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The differences between account directors and major account managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both an account director and a major account manager. Additionally, an account director has an average salary of $114,728, which is higher than the $98,287 average annual salary of a major account manager.
The top three skills for an account director include account management, project management and work ethic. The most important skills for a major account manager are digital marketing, customer service, and cloud.
| Account Director | Major Account Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $114,728 | $98,287 |
| Hourly rate | $55.16 | $47.25 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 132,260 | 164,210 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 8 |
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.
Major account manager responsibilities include growing strong relationships with customers, liaising with chief business executives and stakeholders, as well as making sales reports. Also, they answer the client's questions and determine new business opportunities between current customers. They also act as a liaison with cross-functional internal teams, which include customer service and product development departments, to enhance the overall customer experience. Additionally, they negotiate contracts and ensure that agreements increase profits. The work may require periodic travel.
Account directors and major account managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Account Director | Major Account Manager | |
| Average salary | $114,728 | $98,287 |
| Salary range | Between $82,000 And $158,000 | Between $59,000 And $161,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | - |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | - |
| Best paying company | BuzzFeed | - |
| Best paying industry | Professional | - |
There are a few differences between an account director and a major account manager in terms of educational background:
| Account Director | Major Account Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 79% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between account directors' and major account managers' demographics:
| Account Director | Major Account Manager | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1% | Male, 71.0% Female, 29.0% |
| 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, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |