Senior Director, Government Sales
New Today
POLITICO’s mission from the very beginning was to win the audience. We dedicate ourselves to providing accurate, non-partisan, impactful information to the right people at the right time so that they can act with confidence and speed. We experiment to avoid being disrupted and we have fun disrupting others. And we are not afraid to risk failure if it means being the best at what we do.
POLITICO is hiring a Senior Director, Government Sales to lead new business and account management across our Federal Agency, Capitol Hill, State & Local, and Foreign Government verticals. This person will oversee a high-performing team of Account Executives and Account Managers and will also be expected to personally lead sales efforts, especially within Federal Agencies as we work to regrow and expand our presence in that space.
The ideal candidate combines senior leadership experience with a true hunter mentality, bringing a deep understanding of the government market and trusted relationships within key agencies and institutions.
This role is perfect for someone who thrives in a high-impact, mission-driven sales environment and wants to help shape the future of POLITICO’s public sector business.
Who You Are:
A strategic and driven sales leader with deep expertise in the government sector and a proven ability to build and scale high-performing teams
A trusted partner to public institutions, with strong relationships across federal agencies, Capitol Hill, and state/local governments
A natural hunter—energized by new opportunities and skilled at navigating complex sales cycles to close impactful deals
A collaborative operator who thrives in cross-functional environments, aligning sales with product, marketing, and executive leadership
A data-informed decision maker who leverages Salesforce and performance metrics to drive accountability and growth
What You'll Do:
Lead and manage a team of Account Executives and Account Managers covering federal agencies, Congress, state/local governments, and foreign government entities
Work cross-functionally across POLITICO—including with executive leadership, editorial, marketing, sales enablement, revenue operations, and product—to ensure the needs of our government clients and prospects are understood and met
Serve as a strategic partner and resource for federal agency sales—working closely with your team to shape winback strategy, facilitate high-value conversations, and guide evaluations
Contribute directly to top-of-funnel opportunities in the federal space and help shape packaging and pricing strategy for government clients
Create a roadmap to expand POLITICO’s government presence—particularly in the federal agency space
Coach your team through regular pipeline reviews, deal strategy sessions, and skill development
Foster a strong culture of collaboration and accountability—developing talent while delivering results
Partner cross-functionally to ensure customer feedback is surfaced and acted on
Meet in person with customers and prospects regularly, in Washington, DC and other markets to build relationships and represent POLITICO in key meetings and industry events
Use Salesforce and internal reporting tools to track performance and forecast accurately
Drive adoption of POLITICO’s Value-Based Selling (VBS) methodology across the team
What You'll Need:
8-12+ years of experience in B2B or public sector sales, with at least 3-5 years in sales leadership
A strong track record of managing and closing complex deals, especially with federal agencies or large government clients
Existing relationships within government—with credibility and access to decision-makers in agencies and public-sector institutions
A “hunter” mentality—you are energized by new opportunities and understand how to coach others to find and close them
Experience partnering with Customer Success, Revenue Ops, and Product to strengthen client outcomes
Excellent communication, leadership, and strategic thinking skills
High comfort level working in Salesforce and using data to drive decisions
Knowledge of the policy, advocacy, or government media space strongly preferred
Bachelor’s degree required, advanced degree or policy experience a plus
We value our people. Click here for more on what we offer and what it’s like to work for POLITICO.
About Us.
POLITICO illuminates the forces shaping global power. Since 2007, we have delivered intelligence that anticipates tomorrow's headlines, not reports on yesterday's news. As politics has increasingly become the defining force of our era, our work has never been more vital.
Cabinet secretaries and Ministers start their mornings with our analysis. CEOs shape strategy around our reporting. Advocacy leaders rely on our insights to move policy. We deliver the straightforward facts and clear-eyed analysis they need to navigate the most complex political landscape of our lifetimes.
Our 1,100+ publishing professionals across the world's key democratic capitals—Washington, Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin, Sacramento, and New York—form the world's premier politics and policy newsroom. We tell the story of how power really works by explaining who wields it and how they plan to exercise it, connecting dots others miss and delivering scoops from sources others don't even know exist.
Innovation has always been a core tenet of our story. At launch, we bet that depth would trump scale, that talent would trump traffic, and that politics would become central to modern life. In 2011, we made another bet and launched POLITICO Pro to help decision-makers understand the business of government, transforming both how they shape government action and the business of journalism itself.
These bets have made POLITICO the most successful digital news startup of its generation and the indispensable resource for leaders who shape the future. Today, we are a rarity in media: a growing, profitable, and sustainable news organization.
POLITICO is a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE, a family-owned transatlantic media company headquartered in Berlin and New York. Axel Springer is dedicated to shaping the future of journalism in the free world, believing that a free and informed society is essential to democracy. Learn more about Axel Springer.
- Location:
- Arlington
- Job Type:
- FullTime