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The differences between technical account managers and customer success managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a technical account manager, becoming a customer success manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a technical account manager has an average salary of $100,010, which is higher than the $93,820 average annual salary of a customer success manager.
The top three skills for a technical account manager include cloud, database and project management. The most important skills for a customer success manager are client facing, cloud, and account management.
| Technical Account Manager | Customer Success Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $100,010 | $93,820 |
| Hourly rate | $48.08 | $45.11 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 154,495 | 95,053 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Average age | 40 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 8 |
A technical account manager is primarily responsible for providing technical support to clients through calls and correspondence, securing sales and ensuring customer satisfaction. Aside from assisting clients, a technical account manager may conduct an assessment to determine the needs of a client, perform follow up calls, offer upgrades and add-ons, answer inquiries, troubleshoot, and even provide extensive and detailed instructions to customers on using their products or services. Furthermore, a technical account manager must monitor the delivery of services and report progress to managers or supervisors.
A customer success manager works to understand repeat customers and prioritize their long-term needs. Primarily, they manage the customer relationship and give them prompt value propositions. They act as mentors to customers by educating them about the sales process and ensure efficient transaction processing. Their tasks include advocating for the company, onboarding customers to the products, follow-up on renewals, and encouraging cross-sells and upsells. Additionally, they build relationships with the customer and the support team as well as advocating customers' needs.
Technical account managers and customer success managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Account Manager | Customer Success Manager | |
| Average salary | $100,010 | $93,820 |
| Salary range | Between $73,000 And $135,000 | Between $61,000 And $142,000 |
| Highest paying City | Redwood City, CA | Redwood City, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Pure Storage | VMware |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical account manager and a customer success manager in terms of educational background:
| Technical Account Manager | Customer Success Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between technical account managers' and customer success managers' demographics:
| Technical Account Manager | Customer Success Manager | |
| Average age | 40 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.0% Female, 25.0% | Male, 54.9% Female, 45.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 6.3% White, 65.8% 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 | 14% | 7% |