Federal Account Executive

CIQ OVERVIEW

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.