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.
Account director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real account director resumes:
- 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.
- Provide support for the financial and SOX audits.
- Provide enterprise services, software licensing and cloud base solutions.
- Top producer for technical sales and enterprise solutions sales in Americas.
- Initiate IDN market strategy and contract implementation plans to support GPO contracts.
- Participate with planning and oversight of AmeriChoice implementation of NDB for common entry of provider data within UHC.
- Lead on projects such as SOX validations and fraud audits to ensure compliance with USGAAP and company policies.
- Serve as agency s non-paid copywriting and graphic design services to develop agency marketing materials and key client presentations.
- Manage teams of external creative resources including copywriting, video production, app development, graphic design, and web development.
- Review and approve balance sheet reconciliations.
Account director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Account Directors are proficient in Account Management, Project Management, and Work Ethic. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Account Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Account Management, 9%
Conceptualized and implemented programs, directing teams of creative, account management and production staff for a leading integrated marketing agency.
- Project Management, 7%
Provided account, project management and business development consultation to small advertising and interactive marketing agencies in Kansas City, MO.
- Work Ethic, 7%
Recognized for strong work ethic and respected as contributing team player through consistent collaboration with co-workers and numerous vendor representatives.
- Healthcare, 7%
Managed six National Accounts, migrated three accounts to CIGNA HealthCare's end-state systems in 2003.
- Digital Marketing, 5%
Developed and implemented digital marketing, digital media and social media strategies focused on increasing engagement and enhancing customer experience.
- Email Marketing, 4%
Developed integrated marketing strategies across email marketing, display, search engine marketing and managed execution and optimization of campaigns.
Most account directors use their skills in "account management," "project management," and "work ethic" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential account director responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. For certain account director responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "analytical skills." The day-to-day duties of an account director rely on this skill, as "sales managers must collect and interpret complex data to target the most promising geographic areas and demographic groups, and determine the most effective sales strategies." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what account directors do: "prepared weekly analysis on service level reporting and presented to client management to support service incentive/rebate program. "
Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in account director job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what account directors do. Account director responsibilities rely on this skill because "sales managers need to work with colleagues and customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly." You can also see how account director duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "delivered and sold communication and cloud services (iaas, saas and paas). "
Customer-service skills. While "customer-service skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to account director responsibilities. Much of what an account director does relies on this skill, seeing as "when helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of account directors: "lead team members in repairing lines of communication with key account executives, customers and company support team members. "
The three companies that hire the most account directors are:
- Radancy106 account directors jobs
- Yelp32 account directors jobs
- Windstream24 account directors jobs
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Compare different account directors
Account director vs. Director of sales & business development
A director of sales & business development is responsible for monitoring the business and project plans, ensuring that the sales targets are met, according to project requirements and specifications. Directors of sales & business development perform data analysis to track business performance and identify opportunities to grow revenues and profits. They also coordinate with the clients and maintain healthy business relationships by enhancing their brand image on various platforms and reach the target audience. A director of sales & business development works closely with the marketing and sales team for public relations and marketing campaigns placement.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an account director are more likely to require skills like "project management," "work ethic," "strong work ethic," and "digital marketing." On the other hand, a job as a director of sales & business development requires skills like "value proposition," "sales cycle," "leveraged," and "lead qualification." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Directors of sales & business development earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $127,443. On the other hand, account directors are paid more in the professional industry with an average salary of $118,397.On average, directors of sales & business development reach similar levels of education than account directors. Directors of sales & business development are 1.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Account director vs. Director of marketing & development
A director of marketing & development is a management professional who is responsible for improving the marketing scheme of an organization while discovering ways to obtain new customers. This director is required to lead a team of marketers and work with other departments to make the organization's marketing plans become a reality. The director must possess customer service skills as they often personally reach out to and deal directly with clients. This director must also work within the constraints of a budget to create the necessary marketing materials.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, account director responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "account management," "project management," "work ethic," and "healthcare." Meanwhile, a director of marketing & development has duties that require skills in areas such as "revenue generation," "event planning," "strategic plan," and "business plan." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Directors of marketing & development may earn a lower salary than account directors, but directors of marketing & development earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $117,707. On the other hand, account directors receive higher pay in the professional industry, where they earn an average salary of $118,397.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Directors of marketing & development tend to reach similar levels of education than account directors. In fact, they're 4.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Account director vs. Director new business development
A director of new business development is in charge of spearheading new programs and procedures, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. It is their duty to set goals and objectives in adherence to the company's vision and mission, establishing guidelines, allocating budgets, and overseeing the progress of all efforts. Furthermore, as a director of new business development, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, account directors are more likely to have skills like "work ethic," "strong work ethic," "digital marketing," and "cloud security." But a director new business development is more likely to have skills like "business strategies," "treasury," "corporate clients," and "product development."
Directors new business development make a very good living in the energy industry with an average annual salary of $126,576. On the other hand, account directors are paid the highest salary in the professional industry, with average annual pay of $118,397.Most directors new business development achieve a similar degree level compared to account directors. For example, they're 3.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Account director vs. Director of sales and marketing
A director of sales and marketing's responsibilities revolve around overseeing the sales, budgets, and all programs related to marketing. They must implement budget goals and revenue targets, evaluate the progress of the various teams, participate in securing sales and reaching out to high profile clients, and even negotiate contracts. Furthermore, they have the discretion to assign pricing and discounts, strategize ways to build a more substantial client base, and lead a team of skilled professionals to boost sales and improve client satisfaction.
Types of account director
Updated January 8, 2025
