Public Sector Account Director

About Handshake

Handshake was founded on a simple belief that everyone deserves a path to a great career, regardless of where they went to school or who they know. Today, we power 25 million job seekers, 1 million+ employers, and 1,600 educational institutions.

In 2025, we started Handshake AI and built the fastest-growing AI data business in history. We work directly with frontier AI lab researchers to create evaluations, publish benchmarks, and push the boundary of data. We’ve grown from $0 to ~$1B run rate and pay ~$60M to over 30K individuals every month.

Why join Handshake now

• Shape how every career evolves in the AI economy, at global scale, with impact your friends, family and peers can see and feel
• Partner hand-in-hand with world-class AI labs, Fortune 500 partners and the world’s top educational institutions
• Work together with engineers, scientists, operators, and more from Palantir, Meta, Scale AI, and former YC founders
• Build a massive, fast-growing business with billions in revenue

About The Role

As an Public Sector Account Director, you will be crucial in building and closing deals within the State & Local Government (SLG) sector. You will develop and nurture relationships with key stakeholders, identify opportunities, and drive the sales process from lead generation to deal closure across your named accounts. This role requires in-depth knowledge of the hiring needs and challenges of large and medium-sized SLG employers and an acute understanding of how they function and the human capital challenges they face. It will also require strategic thinking, relationship building, and a strong focus on achieving revenue targets. You will:

• Develop and cultivate deep relationships with senior executives within prospective human capital departments, among other key stakeholders
• Meet or exceed annual quota by generating sufficient volume of high-quality meetings with SLG and its large departments and agencies
• Understand a department or agencies’ business drivers, challenges and pain points
• Navigate SLG procurement processes and contracting
• Schedule, manage and run large department meetings with senior economic buyers within high-value SLG Departments
• Generate well-qualified pipeline and revenue to achieve 100% of annual quota attainment
• Lead participation in industry events to drive new business development
• Coordinate large-scale efforts across various departments to drive enterprise-wide agreements
• Utilize Salesforce.com on a daily basis to manage activity, leads, follow-up and pipeline

YOU HAVE

• Proven knowledge of SLG government procurement process and contracting
• 5+ years of Account Executive experience selling Saas based solutions into the SLG space
• Success in pitching and closing six-figure deals
• Experience navigating and building relationships within large departments and agencies within the SLG
• Proven ability to negotiate large government contracts while developing off-cycle pipeline and new lead generation
• Excellent customer-facing skills and ability to manage a room of senior government officials
• Ability to navigate complex contract structures
• A strong history of quota attainment and excellent performance
• Experience preparing account plans and business value narratives
• Proven ability to collaborate successfully with a go-to-market team

WE OFFER

Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported and thrive at work and in life.

The below benefits are for full-time US employees.

🎯 Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company

💰 Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching

🍼 Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching

💝 Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend

📚 Growth: $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development

💻 Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, and free lunch/gym in our SF office

🏝 Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days

🤝 Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses

Explore our mission, values, and comprehensive US benefits at joinhandshake.com/careers http://joinhandshake.com/careers. http://joinhandshake.com/careers.Your