Senior account manager vs account director

The differences between senior account managers and account directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a senior account manager and an account director. Additionally, an account director has an average salary of $114,728, which is higher than the $86,129 average annual salary of a senior account manager.

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

Senior account manager vs account director overview

	Senior Account Manager	Account Director
Yearly salary	$86,129	$114,728
Hourly rate	$41.41	$55.16
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	161,354	132,260
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Average age	46	46
Years of experience	8	8

What does a senior account manager do?

A senior account manager is in charge of managing and overseeing accounts in sales work, ensuring to meet all sales targets. Among the tasks of a senior account manager includes taking the lead and supervising workforce to its efficiency, devising strategies, and coming up with new opportunities to boost sales and strengthen client base. Moreover, it is also the task of a senior account manager to engage with clients, focusing on networking to attain better deals.

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.

Senior account manager vs account director salary

Senior account managers and account directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Account Manager	Account Director
Average salary	$86,129	$114,728
Salary range	Between $57,000 And $128,000	Between $82,000 And $158,000
Highest paying City	Richmond, VA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	New Jersey
Best paying company	NVIDIA	BuzzFeed
Best paying industry	Technology	Professional

Differences between senior account manager and account director education

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

	Senior Account Manager	Account Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 77%	Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Southern California	University of Southern California

Senior account manager vs account director demographics

Here are the differences between senior account managers' and account directors' demographics:

	Senior Account Manager	Account Director
Average age	46	46
Gender ratio	Male, 58.4% Female, 41.6%	Male, 50.9% Female, 49.1%
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 senior account manager and account director duties and responsibilities

Senior account manager example responsibilities.

Facilitate timely and accurate customer quotations to achieve margin targets in alignment with PPG pricing strategies.
Assist PPG credit department to manage customer debt and ensure timely payment under agree to credit terms.
Develop and manage new accounts for search marketing (SEO), social media marketing, web design and video production.
Manage accounts while providing excellent customer service, help build financial relationships, redirecting calls in upselling credit per customer needs
Facilitate positive customer relationships through product implementations and customer support management for this healthcare revenue cycle software and services firm.
Measure actual results against goals including POS.

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.

Senior account manager vs account director skills

Common senior account manager skills

Customer Service, 8%
Account Management, 7%
Project Management, 6%
Healthcare, 5%
Work Ethic, 5%
Cloud, 5%

Common account director skills

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

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Senior Account Manager
Senior Account Manager vs Account Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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