Account director vs national director

The differences between account directors and national directors 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 national director. Additionally, a national director has an average salary of $117,787, which is higher than the $114,728 average annual salary of an account director.

The top three skills for an account director include account management, project management and work ethic. The most important skills for a national director are project management, customer service, and healthcare.

Account director vs national director overview

	Account Director	National Director
Yearly salary	$114,728	$117,787
Hourly rate	$55.16	$56.63
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	132,260	53,071
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	8	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 a national director do?

A national director is responsible for designing, developing, and implementing strategic plans for an organization. As the national director, you are expected to oversee the organization's day-to-day operations that include developing business plans and managing departments and staff. Other duties that you perform include evaluating the performance of employees, cultivating good relationships with other decision-makers and leaders, and implementing new strategies to increase profitability. As the national director, you are also responsible for directing and overseeing business development initiatives across the region.

Account director vs national director salary

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

	Account Director	National Director
Average salary	$114,728	$117,787
Salary range	Between $82,000 And $158,000	Between $68,000 And $202,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Portland, OR
Highest paying state	New Jersey	Vermont
Best paying company	BuzzFeed	Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith
Best paying industry	Professional	Manufacturing

Differences between account director and national director education

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

	Account Director	National Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 80%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Account director vs national director demographics

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

	Account Director	National Director
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1%	Male, 65.7% Female, 34.3%
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%

Differences between account director and national 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.

National director example responsibilities.

Lead and coordinate RFP process for large national accounts.
Garner B2C and B2B leads via trade and consumer shows; identify prospects for sales cultivation.
Lead primary and secondary research teams on industry strategy and advise executive leadership council.
Establish and manage the mid-Atlantic regional office of a privately own legal education company that provide educational services to law students.
Spearhead business-to-business sales and marketing development and execution with chief oversight of corporate revenue growth within a northeast region.
Structure and develop IDN /Corporate accounts programs.

Account director vs national director skills

Common account director skills

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

Common national director skills

Project Management, 16%
Customer Service, 10%
Healthcare, 9%
Oversight, 7%
Veterans, 4%
Patients, 4%

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Account Director
Account Director vs National Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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