Account Executive

Compensation: $300,000+ earning potential in Year 1. Year 2 and Year 3 AEs are earning over $600,000.

The majority of the team is still within their first year at Subject and their first year in a new territory. Forget the infamous OTE. Candidates will be shown actual rep performance and W2 earnings.

Meet the leadership team and other AEs this Saturday, Oct. 24th: Subject Tailgate - Texas vs Ole Miss

Start date: November 2026 and January 2027

Location: Based in our Austin, Texas HQ. In-office 5 days a week, and some weekends required. Candidates outside Austin must relocate prior to start. Subject will not cover relocation fees.

Travel: Up to 60% of the month at certain times of the year.

WHAT WE OFFER:

• An aggressive, uncapped commission plan — top performers see significant upside
• Six-figure bonuses for top performers.
• $100/month toward gym membership
• 90-min wellness break Monday-Thursday
• 10% salary increase when you live within 1.5 miles of our office
• Lunch and dinner provided daily
• Stocked kitchen with a variety of breakfast items, coffee, snacks, drinks
• Modern sales tech stack with Salesforce, Claude, Gong, and more.
• Coaching that never stops: weekly role plays, Gong film review, pipeline reviews, and certifications, run by leaders who are in it with you
• Bi-weekly team builders, because a team that knows each other competes harder for each other
• Flexible PTO
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits
• A professionally designed office in East Austin with free parking
• The opportunity to sell a revolutionary product that is obviously better than anything else in K12, one that students and teachers actually love using, that makes a real positive impact on communities and the world
• The personal and professional growth that comes from applying yourself to a company growing this fast

WHY NOW? Most job posts want you to start in two weeks. This one doesn't, and that tells you who we're hiring.

The best AEs we know are employed, mid-year, and on pace. They've crushed their year and they're already building pipeline for next season. A November or January start means you finish your year strong, collect what you've earned, and leave clean.

It's also when the K-12 sales calendar actually begins. You'll ramp quickly and build pipeline through budget season, and close through Spring and Summer — a full cycle, timed right, instead of joining mid-stream and inheriting someone else's half-built quarter.

You won't ramp alone. You'll start with a class of AEs and a progressive three-week initial training camp in Austin. Our September class was certified on cold calls by the end of week one, running live demos in week two, and in the field by week three.

If you're reading this from a seat where you're winning but the ceiling is visible, this timeline was designed for you.

HOW YOU'LL GET BETTER HERE We train like a team in season. Camp is three weeks, but development doesn't end when camp does.

Every week you'll run role plays on the calls and meetings you actually have coming up, review your Gong recordings with a coach and with your teammates, and sit in pipeline reviews where every deal and every next step gets pressure-tested. You earn certifications before you move to the next stage of the job, and you keep earning them as the job gets harder. The best athletes practice more than anyone else, not less, and the AEs who've won the most here are usually the ones asking for more film.

Our mantra is "train like you've never won, compete like you've never lost." You'll hear it a lot.

You'll be coached by leaders who have carried a quota, still get in the field, and will be on calls with you, not managing you from a dashboard.

WHAT THIS ROLE ACTUALLY IS You're joining a strong team while you will also be the CEO of your territory and own it end-to-end: from prospecting and first conversation to signed contract, SMB through Enterprise. You'll multithread superintendents, curriculum directors, CTOs, and CFOs, build Mutual Action Plans and relentlessly progress deals, navigate procurement vehicles, and negotiate contracts that protect margin and the partnership.

District sales happen in-person, at central offices, board meetings, conferences, on-site demos. You'll spend big stretches of the month in your territory, at district offices and conferences, and the rest in our East Austin office with your team. You will be the face of Subject to district leaders nationwide, and the quality of your process and presence directly shapes how we grow.

What you're selling: AI-powered, personalized education at scale, including cinematic, short-form video courseware built for the generation raised on the best consumer media, paired with a learning platform serving thousands of students daily. Your prospects span the full diversity of K-12: districts serving 40,000+ students down to sub-200-student rural systems.

What you'll work with: Salesforce is the source of truth for your book, and Gong records and coaches every call. Claude is built into how we research districts, prep meetings, write outreach, and review pipeline and so much more. Starbridge and GovSpend give you the SLED signals most AEs never see, like board agendas, budget documents, RFPs, contract expirations, and purchasing history. LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Chili Piper round it out.

HOW WE OPERATE Four values decide who we hire, how we coach, and who stays.

• Education Obsessed. We're here for the kids. "FTK" is our answer to why we bother on every hard day, and it's why we won't sell a district something that doesn't fit.
• Championship Sports Team. We keep score, we watch film, we hold each other to a high bar, and we celebrate wins together.
• Grit. District deals are long, political, and full of no's. The people who win here keep showing up after the third no and the fourth reschedule.
• Speed. We respond in minutes, not days, and we'd rather make a fast decision and fix it than wait around for a perfect one.

Underneath those, we hire for curiosity, poise, self-awareness, and ownership. If you want to know whether you're a fit, read those four words and be honest with yourself about each one.

THE SCOUTING REPORT Who you are:

• You've proven you can win, and there are two ways in. Either you've personally closed $1M+ ARR years in complex, multi-stakeholder B2B (SaaS, pharma, medical — same long-cycle, field-heavy, relationship-driven motion), or you're a former K-12 educator with a track record of outperforming in a competitive role since leaving the classroom. Some of our fastest-ramping AEs came from the classroom, because they already know the buyer's building from the inside. Either way, you know your numbers cold: quota, attainment, pipeline coverage, average deal size, win rate, without checking.
• You care about education. You don't need to have taught, but you need to care whether a kid in a rural district gets a better shot because of what you sold. If the mission doesn't matter to you, the hard weeks will feel a lot harder.
• You're curious about your buyer. You read the board minutes, the strategic plan, and the state report card before the first call, and you ask questions you don't already know the answer to.
• You love being in the field. You'd rather drive three hours face-to-face with a superintendent than send a fourth follow-up email. A room of 5, 50, or 500 doesn't change your heart rate, at least not on the outside.
• You run the deal like you own it. No blaming lead quality or product for the gap. Clear next steps and accountable timelines on every opportunity. A busy week with a flat forecast is a problem you own. There are no bystanders here — if something's broken, you fix it or grab someone who can.
• You tell the truth early. To prospects, that the timeline isn't realistic, the budget doesn't match the scope, another vendor fits better. You'd rather lose fast and honestly than win on a story that collapses at renewal.
• You're AI-native. Claude, Gong, Salesforce are already in your workflow — prepping district meetings, drafting personalized outreach, pristine pipeline hygiene, pattern-matching your book. Not curious about AI. Already operating with it.
• You make your teammates better. We're a team with a head coach, coaches, and players — not a family. You coach hard, take real-time feedback without flinching, and share what's working instead of hoarding it. All-stars don't coast alone; they elevate others.
• You're an all-weather competitor. A prospect reply on Saturday gets an answer on Saturday, because you treat your pipeline like your business. Mid-deal, you don't go dark.
• You're a grinder. 60+ hours a week is the commitment (you're probably already doing this now), and you bring it because the work is the reward, not the obligation. You're in the office and in the field by default — we don't beg, chase, or remind. If we have to push you to take initiative, this isn't the seat for you.

Who you are not:

• A Zoom seller who calls travel "client-facing time" but hasn't left their home office in a year
• An activity reporter — calls dialed and demos delivered, but the forecast never moves
• Someone who needs an SDR, a warm lead, and a playbook before they'll pick up the phone
• Someone who thinks they're done learning. If you skip role plays because you've "already closed bigger deals than this," you'll get passed by people who didn't.
• Someone here only for the comp plan. The money is real, but it won't carry you through a K-12 sales cycle if the work itself doesn't matter to you
• A knowledge hoarder or politics player — if your instinct is to protect your lane instead of the team's outcome, you won't last here
• Someone who pushes personal agendas at work — we stay apolitical, always: we support all kids, we don't take sides, and we show up every day to help students grow no matter where they come from or what they believe
• Someone who's uncomfortable living in public — we're a company that posts a lot and welcomes critics; you have to be okay with that
• Someone who hears "5 days in Austin, 60% travel, 60+ hour weeks during peak cycles" and starts negotiating the premise

We're not looking for people who can tolerate the bar. We're looking for people who set it higher than we do.

Bonus points

• You can read a STAAR report or a TEKS gap and turn it into a sales motion
• AI already in your sales workflow — if you've built your own prompts, agents, or automations for prospecting, prep, or pipeline review, tell us about it
• Experience in early-stage startup sales orgs that experienced hyper-growth
• History of multiple promotions within the same company

BEYOND YOUR APPLICATION The moment you apply, you're being evaluated. We hire on habits and behaviors, because habits and behaviors come before performance. Applicants are expected to show us theirs instead of telling us about them:

• DM the hiring manager. If you can't find and reach the right person at a company that's hiring you, you won't find the right person at a 30,000-student district.
• Multithread our leadership. The AEs who win here align 3+ stakeholders to close a deal. Run that play on us — thoughtfully, not spam.
• Show speed-to-lead. How fast and how sharp you follow up with us is how fast and how sharp you'll follow up with a superintendent.

Everything you do in this process is a signal.

WHO WE ARE Subject is one of the fastest-growing education technology companies in the country, helping more than 1,000 schools deliver flexible, accredited learning to students nationwide. We're backed by Owl Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. Recognized for our growth and innovation:

• TIME's Top EdTech Companies (2026)
• LinkedIn Top Startups (2025)
• Forbes 30 Under 30 (Co-Founder & CEO Mike Vilardo)
• 135K+ subscribers on YouTube

Subject sits at the intersection of two of the most consequential shifts in education: AI, and the growing demand for flexible learning paths for students who don't fit the traditional classroom model.

Subject isn't a commodity courseware vendor. It's an AI-powered K-12 curriculum company serving markets where the stakes for students are high and the need for better outcomes is urgent.

Vision: Revolutionize education by building the best product for acquiring valuable, fulfilling skills while empowering educators to work efficiently and joyfully.

Mission: Maximize the potential of all learners and educators, regardless of zip code.

Core Values:

• Education Obsessed: We relentlessly pursue the best learning experience. Every critique is an opportunity to improve. Mantra: Passion.
• Championship Sports Team: Team success outranks individual glory. No job is beneath us; excellence is the standard. Mantra: Teamwork.
• Grit: Expect a minimum 60+ hour workweeks and the flexibility to travel or be in-office as needed. Family and health come first, but Subject comes third. We outwork every competitor. Mantra: Relentless.
• Speed: Speed of iteration beats quality of iteration. Make informed decisions quickly and learn faster than the market. Mantra: Intensity.