Sofar is on a mission to connect the world’s oceans. We design, build, and deploy the largest privately owned network of marine weather sensors to power the world’s best marine weather forecasts. Our data helps our customers to increase efficiency and reduce emissions, delivering tools to governments and other stakeholders to understand impacts of climate change on extreme weather and ocean health. We live on Planet Ocean, and our goal is to create the ocean intelligence needed to ensure a sustainable future.
The Role
As a Navy Senior Account Manager, you will be at the forefront of Sofar’s Federal & Defense team, focused on landing new accounts and expanding existing accounts within Sofar’s rapidly expanding U.S. Navy business. You will drive sales of our cutting-edge Spotter platform and capture of strategic deals. You’ll identify opportunities, build relationships, and close deals that drive both business value and mission impact. Your primary focus will be on Spotter, but you may also be involved in sales of Sofar’s data as a service (DaaS) and Wayfinder offerings.
We are looking for someone with experience using innovative marine technologies and working with the U.S. Navy who is passionate about bringing novel capabilities to enhance situational awareness, reduce risk to force and mission, and provide a strategic advantage.
Impact You’ll Own:
- Develop and execute a strategic sales plan to: (1) Land new accounts (go to market); (2) grow existing accounts; and (3) partner with prime contractors on larger solutions.
- Build and maintain relationships with Navy and DoD users, decision makers, and contracting officers, as well as partners, prime contractors, policymakers, and influencers.
- Build and maintain a sales pipeline using a combination of domain expertise, networking, and relentless persistence. Balance short term transactional sales and longer-term strategic contracting opportunities.
- Lead the end-to-end sales process, including prospecting, qualification, proposal development (if necessary), negotiation, contract closure, and contract implementation.
- Understand customer needs deeply, including developing customer profiles, and position the Spotter’s unique value proposition effectively.
- Collaborate with internal teams (Gov BD team, product, marketing, engineering) to align solutions with market demand and customer requirements. Provide market insights and feedback to inform product and go-to-market strategies. Assess competitors. Collaborate on proposal and presentation development and submission.
About You
You are a determined problem solver and excellent communicator who is passionate about giving warfighters the edge with innovative marine technologies. You have experience working with the U.S. Navy and understand its organization, mission, and critical needs. You thrive on building relationships, navigating complex sales cycles, and closing impactful deals. You’re also an entrepreneur at heart, capable of jumpstarting go-to-market strategy for greenfield Navy and DoD accounts from the ground up. Experience in federal sales or business development is a plus, but we are also open to recently transitioning veterans and other candidates without sales experience who demonstrate their ability to plan and execute a go to market strategy. Most importantly, you share our passion for leveraging technology to better understand our oceans and protect the safety of those who navigate them.
- 5+ years of experience working with the U.S. Navy or U.S. DoD.
- Savvy in navigating government bureaucracy and in connecting the dots between user, program manager, and funder.
- Strong understanding of the U.S. DoD market and its unique challenges and opportunities, including understanding the federal contracting process and timelines.
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills.
- Self-starter with the ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment, including self-managing a balance between strategic capture and short-term, fast-paced sales cycles.
- Curiosity and passion for understanding marine technologies and identifying customer gaps where technologies can be applied.
- Willingness to travel as needed to meet customers and attend events.
- U.S. Citizen with active SECRET clearance
Bonus Points
- Active TS/SCI clearance
- 5+ years of experience in federal hardware or solution sales, preferably in maritime/environmental tech, with demonstrated experience breaking into greenfield accounts.
- Located in Norfolk, VA, San Diego, CA, or Honolulu, HI
Estimated Salary Range
- $110,000 - $144,000
- The range listed is what we reasonably expect to pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and may be modified in the future. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, experience, and equity package.
Sofar's Commitment to Climate Justice
We at Sofar Ocean acknowledge that careers in the marine sciences “... have traditionally been, and remain, non-diverse work environments”, thereby limiting the entry and prosperity of underrepresented groups in the space. (Johri et al., 2021) Many of these same groups are disproportionately affected by climate change, and are often excluded from decision making that directly address their interests and needs.
We are committed to addressing these climate injustices and highly encourage people who identify as women, LGBTQ+, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to apply
It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers, and vendors.
Equal Employment Opportunity
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.
What We Do
Sofar connects the world's oceans to power a more sustainable future. Sofar unlocks ocean data at scale. We deployed hundreds of Spotters globally to create the world’s largest privately-owned network of ocean sensors that collects 1.5 million real-time observations daily. Our team of ocean scientists assimilates this real-time data into our marine weather forecasts, which are up to 50% more accurate than traditional models.
In maritime shipping, we use these high-accuracy forecasts and vessel performance models to provide optimized guidance and save ships time, fuel, and emissions. We also equip researchers, operators, and innovators with our devices and data to power marine research and sustainable commercial solutions. Customers access data from our global sensor network and deploy our extensible Spotter platform to collect real-time surface and subsurface observations.
Sofar’s team of engineers, ocean scientists, and business professionals is based in San Francisco, California.
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