Description Position at Zones LLC.
Position Overview:Field Account Executive - SLED Sales to drive growth across State, Local Government, and Education (SLED) customers. This is a field-based, quota-carrying sales position responsible for developing strategic customer and partner relationships, expanding existing accounts, acquiring new customers, and positioning Zones' technology solutions and services to address the evolving needs of public-sector organizations.
The ideal candidate is an established public-sector technology sales professional with a strong understanding of SLED procurement, contracting vehicles, competitive solicitations, technology solutions, and the IT reseller/channel ecosystem.
The Field Account Executive will work closely with Zones' inside sales, solution architects, services teams, OEM partners, contract specialists, and leadership to develop and execute account strategies that deliver sustainable revenue and gross-margin growth.
What you'll do as the Field Account Executive (FAE) Education: The requirements below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This job description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of the duties and responsibilities of the position, and the duties and responsibilities may change without notice.
Account Management & Business Development - Develop and execute strategic account plans for assigned Education customers.
- Build trusted relationships with CIOs, CTOs, IT directors, procurement leaders, department heads, and other key decision makers.
- Identify new business opportunities within existing accounts and develop strategies to expand Zones' share of wallet.
- Prospect for and acquire new Education customers within the assigned territory.
- Maintain a healthy pipeline of qualified opportunities sufficient to achieve and exceed assigned sales quotas.
- Conduct regular customer meetings, business reviews, technology discussions, and executive engagements.
- Develop multi-year relationships that position Zones as a strategic technology partner rather than simply a product supplier.
SLED Sales & Procurement - Develop a strong understanding of State, Local Government, K-12, and higher-education purchasing processes.
- Navigate government procurement requirements, competitive bids, RFPs/RFQs, cooperative contracts, master agreements, and other purchasing vehicles.
- Identify upcoming solicitations and influence opportunities before they reach the formal procurement stage.
- Leverage available state, local, education, cooperative, and national contract vehicles to accelerate customer purchases.
- Coordinate with Zones' contracts and proposal teams on RFP/RFQ responses and other public-sector opportunities.
- Maintain awareness of public-sector technology spending priorities, budget cycles, fiscal-year deadlines, and procurement timelines.
Technology Solutions Selling - Position Zones' portfolio of hardware, software, cloud, cybersecurity, networking, data center, collaboration, managed services, professional services, and lifecycle solutions.
- Engage customers in consultative discussions to understand business and technology challenges.
- Partner with technical resources to develop solutions aligned with customer requirements and budgets.
- Identify opportunities to transition transactional product purchases into higher-value solution and services engagements.
- Develop executive-level presentations and business cases demonstrating the value of proposed solutions.
OEM & Partner Relationships - Develop productive relationships with key technology manufacturers and channel partners.
- Collaborate with OEM representatives on account strategies, joint customer engagements, demonstrations, events, and opportunity development.
- Leverage partner resources, funding, incentives, technical expertise, and solution capabilities to increase win rates.
- Coordinate joint go-to-market strategies with strategic technology partners.
Pipeline & Sales Execution - Consistently achieve or exceed assigned revenue and gross-margin objectives.
- Maintain accurate forecasts and opportunity information within Zones' CE system.
- Manage opportunities through the complete sales cycle-from prospecting and discovery through proposal, negotiation, award, and close.
- Develop accurate close plans for strategic opportunities.
- Monitor competitive activity and develop strategies to differentiate Zones.
- Identify risks, obstacles, and stalled opportunities and develop appropriate recovery plans.
- Maintain disciplined sales activity and pipeline-generation practices.
What you will bring to the team: - 5+ years of successful technology sales experience, preferably in State, Local Government, K-12, or higher education.
- Demonstrated experience carrying and achieving a sales quota.
- Proven track record selling IT products, solutions, and/or services.
- Strong understanding of SLED procurement processes and government buying cycles.
- Experience selling through contracts, cooperative purchasing agreements, or other public-sector procurement vehicles.
- Strong prospecting, relationship-development, negotiation, presentation, and closing skills.
- Experience working with technology OEMs, distributors, and channel partners.
- Ability to develop relationships at both the technical and executive levels.
- Strong CRM, forecasting, pipeline-management, and business-planning skills.
- Ability to travel regularly throughout the assigned territory.
Preferred Qualifications - Bachelor's degree in business, Marketing, Information Technology, or related discipline, or equivalent professional experience Existing relationships with SLED technology decision makers and procurement organizations.
- Experience selling cybersecurity, networking, cloud, data center, end-user computing, managed services, or professional services.
- Experience responding to or managing government RFP/RFQ opportunities.
- Familiarity with state term contracts, cooperative purchasing agreements, NASPO ValuePoint, OMNIA Partners, Sourcewell, or similar procurement vehicles.
- Experience developing strategic account plans and territory business plans.
Core Competencies - Public-Sector Expertise
Understands how government organizations purchase technology and how to navigate complex public-sector sales cycles. - Strategic Account Management
Builds executive relationships and develops long-term strategies to grow customer relationships. - Hunter Mentality
Consistently creates new opportunities rather than relying solely on existing business. - Consultative Selling
Understands customer challenges and connects them to measurable technology and business outcomes. - Business Acumen
Understands revenue, gross margin, pipeline coverage, forecasting, profitability, and account growth. - Executive Presence
Can confidently engage CIOs, CTOs, superintendents, agency executives, procurement officials, and other senior stakeholders. - Collaboration
Effectively orchestrates internal teams and external partners to deliver comprehensive customer solutions. - Accountability
Takes ownership of territory performance, pipeline development, forecasting, customer satisfaction, and results.
Zones offers a comprehensive Benefits package While we're committed to providing top-tier solutions, we're just as committed to supporting our own team. Our team members enjoy a variety of comprehensive benefits, including medical, dental and vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, voluntary accident, hospitalization and critical illness insurance options, a 401(k) plan with matching provision, and many more. Generally, Zones currently offers paid time off and personal sick leave in compliance to individual state requirements.
At Zones, work is more than a job - it is an exciting career on a global team that is client centric, has a passion for technology, embraces change and lifelong learning in a collaborative culture. And as a Minority Business Enterprise, a Corporate Plus member of the Northwest Minority Supplier Development Council, and an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, our community is just as diverse. If you're interested in working on the cutting edge of IT innovation, sales, engineering, operations, administration, and more, Zones is the place for you!
