How To Become An Account Manager/Senior Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is an account manager/senior technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Fred Hoyt Ph.D.

Account managers/senior technicians play an important role in the sales team and technical management of a company. They do the job of an account manager, who oversees customer accounts, and senior technician, who provides technical support to clients.

Account managers/senior technicians need to have excellent customer service skills in order to communicate with clients and develop relationships with the goal of making more sales. They also need to have keen technical knowledge in order to help clients troubleshoot issues with the company's product. Account managers/senior technicians also supervise a staff of sales and technical support people and take care of administrative work, such as organizing data using SQL.

Account managers/senior technicians need considerable knowledge of technology and business in order to succeed. Many have bachelor's degrees or even master's degrees in business, computer science, or a related field. They also need several years of professional experience in roles such as technical account manager before working their way up to a senior position. Account managers/senior technicians earn an average salary of $121,104.

What general advice would you give to an account manager/senior technician?

Fred Hoyt Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Business Administration, Illinois Wesleyan University

Some of the advice is contained above. Some is to reflect on the collapse of the world in March, and what they've had to grapple with since. As I told my students in September, in many ways, even business classes are "history" classes. Much of what you've "learned" that will help you will be, ironically, the shift to online communication via various platforms. I suspect that many of the distance communication platforms were as new to your business peers as to you, and in fact, by adapting to distance learning, you may be at least as well prepared for the new work environment as your fellow employees. Be prepared, too, to adapt, to change, and to learn on your own. You're the tech-savvy generation, at least that's what you tell us (and that's what your coworkers expect). Live up to it by learning how to learn without classes. To some extent, the chaos in higher education in the past year has paralleled the chaos in business, and you've had to adapt. Just like the businesses that have survived.

ScoreAccount Manager/Senior TechnicianUS Average

Salary

7.9

Avg. Salary $112,796

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 5.21%

Black or African American 3.89%

Hispanic or Latino 14.55%

Unknown 3.72%

White 72.40%

Gender

female 21.33%

male 78.67%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an account manager/senior technician

Explore account manager/senior technician education requirements

Most common account manager/senior technician degrees

Bachelor's

74.8 %

Master's

11.6 %

Associate

9.4 %

Start to develop specific account manager/senior technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Database	11.81%
Cloud	9.13%
CRM	7.80%
Project Management	7.75%
Technical Support	7.36%

Complete relevant account manager/senior technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New account managers/senior technician learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an account manager/senior technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real account manager/senior technician resumes.

Research account manager/senior technician duties and responsibilities

Manage day-to-day activity of client relate projects including IP voice, MPLS infrastructures and CPE implementations in a deadline-orient high-pressure environment.
Demonstrate ability to quickly troubleshoot and correct a wide variety of hardware and software problems.
Manage accounts while providing excellent customer service, help build financial relationships, redirecting calls in upselling credit per customer needs
Grow existing customer base by upselling and cross-selling additional products and services, negotiating service agreement renewals, and controlling inventory.

Get account manager/senior technician experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become an account manager/senior technician. The most common roles before becoming an account manager/senior technician include technical account manager, technical recruiter team lead and senior technical recruiter.

Prepare your account manager/senior technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your account manager/senior technician resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an account manager/senior technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable account manager/senior technician resume templates

Build a professional account manager/senior technician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your account manager/senior technician resume.

Apply for account manager/senior technician jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an account manager/senior technician job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average account manager/senior technician salary

The average account manager/senior technician salary in the United States is $112,796 per year or $54 per hour. Account manager/senior technician salaries range between $80,000 and $157,000 per year.

Average account manager/senior technician salary

$112,796 Yearly

$54.23 hourly

How do account managers/senior technician rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Account manager/senior technician reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019

Cons

Hectic and crazy busy.

Pros

Building relationships with clients and earning their trust.

What is an account manager/senior technician and how to become one

What general advice would you give to an account manager/senior technician?

Account manager/senior technician career paths

Key steps to become an account manager/senior technician

Explore account manager/senior technician education requirements

Most common account manager/senior technician degrees

Start to develop specific account manager/senior technician skills

Complete relevant account manager/senior technician training and internships

Research account manager/senior technician duties and responsibilities

Get account manager/senior technician experience

Prepare your account manager/senior technician resume

Choose from 10+ customizable account manager/senior technician resume templates

Apply for account manager/senior technician jobs

How did you land your first account manager/senior technician job

Average account manager/senior technician salary

How do account managers/senior technician rate their job?

Account manager/senior technician reviews