---
title: 'Partner Sales Director, Federal & Public Sector at Forward'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/partner-sales-director-federal-public-sector-forward-maryland-washington-dc-9fpbpytc707t'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-03'
---

# Partner Sales Director, Federal & Public Sector at Forward 

- **Company:** Forward 
- **Location:** Maryland / Washington, DC / Virginia
- **Posted:** 2026-10-30
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-03
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/forwardnetworks/jobs/8111099003

## 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. We're accurate and evidence-driven, relentless about clarity, and we'd rather be certain than comfortable.

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. Some of the top Federal agencies are already buying and referenceable. Forward is backed by A. Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Omega Venture Partners, Section 32 and Threshold Ventures, and is headquartered in Santa Clara.

## The Role

We're looking for our first Partner Sales Director for Federal and Public Sector to build and scale Forward's Federal, State, Local and Education (SLED) Partner ecosystem. You'll recruit and grow the Federal resellers, distributors,and MSPs who can both sell and deliver Forward, and you'll own a Partner-sourced and Partner-influenced pipeline number and the closed revenue that follows. This is a 100% channel role.

You'll report to the VP, Strategic Partnerships & Channel Sales, with a dotted line to the VP of Sales, Federal & Public Sector. You'll work hand-in-hand with the Federal Regional Sales Directors (DoW,for example Air Force,Navy/Marines, Civilian and their SE teams, and you'll be the voice of the Federal and Public Sector Partner inside Forward.

This is a builder's seat. Forward's Federal channel is early. Real distributor and reseller activity is in flight, but deal registration, enablement and the Forward Pathfinder Partner Program (F3P) are in early roll-out stages. You'll help define what F3P looks like for Federal and Public Sector, then run it.

Responsibilities:

- Build the Federal and Public Sector Partner strategy. Work with the VP of Sales, Federal & Public Sector to align Partner coverage to agency and SLED account plans, and map whitespace across agencies, commands and SLED entities.
- Execute the Partner lifecycle: Recruit, Onboard, Enable, Grow.
- Recruit. Use existing Federal reseller, distributor and SI relationships to identify the most strategic Partners, including contract-vehicle holders (GSA MAS, SEWP, CIO-SP, ITES, state and cooperative contracts). Align Partner strengths to Forward's platform to create joint solutions that win agency attention.
- Onboard. Engage the right stakeholders on both sides to stand up a real go-to-market Partnership. Drive Partner agreements through to signature and make sure Forward is orderable in the Partner's systems.
- Enable. Map Partner and Forward sales stakeholders and build field relationships. Win Partner mind share with engaging sales and technical training, and roll out new products, pricing and Partner economics (margin, deal registration protection, incentives) to the Partner sales community.
- Grow. Own the number. Run metric-driven executive QBRs, build quarterly joint business plans with named targets and pipeline commitments, and heat-map Partner performance to fill gaps. Hold Partners to their commitments, and tier, grow or exit them based on results.
- Drive revenue with Federal sales. Partner with Federal RSDs and SEs on sell-to and sell-through opportunities, from Land & Expand deals to multi-Partner teaming on larger programs. Champion joint strategic opportunities inside Forward.
- Lead Partner marketing and demand generation. Work with Marketing on events, agency briefings, webinars and Federal-focused campaigns with priority Partners.
- Manage the business in Salesforce. Attach pipeline and deal registrations to the right Partners, and forecast Partner-sourced and Partner-influenced bookings weekly.
- Shape Forward Partner program for Federal. Help define and evolve rules of engagement, deal registration, channel conflict resolution and Partner tiers for a business running both direct and Partner motions.
- Be the voice of the Federal Partner. Feed Partner input to Product, Marketing, Legal, Finance and Operations.
- Travel up to 25%, mostly across the DC / MD / VA region, for Partner planning sessions and customer opportunities.

Requirements:

- 7-10 years selling into or supporting the Federal Government market, with 5+ years in channel or Partner sales, including hands-on selling, not just program management.
- Proven success recruiting and growing Federal resellers, distributors, aggregators with consistent performance against Partner revenue, pipeline and closed-won targets.
- A record of exceeding quota in an Enterprise software ARR model.
- An existing network of Federal Partners you can leverage immediately.
- Working knowledge of Federal procurement and contract vehicles (GSA MAS, SEWP, CIO-SP and similar) and how Partners use them to win.
- SLED channel experience, including state and cooperative purchasing contracts, a plus.
- Three Customer mentality: 1) the End User; 2) the Partner; and 3) the Forward Sales team you support.
- Excellent communication: credible with both a Partner's CEO and their reps in the field.
- Deep understanding of the networking and security market and Forward's buyers.
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

The expected On-Target Cash Earnings for this role is between 240k and 300k 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. [job-boards.greenhouse.io - Forward Networks](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/forwardnetworks/jobs/7714534003)

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