Associate Account Executive

The TL;DR

One requirement: you've started something hard and finished it.

That's the bar. Not a degree, not a GPA, not the years of sales experience every other entry-level posting somehow expects you to already have. Show us a finish line you crossed when quitting was an option and we'll teach you the rest.

You'll be the first voice people hear from Pursuit, a small team fixing how government buys things. Every year $2 trillion in taxpayer money moves through state, local, and education contracts — and most of those decisions are made before anything is publicly posted for bid. Our platform surfaces those deals early, so the vendor with the best product can compete instead of the one with the best-connected lobbyist.

The work

Cold outreach. That's the core of it — calling, emailing, and messaging people who've never heard of us and getting them interested enough to take a meeting. Most say no. A handful every week say yes, and those turn into meetings that turn into revenue.

The people you're reaching are the ones deciding how public money actually gets spent. You'll use AI to find them — not just ChatGPT, but tools that flag which agencies are in-market right now and let you personalize outreach in seconds instead of hours. That's a skill most reps don't build for years.

If a hard no ruins your afternoon, this isn't the job. If you want to get very good at something difficult very fast, keep reading.

The money

• $45K base + $45K variable = $90K OTE
• Paid monthly, not annually
• The variable is a points system, not a mystery. 400 points a month pays your full bonus — roughly 20 qualified meetings that hold. Meetings are worth the most; real conversations with decision-makers earn points on the way there. You can see your number every day, not find out in January.
• Unlimited PTO with quota relief — your targets adjust when you're out, so time off doesn't cost you your bonus
• Medical, dental, vision

What we're looking for

You've finished something hard. A business you started, a research project you saw through, a team or club you ran, a job nobody trained you for, a degree you paid for yourself, something you built because you wanted it to exist. Not a title — a finish line you crossed when quitting was an option.

You can hold a conversation with a stranger twice your age. Phone, Zoom, email, Slack. Clear and direct in all four.

You get better within the week, not the quarter. We'll tell you what to fix on Monday and expect to hear it fixed by Thursday.

If two of those three sound like you, apply — we'd rather read your application and decide than have you decide for us.

How we set you up

Structured first week with a peer buddy. Live coaching from day one — recorded calls reviewed with you, not at you. Nobody expects you to know sales yet; teaching you is the job.

Path to closing: 12–18 months to an AE seat for reps who earn it. Our BDRs run their own demos before they're promoted — one of ours picked up a deal everyone had written off, ran the demo himself, and closed it the same day. That's not a hypothetical ladder. It's the one people here have actually climbed.

How to apply

Send a 1–2 minute video or voice memo answering one question: what's the hardest thing you've finished, and what made it hard? No production value needed — phone camera, voice note, whatever. We're listening for how you think, not how polished you look.

Or send a resume. Both go to the same place and both get read.

shane@pursuit.us · or message me on LinkedIn

I read every application myself.

— Shane Gunter, Head of Business Development