OpenAI

Federal Account Director, National Security

OpenAI • $150K — $180K *
Aerospace & Defense
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of experience selling technology to the National Security Community
  • Top Secret clearance required
  • Expertise in complex deal strategies within Defense contexts
  • Experience in fast-paced National Security environments
  • Strong relationships with senior National Security executives
  • Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly
  • Experience leading high-visibility customer events and briefings
  • Proficient in gathering and analyzing Defense market intelligence

Responsibilities

  • Manage key U.S. Defense and Intelligence Community accounts with comprehensive plans
  • Guide customers through their AI adoption journey from consideration to deployment
  • Collaborate with engineering to execute complex defense programs
  • Own and manage revenue targets for the National Security Community
  • Oversee revenue forecasting and reporting
  • Analyze account metrics and provide insights to stakeholders
  • Monitor the national security landscape to inform strategies
  • Support recruitment and onboarding for defense-focused team members
  • Foster company culture within the National Security Community practice

Benefits

  • Hybrid work model with 3 days in the office
  • Relocation assistance for new employees
Full Job Description
About the role

Our Government Sales team has a unique mission to help national security customers understand the transformative impact that highly capable AI models can bring to their critical missions. This role combines technical understanding, strategic vision, partnership management, and value-driven strategy specifically tailored to Defense and Intelligence Community customers.

You'll drive key opportunities through the entire defense sales cycle, from pipeline generation to closure. You'll collaborate closely with researchers, engineers, and solution strategists to help customers within the Defense and Intelligence Communities advance their national security missions through AI.

This role is based in Washington DC. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you'll:
  • Manage a focused set of key U.S. Defense and Intelligence Community accounts, developing and executing comprehensive account plans
  • Lead Defense and Intelligence customers through their AI adoption journey, from consideration to successful deployment
  • Partner with solutions and research engineering to build and execute complex defense customer programs and projects
  • Own and manage a National Security Community consumption revenue target
  • Oversee revenue forecasting and reporting
  • Analyze key Defense and Intelligence account metrics and provide insights to internal and external stakeholders
  • Closely monitor the national security landscape (agencies, policies, competitors, partners, etc.) to inform product roadmaps and corporate strategies
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with solutions, product engineering, government affairs, marketing, communications, business operations, people operations, finance, product management, and engineering
  • Support the recruitment and onboarding of team members focused on defense and intelligence accounts
  • Foster the development of our company culture within the National Security Community practice


We're seeking someone with experience including:
  • 10+ years selling commercial technology (platform-as-a-service, software-as-a-service, etc.) specifically to the National Security Community
  • Top Secret clearance
  • Designing and executing complex deal strategies within Defense or National Security contexts, including familiarity with government contracting, security clearances, and procurement processes
  • Supporting growth in fast-paced, high-performance National Security environments
  • Working directly with senior National Security executives and decision-makers. We are prioritizing candidates with deep relationships and native familiarity with defense and intelligence workflows.
  • Communicating technical and strategic concepts clearly to National Security customers and internal stakeholders
  • Leading high-visibility National Security customer events, briefings, and industry engagements
  • Gathering, distilling, and processing detailed Defense and Intelligence Community market intelligence (agency priorities, policy changes, competitor activities, etc.)


You might thrive in this role if you:
  • Are customer-centric. You are motivated to deeply understand defense customers' priorities and help them achieve their mission-critical objectives using AI. You build trusted relationships with senior executives and stakeholders across defense and national security agencies.
  • Have a passion or deep curiosity about artificial intelligence. You embrace the opportunity to help deploy OpenAI's technology in ways that advance national security missions and benefit humanity. You're enthusiastic about educating defense customers on AI capabilities and strategic implications.
  • Are a builder. You enjoy impacting how our company grows its defense and intelligence business. You excel in establishing robust systems and processes tailored to defense customer requirements, executing them with precision and agility.
  • Are excited by new challenges. You thrive when solving complex, mission-critical defense and national security problems. Bespoke challenges requiring multidimensional knowledge excite you, and you're eager to experiment with innovative solutions within national security environments.
  • Are a strategist. You deeply understand defense go-to-market best practices and proactively contribute to strategic initiatives. You plan years ahead, effectively aligning internal and external defense and intelligence stakeholders to achieve long-term

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research laboratory consisting of the for-profit corporation OpenAI LP and its parent company, the non-profit OpenAI Inc. The company was founded in 2015 by a group of technology leaders, including Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, and John Schulman. OpenAI's mission is to develop and promote friendly AI for the betterment of humanity. The company has developed a number of cutting-edge AI technologies, including GPT-3, a language processing system that can generate human-like text. OpenAI has received funding from a number of high-profile investors, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
Learn more about OpenAI
Size
100 employees
Industry
Founded
2015

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