs, and system integrators.