Federal Business Development Representative

About the role

Washington, DC * Full-time * Hybrid (3+ days/week in office or on customer sites)

About the Role

We're hiring a Federal Business Development Representative to expand our federal team. You'll work directly with the CEO in our Washington, DC office and own the full sales cycle, carrying a number from first conversation through contract award.

Your job is to find the openings, get in the room, and start the conversations that turn into revenue across the Department of War. Selling here means understanding bureaucracies, building trust over time, and knowing when to push and when to listen. When a program manager asks whether GovSignals can run under an OTA they already have, you are the one who answers.

What You'll Do

• Own the full cycle. You carry a number and you're accountable for hitting it, from first conversation through contract award, building direct relationships with contracting officers, program managers, and senior decision-makers across target agencies.
• Develop and own your territory. Research agencies, map org charts, identify budget flows, and build an account strategy that puts you in front of the right people at the right time.
• Work conferences, industry days, and agency events as a primary engagement channel, working the room, setting meetings, and following up while you build a network across the federal acquisition community.
• Navigate complex federal procurement (FAR/DFARS, contract vehicles, and agency-specific acquisition pathways) to position GovSignals for wins, and prepare tailored pitches, capability briefings, and product demonstrations for federal audiences.
• Partner with the CEO and federal team to shape go-to-market strategy from what you're hearing in the field, and support capture by contributing win themes and customer-facing narratives.
• Keep the team informed with clear, concise readouts on opportunities, competitor activity, and shifts in agency priorities.

What You Bring

• 3+ years in business development, sales, capture, or a government role where relationships were the job. You've closed seven-figure deals, contracts, or fundraises and can talk about them specifically.
• A demonstrated ability to build a network from scratch. You've walked into a new territory or market and opened it yourself, without waiting for leads to be handed to you.
• Deep comfort navigating federal procurement. You understand how agencies buy, how decisions get made, and where the leverage points are.
• Strong written and verbal communication. Federal BD takes crisp emails, sharp briefs, and presentations that earn credibility in the first sixty seconds.
• Energy for the hunt and real ownership. You're not intimidated by government bureaucracy, and you don't confuse motion with progress.

Nice to have

military service, prior government civilian experience (including Capitol Hill), existing relationships within DoD acquisition or OT consortiums, familiarity with contract vehicles (GSA, GWACs, BPAs), or experience selling AI/software to the federal government; a background in government contracting, the military, or the intelligence community; a startup you joined early or founded.

Clearance: not required. An active or previous clearance is a plus.

The Team

GovSignals was founded by four cofounders who lived with this problem from both sides (selling to the government and serving inside it) with backgrounds across the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Energy, Palantir, Amazon, federal contractors building for missiles, and state contractors building for prisons. You'll work directly with all four. Other team members at GovSignals have shipped to defense companies, scaled venture-backed startups, and founded companies of their own.

How We Work

• Design by HI (Human Intelligence), Work by AI (Artificial Intelligence).
• Human Intelligence takes responsibility for what we build and how we communicate to customers.
• Artificial Intelligence does much of the building.
• We provide unlimited Claude and ChatGPT credits for reasonable use, and we expect you to come in with extensive AI experience.

How We Hire

• Intro conversation (30 min): your background and how you sell.
• Deal exercise (45 min): run a live mock discovery and sell us on a product.
• Co-founder conversations (15 min): meet the cofounders.
• Meet the team in person: time with the team at our Washington, DC office.
• Offer.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: $100,000 - $140,000
• Commission: Uncapped, tied directly to deals closed. On-target earnings: $280,000 - $320,000
• Equity: Meaningful stake in a well-funded, fast-growing startup
• Benefits: medical, vision, and dental, unlimited PTO
• Washington, DC office, 3+ days a week in person or on customer sites. Regular travel to customer sites and industry events.