Federal Civilian Account Executive

About Manifest

Manifest is on a mission to secure the global software and AI supply chain. Our platform automates the discovery and analysis of risks across internally built and third-party software and AI systems, giving security, product, and engineering teams complete visibility into the components and dependencies that make up their technology stack. From product security and AI risk to supplier risk and compliance, we help teams trust the software and AI they build and buy.

Founded by alumni from the Department of Defense, CISA, and Palantir, Manifest is backed by leading investors including Ensemble VC, First Round Capital, Homebrew, BoxGroup, XYZ Venture Capital, AE Ventures, Leap435, and Overmatch VC. The company partners with the US Air Force, DHS, Global 2000 companies, and critical infrastructure organizations across defense, automotive, and financial services to bring transparency, resilience, and trust to modern digital systems.

About the Role

Manifest is hiring an Enterprise Account Executive to own the federal civilian market. This is a quota-carrying individual contributor role covering only civilian agencies. You will report to the Head of Federal Sales and carry a number from your first full quarter.

There is no BDR team. There is no one who will hand you a list, book your meetings, or build your account plan. You will source the majority of your own pipeline, and finding a program office with an SBOM problem and a budget line will be work you do yourself. You will also be the person who builds the account map, writes the RFI response, chases the contracting officer, and closes the deal.

You already know how federal civilian agencies actually buy. You understand that a signed evaluation and an enthusiastic champion are not a deal, that the money moves through a vehicle and a contracting officer, and that a program office's fiscal-year clock will shape your close date more than your urgency will. You know the difference between a technical win and a funded requirement, and you have worked on both sides often enough to sequence them correctly.

You also know the space. You will be in rooms with agency CISOs, program security leads, and the engineers who will actually run the product, and you need to hold a credible conversation about software supply chain risk, SBOM and AIBOM, vulnerability management, and the regulatory drivers behind them. We will teach you Manifest. The fundamentals of the category and the mechanics of federal procurement you bring with you.

You will work alongside the Head of Federal Sales, sales engineering, and marketing, and receive real support from all three. This is a high-ownership seat at an early-stage company, and the line between your work and the company's growth is short and visible.

What You'll Own

Quota and Self-Sourced Pipeline. Carry and deliver an annual number. Source the majority of your own pipeline through direct outbound, agency events, partner-led introductions, and your existing network. Prospecting is not a phase you graduate out of once you have coverage; it is a weekly discipline you will be held to alongside bookings.

Territory and Account Planning. Build and maintain a written account plan for the federal civilian territory, including named target agencies, component-level entry points, incumbent tooling, and the funded programs where supply chain security is already a requirement. Likely targets given our mission include CISA and other DHS components, HHS and FDA, VA, Treasury and IRS, DOE, State, USDA, DOT, and FAA.

Procurement and Contract Vehicles. Own the path to contract, not just the path to yes. Structure deals across GSA MAS, NASA SEWP, and CIO-SP, work through resellers and distributors, including Carahsoft, and know when sole source is defensible and how to build the justification with the customer. Run RFI and RFP responses end-to-end, and plan backward from end-of-fiscal-year buying cycles rather than being surprised by them.

The Buying Committee. Map and work with the full committee: the program office that owns the requirement, the CISO and CIO organizations that own the risk, and the contracting officer who owns the money. Identify early which of your relationships is a technical champion and which one can actually put funds on contract, and build a plan to get both. Multithread deliberately and document who is missing.

Compliance and Authorization Realities. Know how FedRAMP status, ATO timelines, and agency-specific security review gate a deal, and set expectations with customers and internally rather than discovering the gate at the finish line. Speak fluently to the regulatory drivers that create the requirement, including EO 14028, the OMB software security memos, and CISA guidance on SBOM. Turn those drivers into a business case a program office can defend in a budget conversation.

Partnering Across the Company. Work with sales engineering to scope pilots and evaluations that prove the point quickly, with marketing on agency-specific campaigns and event presence, and with the CRO on deal strategy and pricing. Bring your partners into deals early. You are an individual contributor, not a solo operator.

Field Signal Back to Product. Bring back what you hear: unmet requirements, competitive gaps, procurement friction, the reasons deals stall. Feed it to the product team and to the Head of Federal Sales in a form that can be acted on. What gets built and how it gets sold should go hand in hand.

Forecast Discipline and CRM Rigor. Keep the CRM current and honest, with real next steps, real close dates, and a defensible reason for every stage. Forecast within a tight band and call your own slips before they are asked about. This is not administrative work; it is how the company plans hiring and spending.

What You Bring

• 8+ years selling enterprise software, with meaningful time in the federal civilian sector. You have carried a federal number and hit it. You have sold technical security software, not adjacent IT, and you can describe deals you built from first contact to award.
• Cybersecurity domain knowledge. Working fluency in software supply chain risk, SBOM, vulnerability management, and compliance. You understand the security buyer's world well enough to run a technical discovery call without an SE in the room.
• Procurement and contract vehicle fluency. Direct experience closing through GWACs and schedules, working with resellers and distributors, and building sole-source justifications. You know how a requirement becomes a solicitation and how a solicitation becomes an award.
• Self-sourced pipeline track record. You have built territory from scratch without BDR support, ideally at an early-stage vendor. You can point to specific accounts you opened yourself.
• Buying committee navigation. Demonstrated ability to work with program offices, CISO and CIO organizations, and contracting shops in parallel, and to distinguish between influence and authority.
• Comfort with authorization gates. Experience selling a product through FedRAMP status questions and ATO processes, and setting realistic timelines around them.
• Forecast rigor. Disciplined pipeline management and accurate forecasting. You are rigorous about your own data.
• AI-accelerated workflow. AI is part of how you research accounts, prepare for calls, and draft responses. You can point to concrete output and to the judgment you apply before anything goes to a customer.
• High agency. Strong bias to action, comfortable owning outcomes end-to-end in an intense, resource-constrained environment.

Nice to Have

• Existing relationships inside civilian agencies where software supply chain security is already a funded priority.
• Experience as the first or earliest federal seller at a startup, before a vehicle or past performance existed.
• Familiarity with SBOM and AIBOM and the regulatory drivers behind them, including EO 14028, the OMB software security memos, and FDA premarket cybersecurity requirements.
• Prior work with Carahsoft or comparable federal distribution partners.
• Capture-style experience shaping requirements before a solicitation is released.

Compensation

Base salary of $140,000 – $175,000, with total on-target earnings of up to $280,000 including performance-based variable compensation.

Location

This is a fully remote role, with a preference for candidates currently residing in the DMV area. Travel to clients is expected as needed.

Benefits

• Fully remote
• Unlimited PTO (taken seriously)
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance — 100% covered for you and your dependents
• 401(k) and retirement options