Enterprise Account Executive - Central / Midwest

Chainguard Open · verified Sep 13, 2026

Remote Illinois Mid-level Account Executive

Mid-level Account Executive role at Chainguard. Remote, United States · $325,000 base.

On-target earningsStated by Chainguard

$325,000

On-target earnings for this role, in USD per year, as published in the posting. Base plus commission; the split is in the posting.

Role brief

Growth Roles summary, based on the employer's posting.

What you'll do

Run enterprise opportunities from initial prospecting through final close
Build and manage pipeline across an assigned group of enterprise accounts
Lead discovery, qualification, and deal planning with MEDDPICC or a similar framework
Show technical, security, and executive buyers Chainguard’s business value
Coordinate evaluations, procurement, security reviews, negotiations, forecasting, and targets

What you bring

Three to five-plus years selling complex technical products to enterprise organizations
A record of creating pipeline and repeatedly winning revenue
Experience with structured enterprise sales methods such as MEDDPICC
Skill in navigating buying groups from technical teams through executives
Strong opportunity management, forecasting, communication, relationship, and negotiation skills

Who this fits

You’ll fit this role if you can sell measurable business value, manage complex multi-stakeholder deals, and stay disciplined in your forecast and sales process. You should be comfortable working in a fast-growing company where processes continue to develop. The role is remote and listed for Illinois, with a Central or Midwest focus.

From the employer

Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers and AI agents rely on, Chainguard helps organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk.

Our customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders, including Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Snowflake.

Chainguard is venture-backed by leading investors, including Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital.

Enterprise Account Executive

Chainguard is looking for an Enterprise Account Executive to help expand our presence within large organizations. In this role, you’ll own the full sales cycle with enterprise customers—from building pipeline through closing complex deals.

Successful candidates are disciplined in their sales process, strong at developing pipeline, and comfortable navigating complex enterprise buying environments. You’ll work closely with sales leadership, sales engineering, marketing, and customer success to help organizations adopt Chainguard’s solutions and improve how they build and secure software.

What You'll Do

Own the full enterprise sales cycle from prospecting through close
Build and manage pipeline within a defined set of enterprise accounts
Lead discovery, qualification, and deal strategy using frameworks such as MEDDPICC
Communicate Chainguard’s value to technical stakeholders, security leaders, and executive buyers
Partner with Sales Engineering and Customer Engineering to support evaluations and technical validation
Manage complex enterprise sales cycles including procurement, security reviews, and negotiations
Maintain accurate pipeline visibility and forecasting
Consistently meet or exceed revenue and pipeline targets

What We're Looking For

3-5+ YOE selling complex technical products into enterprise organizations
A track record of building pipeline and consistently closing revenue
Comfortable running disciplined enterprise sales processes (MEDDPICC or similar)
Ability to identify customer pain and sell based on measurable business value
Experience navigating multi-stakeholder enterprise buying cycles from technical teams to executives
Strong deal management and forecast discipline across complex opportunities
Excellent communication, relationship-building, and negotiation skills
Comfortable operating in fast-growing environments with evolving processes

$325K OTE (50/50)

About Us

We live and breathe our company values:

We are customer obsessed — We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better.
We have a bias for intentional action — We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.
We don't take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work) — We are solving an important problem which takes focus, but we also like to enjoy the journey.
We trust each other and assume good intentions — We're transparent with decisions to empower team members to make well informed decisions.

A few of the benefits we offer:

Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
Our Approach to Equity: Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!).
100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck.
∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child's first year.

If your experience is close but doesn't fulfill all requirements, please apply. We're building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring "Chainguardians" with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.

Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Chainguard will process your personal data in accordance with Chainguard's Global Candidate Privacy Notice.