Vertical Account Executive — Research Desks

$60K base + commission and equity to be negotiated

We license the IQS to research desks. The IQS pins every fact to its source, so analysts can stop defending citations and get back to writing. If you’ve ever watched a Brookings senior fellow re-explain why a footnote is legitimate, or sat across from a RAND program lead who’s spending more time on provenance than on findings, you already know how big this problem is. We’re early. Four desks in active conversation, one paid pilot in motion, and the room is wider open than most categories you’ve ever sold into.

The Work.

The research-desk book at GK Media Group LLC covers Brookings, RAND, the major university policy centers, the standing research arms at the Fed, the IMF, and the World Bank, plus the dozen or so independent shops where one director can move a deal in a single quarter. The target list is too long for one body, so we’re hiring several AEs into the vertical and you’d come in alongside the existing four conversations and the pilot rather than carry them alone. Day one you’d take coverage of two of those open conversations and a thread on the pilot. Week one you’d be naming desks we haven’t called yet and shaping the next-twenty list together with the other AEs in seat. Month one you’d be on a plane to D.C. or the Bay to meet directors who’ve already asked to talk to someone other than me.

What we need from you.

You’ve sold SaaS into research institutions. An actual software product signed by a Brookings, a RAND, or a major university library, with a paid license and a renewal you carried. If you haven’t, this isn’t the seat. Beyond that, a rolodex. If you can’t name fifteen research directors you’ve worked with or called on in the last five years, this isn’t your role. You should already know which of those directors care about methodology defense and which care about board credibility, because the pitch lands differently for each. The IQS is the layer those directors have been quietly hoping someone would build, and you’ll be one of the first people describing it to people who’ve spent their careers worrying about exactly this. You need to be comfortable carrying a category nobody has named yet.

The truth about working here.

We’re small. We’re early. There is no playbook for this role and there won’t be one until you write it. You’ll report to me and we’ll talk every day. The product works, the buyers are already leaning in, and the seat will be in the room when we figure out how this whole category gets built. If you want a polished sales org with a tuned- up Salesforce instance and a manager three rungs up, please don’t apply.

Apply with a short note about which three research desks you’d open first and why.