What is an Associate Director?

An Associate Director is responsible for overseeing a particular area's business operations and daily activities. You will be tasked to devise strategies to increase customer or client satisfaction along with making the business or company grow.

You will be reporting progress regularly and be coordinating with supervisors and managers in order to reach the company's mission and vision. As an Associate Director, you need to have excellent time management skills and leadership skills along with creativity. These skills will help you perform well in your job.

You can earn an average salary of $112,994 per year as an Associate Director. The job also has a growth rate of 5%, so you do not need to worry about its demand. After some time of being an Associate Director, you can be a Vice President, a Director, a President Chief Operating Officer, and so on, all depending on the career path you plan to take.

What Does an Associate Director Do

There are certain skills that many associate directors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed creativity, time-management skills and leadership skills.

Learn more about what an Associate Director does

How To Become an Associate Director

If you're interested in becoming an associate director, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 66.1% of associate directors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 22.2% of associate directors have master's degrees. Even though most associate directors have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become an Associate Director

Associate Director Job Description

An associate director is a professional who holds a senior position within a company and works along with other directors. Their duties include reporting to the executive director, managing employees, and, based on their speciality, creating budgets, determining new policies, and managing projects.

Learn more about Associate Director Job Description
Top Associate Director Jobs Near You

Associate Director Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of vice president you might progress to a role such as president & chief operating officer eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title president & chief operating officer.

Associate Director

Average Salary for an Associate Director

Associate Directors in America make an average salary of $114,223 per year or $55 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $164,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $79,000 per year.
Average Associate Director Salary
$114,223 Yearly
$54.91 hourly
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What Am I Worth?

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States With The Most Associate Director Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active associate director jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where associate directors earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Associate Director Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California4,425$122,157
2New York2,769$118,923
3New Jersey2,072$123,356
4Massachusetts2,002$121,701
5Texas1,682$105,510
6Illinois1,668$99,769
7Florida1,337$95,100
8Pennsylvania1,168$109,760
9North Carolina1,033$105,792
10Georgia877$98,793
11Virginia832$108,464
12Washington660$92,015
13Ohio658$98,285
14Minnesota583$95,398
15Alabama541$91,299
16Arizona534$106,714
17Maryland534$113,120
18Louisiana524$98,837
19Oregon494$93,920
20Connecticut487$112,593
21Oklahoma459$90,876
22Colorado437$91,474
23Michigan416$99,729
24Missouri403$90,546
25Indiana395$92,685
26Wisconsin389$92,913
27Tennessee356$90,956
28Mississippi318$92,489
29Utah282$85,842
30Kentucky246$100,823
31Delaware226$114,411
32Kansas226$85,367
33Iowa208$94,703
34South Carolina204$96,303
35Nevada183$103,838
36Nebraska178$87,405
37Arkansas170$83,887
38New Hampshire144$100,055
39Rhode Island136$108,922
40Idaho134$83,328
41New Mexico118$105,803
42Montana111$77,225
43Vermont97$93,570
44Maine88$95,046
45West Virginia76$100,656
46Alaska67$68,346
47North Dakota62$84,139
48Hawaii59$95,330
49South Dakota55$88,894
50Wyoming54$81,598

Associate Director Education

Associate Director Majors

Business
23.4 %
Psychology
7.3 %
Finance
6.9 %

Associate Director Degrees

Bachelors

66.1 %

Masters

22.2 %

Doctorate

4.7 %

Top Colleges for Associate Directors

1. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

2. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

4. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

5. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

6. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

7. University of Washington

Seattle, WA • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,207

Enrollment

30,905

8. University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,610

Enrollment

40,329

9. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

10. University of Maryland - College Park

College Park, MD • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,595

Enrollment

30,184

Top Skills For an Associate Director

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.6% of associate directors listed patients on their resume, but soft skills such as creativity and time-management skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Associate Director Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Associate Director templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Associate Director resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Associate Director diversity

Associate Director Gender Distribution

Male
Male
52%
Female
Female
48%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among associate directors, 48.0% of them are women, while 52.0% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among associate directors is White, which makes up 65.5% of all associate directors.

  • The most common foreign language among associate directors is Spanish at 45.4%.

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Best States For an Associate Director

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an associate director. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, and New York. Associate directors make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $123,356. Whereas in California and Massachusetts, they would average $122,157 and $121,701, respectively. While associate directors would only make an average of $118,923 in New York, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. New Jersey

Total Associate Director Jobs: 2,072
Highest 10% Earn:
$177,000
Location Quotient:
2.36

$123,356

Avg. Salary

View 2,072 Associate Director Jobs In NJ

2. Massachusetts

Total Associate Director Jobs: 2,002
Highest 10% Earn:
$175,000
Location Quotient:
1.97

$121,701

Avg. Salary

View 2,002 Associate Director Jobs In MA

3. Delaware

Total Associate Director Jobs: 226
Highest 10% Earn:
$164,000
Location Quotient:
1.63

$114,411

Avg. Salary

View 226 Associate Director Jobs In DE
Full List Of Best States For Associate Directors

How Do Associate Directors Rate Their Jobs?

5/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Associate Director Reviews

5.0
Dec 2019
Pros

The impact that this role can have in the organization, and the high responsabilities

Cons

People under you might not like you

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Top Associate Director Employers

We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ associate directors and discovered their number of associate director opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Cognizant was the best, especially with an average salary of $114,662. UBS follows up with an average salary of $123,514, and then comes KPMG with an average of $113,466. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as an associate director. The employers include Regeneron, Astellas Pharma, and Novartis

Most Common Employers For Associate Director

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Ernst & Young$162,795$78.27116
2AT&T$150,228$72.22309
3Bristol-Myers Squibb$150,024$72.13220
4Novartis$148,142$71.22309
5Accenture$147,837$71.08116
6Boehringer Ingelheim$146,535$70.4592
7Merck$144,655$69.55274
8The Kraft Group$140,659$67.6282
9Pfizer$135,544$65.17177
10Moody's$135,260$65.03102
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Associate Director Videos

Career Advice on becoming an Associate Director, Strategic Alliances by Penny T (Highlights)
Career Advice on becoming an Associate Director by Nick B (Highlights)

Becoming an Associate Director FAQs

Is A Director Higher Than An Associate Director?

Yes, a director is higher than an associate director. An assistant director typically works directly under a director in a more active management role.

A director of a company oversees the performance of entire departments. They usually focus on completing high-level tasks and working closely with the executive team to make big-picture decisions or offer solutions to complex challenges impacting the whole department or company.

What Is Associate Director Level?

The associate director level is the midpoint between management and the executive team. This level is an upper management position that acts as a liaison between management and the executive team.

What Is Meant By Associate Director?

What is meant by the associate director is a position that acts as a liaison between the executive team and management. This upper manager position ensures that high-level strategies are translated and implemented into a company's actual operations.

What Is The Difference Between A Director And An Associate Director?

The difference between a director and an associate director is that a director is higher than an associate director. An assistant director typically works directly under a director in a more active management role.

Associate Director Vs. Assistant Director

An associate director reports to the director and is in charge of creative decisions and creating business plans and policies, while an assistant director reports to the associate director and is responsible for daily operations.

Associate Director Vs. Director

An associate director works closely with their teams or departments on a daily basis to ensure that tasks are running smoothly, while a director often works on higher-level projects and has little interaction with the employees within the department they oversee.

Have more questions? See all answers to common executive management questions.

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Updated April 6, 2023