Braun Board

Public Sector Account Executive (Education)

Elastic · London, UK

Base
Not disclosed
OTE
Not disclosed
Quota attainment
Not disclosed
Posted
3mo ago

Why it matters: OTE tells you what you could earn. Attainment tells you how realistic it is.

Ask: “What percentage of fully ramped reps hit quota last year?”

Still open · checked just nowon Elastic's careers page

What Elastic sells

Finds answers across all of a company's data

Businesses have information spread across many places and need answers fast. Elastic's software searches all of that data in real time, so people can find what they need quickly. It also helps keep private information better protected.

In plain English, from their own job posts. Something wrong? Tell us

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The Braun Read

Proceed with caution

A few things here deserve a hard look before you spend time on it.

Pay
No pay listed at all.
Transparency
Says nothing about quota, attainment, deal size, territory or sales cycle.
Pipeline
Mostly self-sourced. Great if you like outbound, rough if you don't.
Time on market
Open 109 days. Ask why it's been hard to fill.
Company hiring
Ramping up: posted 15 sales roles in the last 30 days. That many open roles can also mean churn. Ask how many reps are still there from last year.

Red flags

None spotted.

Worth asking about

  • Open 90+ days. This role has been posted for three months or more. Ask why it's been hard to fill, and whether anyone left it.

Green flags

None spotted.

Based only on what the posting says. Flags are a starting point for your first call, not a final judgment.

Questions to ask on the first call

Built from what this posting leaves out. How they answer tells you as much as what they say.

  1. 1.

    This role has been open a while. What's made it hard to fill?

    The answer tells you what candidates saw that made them walk.

  2. 2.

    What percentage of fully ramped reps hit quota last year?

    OTE is what you could earn. This is how likely you are to earn it.

  3. 3.

    What percentage of reps on the team have been here more than 18 months?

    Tenure shows whether people stay long enough to get paid.

  4. 4.

    Has the comp plan changed in the last 12 to 18 months? What changed?

    A plan that changes every year means the goalposts keep moving.

  5. 5.

    Who sits with reps and reviews calls each week?

    Coaching is often what's behind a good or bad attainment number.

  6. 6.

    Why is this role open? Did someone leave, or is it new?

    New headcount is growth. A replacement means someone left. Ask why.

When the offer comes

Save these for later. They land better once they've said yes to you.

  1. 1.

    Can I see the full comp plan in writing, including clawbacks and accelerators?

    What's in writing is what gets paid. Read it before you sign.

  2. 2.

    Can I see the actual comp distribution for the team last year, not just the OTE?

    The spread shows what most reps really take home. OTE is just the target.

  3. 3.

    I'd be walking away from earned commission to join. Is there room for a sign-on bonus to help cover that?

    Leaving money behind is a fair reason to ask. The worst answer is no.

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The role

Sell Elastic's search, observability and security platform to education-sector public institutions. Mostly cold outreach to new Mid-Market logos, plus expansion at existing customers, using MEDDPICC qualification.

Mid-Market · Mixed · Outbound

Selling motion

Mixed

Who you're selling to

Buyer:
Education sector institutionsIn their words: “dedicated to evangelising and extending elastics footprint across the education sector”
Industry:
EducationIn their words: “Success in SaaS subscription sales within the education sector”
Company size:
Mid-Market

Pipeline expectations

Mostly self-sourced. Expect a lot of outbound.

Compensation

The posting doesn't list pay.

What is not disclosed

This posting doesn't tell you:

  • Base salary
  • OTE
  • Quota size
  • Quota attainment
  • Average deal size
  • Territory
  • Sales cycle length

The questions above cover the big ones.

Full posting
Elastic, the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real time, using all their data, at scale — unleashing the potential of businesses and people. The Elastic Search AI Platform, used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500, brings together the precision of search and the intelligence of AI to enable everyone to accelerate the results that matter. By taking advantage of all structured and unstructured data — securing and protecting private information more effectively — Elastic’s complete, cloud-based solutions for search, security, and observability help organizations deliver on the promise of AI. What Is The Role Elastic, the Search Analytics company, is seeking a dynamic Public Sector Account Executive. To excel as an Account Executive at Elastic, you need a blend of high-level technical curiosity and the gravitas of a value-based seller. Because Elastic isn't just a "product" but a versatile search, observability, and security platform, the role requires moving beyond simple transactions to solving complex data problems. We are seeking a Public Sector Account Executive dedicated to evangelising and extending elastics footprint across the education sector. In this role, you will own the full sales cycle—from cold outreach to close—focused on acquiring new logos and working with existing health customers to help solve more of their problems using elastic. If you excel at navigating new organizations and demonstrating the value of advanced search technology to stakeholders, this is your opportunity to drive our next phase of growth. What You Will Be Doing - Drive Adoption: Fuel the adoption of Elastic’s AI-powered search solutions, Observability and Security solutions within new Mid-Market accounts while deepening engagement with existing ones. - Be a Trusted Advisor: Assist users and customers in harnessing the full power of search analytics to transform data into actionable insights. - Domain & cloud acumen: Position Elastic as the Search AI platform of choice by speaking fluently about cloud economics, usage-based pricing, and modern data architectures. - Solve Complex Problems: Move beyond simple transactions to address the intricate data challenges our customers face. - Champion Open Source: Articulate the value of our advanced commercial features while advocating for our Open-Source offerings. - Identify New Use Cases: Showcase how Elastic’s solutions enable users to work more efficiently and intelligently. - Strategic Planning: Develop comprehensive business plans leveraging community, customer, and partner ecosystems to drive significant territory growth. - Navigate Sales Cycles: Proactively identify new opportunities and successfully manage complex sales cycles. - Deep discovery & qualification: Uncover pain, business impact, budget, and decision criteria using frameworks like MEDDPICC so you chase only the highest-confidence deals. - Cross-functional partnership: Work hand-in-glove with Solutions Architects, Customer Success, Marketing, and RevOps to accelerate deals and drive exceptional customer outcomes. What You Bring - The Right Blend: A combination of high-level technical curiosity and the grit of a value-based seller. - Proven Track Record: Success in SaaS subscription sales within the education sector, evidenced by overachievement. - Mindset: Pure focus on acquiring new logos with a record to prove it. - Value Storytelling: The ability to craft tailored narratives that link Elastic’s technical capabilities (Search, Observability, Security) to measurable business outcomes like revenue gain or risk mitigation is critical. - Executive negotiation & closing: Lead high-stakes contract and pricing discussions - Technical & cloud fluency: Comfortable discussing a broad range of technical topics including security, observability, vector/traditional search, and cloud cost optimization. - Relationship Building: Adept at establishing credibility with both technical developers and executive leadership. - Mutual deal strategy & forecast accuracy: Consistent, predictable and accurate sales forecasting skills. Collaborate with customers to build formal close plans and keep your CRM up to date. - Ability to create alignment across teams to accelerate deals - AI Mindset: Use new technologies for performance advantage and deal structuring - Open-Source Appreciation: Enthusiasm for the Open-Source model and the community relying on our solutions #LI-PM1 Additional Information - We Take Care of Our People As a distributed company, diversity drives our identity. Whether you’re looking to launch a new career or grow an existing one, Elastic is the type of company where you can balance great work with great life. Your age is only a number. It doesn’t matter if you’re just out of college or your children are; we need you for what you can do. We strive to have parity of benefits across regions and while regulations differ from place to place, we believe taking care of our people is the right thing to do. - Competitive pay based on the work you do here and not your previous salary - Health coverage for you and your family in many locations - Ability to craft your calendar with flexible locations and schedules for many roles - Generous number of vacation days each year - Increase your impact - We match up to $2000 (or local currency equivalent) for financial donations and service - Up to 40 hours each year to use toward volunteer projects you love - Embracing parenthood with minimum of 16 weeks of parental leave Different people approach problems differently. We need that. Elastic is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive culture that celebrates different perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law, ordinance or regulation. We welcome individuals with disabilities and strive to create an accessible and inclusive experience for all individuals. To request an accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email candidate_accessibility@elastic.co. We will reply to your request within 24 business hours of submission. Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws, view posters linked below: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Poster; Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision Poster; Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) Poster and Know Your Rights (Poster) Elasticsearch develops and distributes technology and information that is subject to U.S. and other countries’ export controls and licensing requirements for individuals who are located in or are nationals of the following sanctioned countries and regions: Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, or Russia, including the Ukrainian territories annexed by Russia (The Crimea region of Ukraine, The Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), The Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), Kherson or Zaporizhzhia). If you are located in or are a national of one of the listed countries or regions, an export license may be required as a condition of your employment in this role. Please note that national origin and/or nationality do not affect eligibility for employment with Elastic. Please see here for our Privacy Statement.
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