What is a Senior Sales Director?

In an organization, the senior sales director plays a huge role in optimizing sales strategies and boosting revenue. That said, they are usually individuals with extensive experience in sales and a high level of expertise when it comes to developing effective sales strategies and techniques.

To accomplish these primary duties, a senior sales director spends most of their time conducting market research, analyzing the competition, evaluating the efficacy of current sales strategies, and brainstorming with fellow managers and directors. After they come up with new strategies or modifications for existing ones, they are also responsible for coordinating and monitoring the implementation down to the store level.

Aside from outstanding skills and knowledge in sales, a senior sales director must also be highly communicable, have an aptitude for leadership, and be perfectly in tune with current market events and the operations within the business.

Due to the level of responsibility that a senior sales director has, the average pay for this job is a whopping $145,000 per year or roughly $70 per hour.

What Does a Senior Sales Director Do

There are certain skills that many senior sales 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 analytical skills, communication skills and customer-service skills.

Learn more about what a Senior Sales Director does

How To Become a Senior Sales Director

If you're interested in becoming a senior sales director, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 77.9% of senior sales directors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 12.0% of senior sales directors have master's degrees. Even though most senior sales 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 a Senior Sales Director

Top Senior Sales Director Jobs Near You

Career Path For a Senior Sales Director

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a senior sales director can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as sales vice president, progress to a title such as sales and marketing vice president and then eventually end up with the title sales and marketing vice president.

Senior Sales Director

Average Salary for a Senior Sales Director

Senior Sales Directors in America make an average salary of $124,597 per year or $60 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $192,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $80,000 per year.

Average Senior Sales Director Salary

$124,597 Yearly

$59.90 hourly

$80,00010%

$124,000Median

$192,00090%

See More Salary Information

What Am I Worth?

Roles and Types of Senior Sales Director

The role of a senior sales director includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general senior sales director responsibilities:

Manage market sales managers in the community to achieve occupancy, move in,
Strategizes the development of sales plans, budgets,
Leads the corporate sales team in selling motorsports event sponsorships, advertising assets, hospitality

There are several types of senior sales director, including:

District Sales Manager

Role:

A district sales manager is responsible for the performance of sales teams in a certain region where the business of a larger or mid-size company is present.

They make sure the members of the sales teams are always at the top of their game by providing training and self-improvement opportunities. They create progress reports and present them to management, set sales goals, and make sure they are achieved.

Demand for sales growth never goes out of fashion, so it is not surprising that a steady 5% growth in the employment of district sales managers is predicted until 2024.

Average Salary: $81,505
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

Head Of Sales

Role:

The job of the head of sales is pretty self-explanatory. They are in charge of the sales department at a retailer or financial institution. However, actually doing this job is far more complicated than figuring out what it means. The head of sales supervises the work of the whole department and encourages sales representatives to meet their goals. They track the company's progress towards their sales goals and identify which sales strategies are more successful than others. The head of sales is also responsible for implementing new tools or technologies that can help streamline the sales process, such as more advanced CRM software.

Before they can take charge of their department, a head of sales needs many years of sales experience. Many get their start working as sales associates. Most heads of sales have a bachelor's degree in business, although some only have a high school diploma.

It takes many years of hard work to become the head of sales. However, it is worth it since they earn an average salary of $173,941 a year.

Average Salary: $166,100
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

Business Development Sales Manager

Role:

Business development sales managers operate under the umbrella of business development. Their job is to ensure that the business grows by bringing in new clients and generating revenue. These managers may manage a sales team or collaborate with other sales related departments.

While performing their roles, Business development sales managers may analyze sales reports and financial data to understand the business' current financial state. They may also examine the competition and create a business development strategy.

These professionals may also research prospective accounts in targeted markets, meet with clients, collaborate with the sales and marketing teams, and foster strong relationships within and outside the organization. As a business development sales manager, you may also generate and pursue leads as well as follow the industry's latest news and developments.

To become a business development sales manager, you need a degree in business administration, management, or other related fields. A master's degree can also improve job prospects.

Average Salary: $111,309
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

States With The Most Senior Sales Director Jobs

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

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Senior Sales Director Jobs By State

Rank	State	Number of Jobs	Average Salary
1	California	4,319	$131,682
2	Texas	2,529	$129,262
3	New York	2,114	$123,523
4	Illinois	1,692	$107,123
5	Florida	1,548	$101,725
6	Pennsylvania	1,237	$125,608
7	Massachusetts	1,225	$133,266
8	Georgia	1,138	$100,488
9	New Jersey	1,075	$144,053
10	Virginia	1,054	$124,124
11	North Carolina	1,045	$120,140
12	Ohio	906	$123,915
13	Washington	797	$140,390
14	Oregon	675	$148,318
15	Alabama	658	$105,374
16	Minnesota	651	$122,123
17	Colorado	642	$122,985
18	Louisiana	639	$94,480
19	Iowa	630	$110,200
20	Arkansas	615	$106,023
21	Arizona	560	$134,443
22	Michigan	557	$122,894
23	Oklahoma	550	$99,109
24	Maryland	537	$133,905
25	Wisconsin	518	$122,798
26	Indiana	510	$115,428
27	Tennessee	493	$119,254
28	Missouri	485	$117,616
29	Utah	419	$107,353
30	Mississippi	361	$106,081
31	Connecticut	350	$132,720
32	South Carolina	350	$97,691
33	Nevada	235	$125,201
34	Kentucky	233	$120,066
35	Kansas	229	$107,259
36	South Dakota	213	$108,771
37	Nebraska	178	$113,448
38	Idaho	164	$115,405
39	Rhode Island	152	$117,164
40	New Hampshire	140	$111,944
41	New Mexico	118	$116,577
42	Delaware	103	$117,145
43	Vermont	99	$132,422
44	Montana	96	$114,841
45	Maine	77	$133,823
46	West Virginia	66	$120,137
47	North Dakota	65	$130,387
48	Hawaii	54	$82,600
49	Wyoming	52	$111,067
50	Alaska	51	$97,845

Senior Sales Director Education

Senior Sales Director Majors

Business

32.2 %

Marketing

12.8 %

Communication

6.9 %

Senior Sales Director Degrees

Bachelors

77.9 %

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, 13.4% of senior sales directors listed sales process on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.

Sales Process, 13.4%

Customer Satisfaction, 12.1%

Cloud, 5.3%

Sales Management, 4.4%

Product Knowledge, 4.1%

Other Skills, 60.7%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Sales Director Resume templates

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

Senior Sales Director diversity

Senior Sales Director Gender Distribution

Male

65%

Female

35%

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

Among senior sales directors, 35.0% of them are women, while 65.0% are men.

The most common race/ethnicity among senior sales directors is White, which makes up 78.2% of all senior sales directors.

The most common foreign language among senior sales directors is Spanish at 41.5%.

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Best States For a Senior Sales Director

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior sales director. The best states for people in this position are Oregon, New Jersey, Washington, and Arizona. Senior sales directors make the most in Oregon with an average salary of $148,318. Whereas in New Jersey and Washington, they would average $144,053 and $140,390, respectively. While senior sales directors would only make an average of $134,443 in Arizona, 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. Oregon

Total Senior Sales Director Jobs: 675

Highest 10% Earn:

$222,000

Location Quotient:

1.39

$148,318

Avg. Salary

View 675 Senior Sales Director Jobs In OR

2. New Jersey

Total Senior Sales Director Jobs: 1,075

Highest 10% Earn:

$219,000

Location Quotient:

1.15

$144,053

Avg. Salary

View 1,075 Senior Sales Director Jobs In NJ

3. Washington

Total Senior Sales Director Jobs: 797

Highest 10% Earn:

$213,000

Location Quotient:

0.93

$140,390

Avg. Salary

View 797 Senior Sales Director Jobs In WA

Full List Of Best States For Senior Sales Directors

How Do Senior Sales Directors Rate Their Jobs?

Top Senior Sales 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 senior sales directors and discovered their number of senior sales director opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Mary Kay was the best, especially with an average salary of $147,273. Microsoft follows up with an average salary of $146,284, and then comes Comcast with an average of $101,264. 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 a senior sales director. The employers include Korn Ferry, Autodesk, and Broadridge

Most Common Employers For Senior Sales Director

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	Accenture	$161,421	$77.61	11
2	Merck	$152,665	$73.40	7
3	Aricent	$147,634	$70.98	6
4	Mary Kay	$147,273	$70.80	255
5	Eli Lilly and Company	$147,089	$70.72	9
6	PepsiCo	$146,493	$70.43	7
7	Microsoft	$146,284	$70.33	25
8	Realogy	$143,266	$68.88	6
9	Oracle	$141,565	$68.06	17
10	Sony Music Entertainment	$140,805	$67.69	6

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What is a Senior Sales Director?

What Does a Senior Sales Director Do

How To Become a Senior Sales Director

Career Path For a Senior Sales Director

Average Salary for a Senior Sales Director

Roles and Types of Senior Sales Director

District Sales Manager

Role:

Head Of Sales

Role:

Business Development Sales Manager

Role:

States With The Most Senior Sales Director Jobs

Number Of Senior Sales Director Jobs By State

Senior Sales Director Education

Senior Sales Director Majors

Senior Sales Director Degrees

Top Colleges for Senior Sales Directors

1. University of Southern California

2. University of Wisconsin - Madison

3. University of Pennsylvania

4. University of Georgia

5. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

6. Northwestern University

7. Ohio State University

8. University of Texas at Austin

9. University of Houston

10. SUNY at Binghamton

Top Skills For a Senior Sales Director

Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Sales Director Resume templates

Senior Sales Director diversity

Senior Sales Director Gender Distribution

Online Courses For Senior Sales Director That You May Like

Best States For a Senior Sales Director

How Do Senior Sales Directors Rate Their Jobs?

Top Senior Sales Director Employers

Most Common Employers For Senior Sales Director

Senior Sales Director Videos

Senior Sales Director Related Careers

Senior Sales Director Related Jobs

What Similar Roles Do

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