Federal Account Director, National Security

About the team OpenAI’s mission is to build safe artificial general intelligence (AGI) which benefits all of humanity. This long-term undertaking brings the world’s best scientists, engineers, and business professionals into one lab together to accomplish this. In pursuit of this mission, our Go To Market (GTM) team is responsible for helping customers learn how to leverage and deploy our highly capable AI products across their organization. The team comprises Sales, Solutions, Support, Marketing, and Partnership professionals who collaborate to create valuable solutions that will help bring AI to as many users as possible. 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 st