Account director vs associate director

The differences between account directors and associate directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an account director has an average salary of $114,728, which is higher than the $114,223 average annual salary of an associate director.

The top three skills for an account director include account management, project management and work ethic. The most important skills for an associate director are patients, healthcare, and project management.

Account director vs associate director overview

	Account Director	Associate Director
Yearly salary	$114,728	$114,223
Hourly rate	$55.16	$54.91
Growth rate	5%	8%
Number of jobs	132,260	72,370
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	46	47
Years of experience	8	-

What does an account director do?

An account director is responsible for managing client accounts, monitoring budgets, and sales forecasting. Their goal is to maintain stable account management strategies, meet clients' demands, develop healthy professional partnerships that would generate revenues, increase profitability, and achieve the organization's long-term goals objectives. Account directors supervise the account management staff, ensuring the project's successful completion with the highest efficiency and accuracy. An account director also plans training programs to maximize their performance and productivity, especially when dealing with deadlines and clients' requests.

What does an associate director do?

An associate director oversees the daily activities and business operations within a particular area. They are primarily responsible for devising strategies that aim for growth in profit and customer satisfaction, implementing policies and standards, evaluate the workforce, providing support to various departments, and setting goals in terms of budget and sales. Furthermore, they must regularly report progress to the director and coordinate with managers and supervisors in the joint effort to reach the vision and mission of the company.

Account director vs associate director salary

Account directors and associate directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Account Director	Associate Director
Average salary	$114,728	$114,223
Salary range	Between $82,000 And $158,000	Between $79,000 And $164,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	South San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	New Jersey
Best paying company	BuzzFeed	Legalmatch.com
Best paying industry	Professional	Pharmaceutical

Differences between account director and associate director education

There are a few differences between an account director and an associate director in terms of educational background:

	Account Director	Associate Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Pennsylvania

Account director vs associate director demographics

Here are the differences between account directors' and associate directors' demographics:

	Account Director	Associate Director
Average age	46	47
Gender ratio	Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1%	Male, 52.0% Female, 48.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 8.9% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	7%	10%

Differences between account director and associate director duties and responsibilities

Account director example responsibilities.

Manage coordination with HCP agencies for launch.
Manage the development and creation of print and broadcast advertising and in-store merchandising.
Manage relationships with all GPO pharmacy, medical device, and physician preference teams.
Manage client accounts as well as introducing cross selling into other verticals to increase the portfolio.
Manage RFP / RFI process and drive all opportunities that provide a consultative, long-term solution and support.
Increase clients SEO rankings and achieve first page placement both locally and nationally for highly search phrases for a client.

Associate director example responsibilities.

Lead implementation of OPPE and FPPE for TJC.
Manage accounting, weekly reports, local contacts, and maintenance of sets, props, and costumes.
Manage all aspects of music ministry - including arranging all music for schedule services special programs and events.
Manage departmental training schedules, work schedules and CPSI electronic medical record (EMR), certifications and competencies.
Manage web development and rebranding initiative.
Create a coordinate university social media committee quadrupling engagement during campaigns and achieving a national twitter trend during commencement.

Account director vs associate director skills

Common account director skills

Account Management, 9%
Project Management, 7%
Work Ethic, 7%
Healthcare, 7%
Digital Marketing, 5%
Email Marketing, 4%

Common associate director skills

Patients, 11%
Healthcare, 8%
Project Management, 6%
Oversight, 6%
Portfolio, 6%
Excellent Interpersonal, 5%

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Account Director
Account Director vs Associate Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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