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The differences between account executives and account 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 $69,618 average annual salary of an account executive.
The top three skills for an account executive include customer service, CRM and healthcare. The most important skills for an account director are account management, project management, and work ethic.
| Account Executive | Account Director | |
| Yearly salary | $69,618 | $114,728 |
| Hourly rate | $33.47 | $55.16 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 205,561 | 132,260 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Average age | 44 | 46 |
| Years of experience | - | 8 |
An account executive is responsible for supporting existing clients, closing client deals, and developing sales strategies to increase the company's sales and satisfaction. An account executive must be competitive enough to keep up with the constant changes in the sales industry, including the high demands of digital marketing, a different approach to product advertising, effective negotiation, and presentation skills. An account executive also requires excellent communication skills for the successful acquisition of client accounts and immediately resolve possible complaints as they arise.
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 executives and account directors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Account Executive | Account Director | |
| Average salary | $69,618 | $114,728 |
| Salary range | Between $44,000 And $109,000 | Between $82,000 And $158,000 |
| Highest paying City | Portland, OR | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Oregon | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Hitachi Vantara | BuzzFeed |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Professional |
There are a few differences between an account executive and an account director in terms of educational background:
| Account Executive | Account Director | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between account executives' and account directors' demographics:
| Account Executive | Account Director | |
| Average age | 44 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 57.2% Female, 42.8% | Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 5.6% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | 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 | 5% | 7% |