Lead Account Director, Advocacy and Public Affairs

Morning Consult•Washington, DC

2d•$124,900 - $205,500•Hybrid

About The Position

Morning Consult is seeking a Lead Account Director, Advocacy and Public Affairs on our Solutions Sales team. This role is a player-coach who will carry and close their own book of business while simultaneously managing and developing a small team of sellers focused on the DC advocacy and policy ecosystem. This is not a pure management role; the individual's quota is the primary driver of success, requiring sharp commercial instincts to close complex custom research engagements independently. The role also involves raising the performance of the sellers around them by teaching consultative selling, elevating proposal quality, and helping the team navigate the buying dynamics of trade associations, coalitions, advocacy organizations, and mission-driven entities. The ideal candidate understands Washington, how policy dynamics, reputation risk, and influence campaigns translate into research needs, and can credibly frame research agendas for executive audiences and teach others to do the same. This position is at Level 6 (Management Track) of the Morning Consult career framework, operating with full autonomy and impacting team and functional performance, accountable for both personal revenue outcomes and team growth.

Requirements

10+ years of enterprise sales or business development experience in the Washington, DC advocacy and policy ecosystem.
Demonstrated success selling custom research, data, or consultative services to trade associations, advocacy organizations, coalitions, or mission-driven entities.
Proven track record of quota attainment, including multi-six- and seven-figure deals.
Experience managing, mentoring, or formally leading other sellers — whether as a formal manager, a senior peer, or in a team lead capacity.
Ability to synthesize and articulate clear ROI and strategic value of data-driven insights to executive audiences across Public Affairs, Government Relations, Communications, and C-suite leadership.
Proactively evaluates client challenges, policy dynamics, and market signals, and translates insights into strategic recommendations that drive measurable outcomes.
Exceptional consultative selling skills; able to diagnose ambiguous challenges and design structured solutions.
Sophisticated stakeholder mapping and navigation across complex, multi-layered decision environments common in the DC advocacy ecosystem.
Strong executive presence and ability to influence VP-, SVP-, and C-suite audiences.
High degree of autonomy, sound judgment, and resilience in fast-moving environments.
Collaborative leadership mindset with cross-functional teams.
BS/BA or equivalent.
Willing to take feedback, learn and grow; an ethos of continuous self-improvement.

Responsibilities

Carry and independently close a personal revenue quota within the DC advocacy and public affairs segment, owning your territory from prospecting through signature.
Drive expansion and strategic development of existing accounts while proactively identifying and closing net-new opportunities, including trade associations, advocacy organizations, coalitions, and mission-driven entities.
Translate complex advocacy, reputation, and influence challenges into tailored custom research programs that clients can act on.
Lead the full sales cycle: prospecting, discovery, research framing, proposal development, contract negotiation, and post-close relationship management.
Serve as the primary commercial architect for multi-stakeholder custom research engagements, ensuring alignment between client objectives and Morning Consult’s commercial guidelines.
Navigate non-traditional buying processes common in membership-based and mission-driven organizations.
Deliver compelling, customized platform demonstrations and thought leadership to VP-, SVP-, and C-suite audiences in public affairs, government relations, and communications functions.
Serve as a trusted ambassador for Morning Consult within the DC advocacy ecosystem, attending industry conferences and strategic events while maintaining strong external relationships.
Maintain strong operational rigor: CRM accuracy, pipeline hygiene, forecasting discipline, and adherence to sales methodology.
Travel up to approximately 30% for conferences and client meetings.
Manage a team of 1–2 Account Executives — setting clear expectations, running structured 1:1s, reviewing pipeline together, and holding the team accountable to activity and revenue targets.
Coach sellers on core consultative skills: qualification rigor, discovery depth, objection handling, deal structuring, and executive presence in the room with advocacy and policy stakeholders.
Review and provide real-time feedback on outbound outreach, pitch decks, proposals, and client presentations to elevate the quality of every rep’s output.
Model the behavior you expect — demonstrate what great consultative selling looks like on joint calls, in deal reviews, and through your own pipeline.
Partner with Commercial leadership on hiring, onboarding, and succession planning; contribute meaningfully to talent decisions for your team.
Contribute to Morning Consult’s Advocacy & Public Affairs go-to-market strategy and help build a scalable segment structure.
Serve as a productive, collaborative partner to Sales leadership, Commercial support teams, and research delivery partners to ensure proposals, pricing, and delivery plans are aligned and executable.
Contribute to the evolution of Morning Consult’s custom research sales methodology in the advocacy segment — flagging gaps, proposing improvements, and helping to codify what “good” looks like.
Represent Morning Consult externally as a subject matter expert, building relationships with key industry leaders and partners in the DC policy and advocacy community.
Continuously improve through feedback and proactively share actionable insights to drive team and organizational improvement.