Capitol Tradeshow Services (a division of Capitol Exhibit Services, Inc.) | Manassas, VA | Territory: D.C., Virginia, Maryland | Full-time
We design and build custom trade show exhibits — everything under one roof in a 110,000-square-foot facility in Manassas. Design, engineering, fabrication, graphics, AV, freight, installation, storage and program management. We have been doing it since 1988 for clients including NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Heckler & Koch and Sallie Mae, plus federal agencies buying through our GSA Schedule.
We are hiring an Account Executive to own new business and long-term account growth across the D.C. region.
The job
Find companies who exhibit at trade shows, earn a seat at the table, understand what they are actually trying to do on a show floor, and work with our designers and estimators to win the program. Typical projects run five and six figures over three to eighteen months. You stay attached through design, fabrication, freight and installation — and you are in the client’s booth on opening day.
This is not an inbound or account-maintenance seat. Growth here means opening closed doors, usually by displacing an exhibit house that has held an account for years. It is also not a spray-and-pray seat — nobody buys a six-figure custom exhibit from only a cold call.
We are interested if you:
You already know this industry. You have sold or managed exhibit programs at an exhibit house, a general service contractor, an experiential agency, a display dealer, or on the client side. Great — let's talk.
Or you've sold something structurally like this. You have spent years selling complex, custom, made-to-order projects into a hard deadline, coordinating designers, estimators, a production shop and an install crew, and carrying the client from first meeting through delivery. Tradeshow sales is the same job, different vocabulary. Backgrounds that translate well: contract and commercial furniture, exhibit space and sponsorship sales, experiential and event marketing, architectural millwork and store fixtures, environmental graphics and large-format print, event production and AV staging, design-build construction, and federal capture or GSA business development.
If your background isn't on that list but the shape of your work matches, apply and tell us why.
What we're screening for
- Five or more years in business development, account executive or outside sales carrying a target
- A record of opening doors that were not handed to you
- Comfort carrying a deal for a year without losing momentum
- Curiosity about how the thing gets built — surface-level sellers don't survive here
- Judgment about margin, not just revenue
- Straight talk when something goes wrong, because the show date never moves and shippers miss targeted deliveries.
Valid driver's license and willingness to travel regionally and to client show sites as needed. Degree welcome but not required.
What we'll teach you
If you're coming from outside the industry: the show floor (drayage, service kits, union labor, I&D scheduling), the shop, the economics of custom versus rental versus refurbishment, and how federal agencies buy exhibits. Expect a real ramp — we're hiring for a career seat, not next quarter's number.
Compensation and benefits
Base salary plus uncapped commission on defined profitable revenue. Medical, dental and vision; retirement plan with company contribution; paid time off and holidays; mileage and expense reimbursement; company-supported attendance at industry events. We will talk openly about numbers in the first conversation.
To apply
Send a resume and a short note about one account you won that you weren't supposed to win — who they were, who had the business before you, and what you did. That note matters more to us than the resume. We read every application and respond within 3 business days.
Capitol Exhibit Services, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and a proud employer of veterans.
Pay: $80,000.00 - $90,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
