Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between account directors and group leaders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-8 years to become an account director, becoming a group leader takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an account director has an average salary of $114,728, which is higher than the $100,480 average annual salary of a group leader.
The top three skills for an account director include account management, project management and work ethic. The most important skills for a group leader are customer service, OSHA, and center management.
| Account Director | Group Leader | |
| Yearly salary | $114,728 | $100,480 |
| Hourly rate | $55.16 | $48.31 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 132,260 | 56,173 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 56% |
| Average age | 46 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 4 |
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.
A group leader is responsible for overseeing and distributing fair tasks to the members, ensuring clear instructions and procedures. Group leaders are mainly the ones leading the team towards their success. Duties of a group leader also include setting the team's expectations, providing necessary resources to make the task successful, and sharing regular updates on the team's performance. A group leader requires to have strong leadership and problem-solving skills to manage team concerns and resolve complaints quickly and efficiently.
Account directors and group leaders have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Account Director | Group Leader | |
| Average salary | $114,728 | $100,480 |
| Salary range | Between $82,000 And $158,000 | Between $57,000 And $174,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Madison, MS |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Mississippi |
| Best paying company | BuzzFeed | Federal Reserve Bank |
| Best paying industry | Professional | - |
There are a few differences between an account director and a group leader in terms of educational background:
| Account Director | Group Leader | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 56% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between account directors' and group leaders' demographics:
| Account Director | Group Leader | |
| Average age | 46 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1% | Male, 51.6% Female, 48.4% |
| 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, 11.3% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 5.2% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 8% |