Head of Public Sector Sales

Rapid7•Arlington, VA

15d

About The Position

The Head of Public Sector Sales will lead the adoption of cybersecurity solutions across the U.S. Federal, State, Local, and Education (SLED) agencies. You'll define strategy, manage revenue targets, and build relationships with key public sector partners, all while leading a high-performing sales team. The Public Sector Sales team is responsible for driving the adoption of cybersecurity solutions within U.S. Federal, State, Local, and Education (SLED) agencies. They are crucial for achieving revenue targets and building strategic relationships with public sector partners. Their work directly impacts the company's growth and its ability to secure critical government and educational infrastructures. The Head of Public Sector Sales responsible for defining, executing, and accelerating the adoption of the company's cybersecurity solutions across the U.S. Federal, State, Local, and Education (SLED) agencies. This role requires a deep understanding of public sector procurement, compliance frameworks (like FedRAMP), and the ability to build and lead a high-performing sales team.

Requirements

Public Sector Domain Expertise: 10+ years of progressive sales experience in Enterprise Software or Cybersecurity SaaS with at least 5 years in a sales leadership role managing a quota-carrying team focused on the U.S. Federal and SLED public sector. Deep, demonstrable knowledge of the Federal/SLED procurement process, contract vehicles (GSA, NASPO), and compliance mandates (FedRAMP).
Driving Outcomes and Accountability: Demonstrated commitment to delivering business and customer value, holding self and others accountable for meeting commitments and achieving multi-million dollar revenue targets.
Strategic Doing: The ability to translate a comprehensive GTM strategy into smaller, executable, time-bound milestones for the Public Sector Teams, while assessing progress and pivoting quickly to ensure meaningful outcomes.
Exceptional Communication and Executive Presence: Clear, persuasive communication skills and an executive presence essential for building commitment, managing conflict, negotiating complex deals, and fostering trusted relationships with CIOs, CISOs, and partners.
Navigating Change & Ambiguity: Eagerness to understand and drive change, making efficient, transparent decisions that resolve challenges and enable momentum for the public sector team.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Self-Awareness: Proven ability to build a global network and work across boundaries, adapting behaviors with strong self-awareness to optimize collective impact and deliver sustainable improvements.

Responsibilities

Full Ownership of Revenue Targets: Develop and execute a comprehensive GTM strategy to achieve and exceed annual and quarterly revenue targets (ARR/bookings) for the assigned FED/SLED territory.
Pipeline Management & Forecasting: Drive a disciplined sales process, providing accurate and timely forecasts, and managing pipeline growth, velocity, and health using CRM tools (e.g., Salesforce).
Public Sector GTM: Customize the company's GTM strategy to align with state budgets, federal funding programs (e.g., IIJA, CISA Grants), and specific agency/departmental priorities (e.g., DoD, IC, K-12, Higher Ed).
Contract Vehicle Mastery: Leverage and manage strategic public sector contracts and cooperative agreements (e.g., GSA MAS, SEWP, NASPO ValuePoint) to enable faster procurement and scalable growth.
Complex Deal Navigation: Lead and serve as the final escalation point in complex, multi-stakeholder sales cycles, including proposal development, RFP/RFI responses, and final contract negotiation.
Federal System Integrators (FSIs) & Channel: Build and deepen relationships with key System Integrators (SIs/FSIs like SAIC, GDIT) and channel partners to drive joint business opportunities and leverage partner portfolios.
Technical Value Proposition: Work closely with Sales Engineers and Product teams to translate complex cybersecurity features (e.g., Zero Trust, Threat Detection, SIEM/SOAR) into clear, compliance-aligned business outcomes for public sector agencies.
Recruit & Mentor: Hire, mentor, and lead a geographically distributed, high-performing sales team focused exclusively on public sector sales. Provide real-time coaching on deal strategy, public sector procurement mechanics, and advanced sales methodologies (e.g., MEDDPIC, Value Selling).
Compliance Frameworks: Ensure all sales and solution offerings align with public sector compliance requirements (FedRAMP, NIST, CJIS, FISMA, StateRAMP).
Executive Relationships: Build and maintain trusted, executive-level relationships with key decision-makers (CIOs, CISOs, Procurement teams) across Federal and SLED agencies.
Internal Alignment: Partner with Legal/Contracts, Finance, and Government Affairs teams to ensure policy compliance and efficient deal structuring (e.g., non-standard deal pricing).