--- title: 'Federal-Business Development Representative at Forward' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/federal-business-development-representative-forward-virginia-maryland-sz3m6w4ktyr7' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-08' --- # Federal-Business Development Representative at Forward - **Company:** Forward - **Location:** Virginia / Maryland / Washington, DC - **Posted:** 2026-07-06 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/forwardnetworks/jobs/7796290003 ## Job description Forward was founded in 2013 by four Stanford Ph.D.s, building the industry's first network digital twin: a mathematically accurate model of the production network. It's the foundation for autonomous networking, giving engineers and AI agents the ability to know the impact of every change before it touches production. That founding instinct still defines how we work. We're accurate and evidence-driven, relentless about clarity, and we'd rather be certain than comfortable, building a groundbreaking platform that transforms how teams run and secure networks across every major cloud and vendor environment. Global leaders like Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, and Dell trust Forward, alongside fast-growing enterprises and government agencies, realizing an average of $14.2 million in annual benefits, according to IDC. Backed by top-tier investors, including A. Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Omega Venture Partners, Section 32, and Threshold Ventures, and headquartered in Santa Clara, we're most proud of our team: curious people who'd rather build what doesn't exist than accept how things have always been done. Forward is looking for a Business Development Representative to join our Federal team. ## Key Responsibilities - Targeted Prospecting: Identify and engage decision-makers at Federal accounts using a mix of phone, email, LinkedIn, and creative outreach in partnership with Regional Sales Directors in your territory. - Pipeline Generation: Develop a steady flow of qualified opportunities for Regional Sales Directors by booking discovery calls and demos. - Account Research: Conduct research on target accounts and personas to tailor messaging and outreach to their business challenges and industry context. - Messaging & Education: Clearly articulate Forward Networks’s value proposition and educate the prospects on the value of a digital twin. - Collaboration: Partner with Sales and Marketing to execute account-based strategies and provide feedback on market trends and prospect needs. - CRM Discipline: Maintain accurate records of all activities in Salesforce, ensuring visibility into pipeline activity and performance. - Continuous Learning: Stay up to date on Forward Networks’s platform and the dynamic changes in the networking, security and cloud infrastructure space. ## Qualifications - Experience: 2-4 years of experience in outbound Business Development, business development, or lead generation within the federal government.  Knowledge of computer networking, security, SaaS or data/technology industry experience preferred. - Skills: Excellent communication, persuasion, and storytelling skills. Strong ability to research and personalize outreach for executives and technical stakeholders. - Persistence, resilience, and creativity in outbound prospecting. - Strong organizational skills with ability to manage high activity levels. - Tools: Familiarity with Salesforce, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, SalesLoft/Outreach, and other prospecting tools. - Mindset: Competitive, goal-oriented, coachable, and eager to grow into an Account Executive role. The expected On-Target Cash Earnings for this role is between $95,000-$115,00 per year. Within this range, individual pay is determined by several factors including but not limited to, job-related skills, work experience, and relevant education/training ## About Forward ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Forward Networks provides a vendor-agnostic "digital twin" software platform that creates a mathematically accurate model of an enterprise's entire hybrid network, enabling teams to verify changes, improve security, and accelerate troubleshooting. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series D) - **Headquarters**: Santa Clara, California, United States - **Founded**: 2013 - **Founders**: David Erickson, Nikhil Handigol, Brandon Heller, Peyman Kazemian ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Computer Networking Products, Network Management Software, Network Security - **Target customers**: B2B, primarily large enterprises (including Fortune 50 institutions), financial services, global entertainment companies, and top-level US federal government agencies. - **Mission or purpose statement**: To transform networks to be more reliable, agile, and secure by providing a single source of verified truth for how a network actually behaves. ## Products & Services - **Forward Enterprise**: The core platform, a network digital twin. It builds a mathematically accurate model of every device, path, and policy across a hybrid network (on-premises and cloud). Used by networking, security, cloud, and compliance teams for change management, compliance audits, and troubleshooting. - **Forward AI**: Built on the Forward Enterprise digital twin, this feature allows users to ask the twin questions in natural language to validate changes, understand network behavior, and act with confidence. - **Forward Predict**: A newer offering built on the digital twin that allows users to predict the outcome of changes before they are implemented, answering "what if" scenarios. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: **Total Funding**: $112.1 million across four rounds. **Annual Revenue**: Approximately $15.0 million (estimated). - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Threshold Ventures. Customers include Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, and Dell. - **Growth Signals**: The company has been in the market for over 10 years, has won 25+ industry awards, and supports 30+ vendors. It has a presence in 6 countries (including India, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and France). Employee headcount is around 199 with monthly growth of +0.4%. ## Competitive Advantages - **Mathematically Accurate Digital Twin**: The core technology is a mathematically precise model of the network, which is a significant differentiator from competitors that use simpler or less accurate modeling methods. - **Vendor-Agnostic**: The platform works across all major cloud and vendor environments (e.g., A10, Arista, Cisco, F5, Fortinet, Juniper, Palo Alto Networks, AWS, GCP), providing a single source of truth for multi-vendor networks. - **Strong Investor & Customer Base**: Backed by top-tier venture capital firms and trusted by some of the world's most demanding and complex networks, including major financial institutions and government agencies. ## Strategic Focus - **AI and Predictive Analysis**: The company is heavily investing in AI capabilities (Forward AI) and predictive modeling (Forward Predict) to move from reactive troubleshooting to proactive network management. - **Expanding Platform Capabilities**: Continuing to build out the digital twin platform to serve more use cases for different teams (networking, security, cloud, compliance) and to handle increasingly complex hybrid environments. - **Market Penetration**: Leveraging a strong base of referenceable Fortune 500 and government clients to expand its footprint and grow its customer base. ## Why Work Here - **Culture & Mission**: Described as a "people-centric, innovative culture" where "brilliant minds are shaping the future of network reliability, security, and AI-ready operations." The company emphasizes that it is an "agile team and early-stage company with plenty of opportunities to grow." - **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: The company offers remote positions (e.g., a Customer Care Engineer role listed for Australia). The specific policy for all roles is likely flexible and depends on the team and location. - **Notable Perks & Benefits**: - **Compensation**: Competitive pay and equity packages. - **Health & Wellness**: Top-grade medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their families. - **Time Off**: No tracked time off for vacations, holidays, and family days (with manager approval). - **Growth**: Opportunities for professional growth within an agile, early-stage company environment. - **Engineering Culture**: Founded by four Stanford Ph.D.s, the company has a strong technical foundation. The work involves solving complex problems at scale for the world's most demanding networks, which would appeal to engineers who enjoy deep technical challenges. ## Sources 1. [forwardnetworks.com - Careers](https://www.forwardnetworks.com/careers/) 2. [forwardnetworks.com - About](https://www.forwardnetworks.com/about/) 3. [forwardnetworks.com - Homepage](https://www.forwardnetworks.com/) 4. [linkedin.com - Forward Networks](https://www.linkedin.com/company/forward-networks) 5. 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