What is a practice director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

A practice director is accountable for the articulation of value propositions to prospects, market stakeholders, partners, and clients. He/She presents sales proposals, financial models, and business development materials for complex projects. He/She oversees offshore and onshore projects and directs the sales team. Besides that, he/she supervises project finances, including budgets and financial controls. Additionally, he/she develops and implements sales plans to achieve yearly sales goals. Furthermore, he/she oversees and manages all aspects of a region, including employees and operations, and supports contract creation and draft proposals, and work statements.

The minimum educational requirement is a high school diploma. However, some employers prefer a college degree. Candidates must possess communication, management, teamwork, conflict resolution, leadership, customer service, and interpersonal skills. You must be proficient in Microsoft Office, SalesForce, Smartsheets, and the like. The salary of a practice director varies from $105,472 to $147,812, with an average salary of $123,922 per year.

ScorePractice DirectorUS Average
Salary
8.6

Avg. Salary $137,385

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level
8.6

Growth Rate 16%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity
1.7
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 12.58%

Black or African American 6.83%

Hispanic or Latino 10.25%

Unknown 5.22%

White 64.92%

Gender

female 27.81%

male 72.19%

Age - 47
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 - 47
Stress Level
8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level
8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance
6.1

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Practice Director career paths

Key steps to become a practice director

  1. Explore practice director education requirements

    Most common practice director degrees

    Bachelor's

    68.0 %

    Master's

    22.5 %

    Associate

    4.5 %
  2. Start to develop specific practice director skills

    Skills
    ascdesc
    Percentages
    ascdesc
    Strategic Direction12.48%
    Project Management9.86%
    Cloud8.54%
    Healthcare7.10%
    CRM6.59%
  3. Complete relevant practice director training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New practice directors 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 a practice director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real practice director resumes.
  4. Research practice director duties and responsibilities

    • Lead sales and proposal team responsible for 5 million in CRM sales ,
    • Manage budget & costing relate to the access governance projects for both on-premise and cloud implementation.
    • Lead and mentore a small team in creating a cloud provisioning identity governance asset that accelerates deployment time and reduces cost.
    • Manage and improve RFP proposal responses by leading the proposal development team for implementation, upgrades and application management proposals.
  5. Get practice director experience

    Generally, it takes 6-8 years to become a practice director. The most common roles before becoming a practice director include senior consultant, project manager team lead and director.
  6. Prepare your practice director resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your practice director 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 a practice director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose From 10+ Customizable Practice Director Resume templates

    Build a professional Practice Director 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 Practice Director resume.
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    Practice Director Resume
    Practice Director Resume
    Practice Director Resume
    Practice Director Resume
  7. Apply for practice director jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a practice director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

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

How Did You Land Your First Practice Director Job

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Average practice director salary

The average Practice Director salary in the United States is $137,385 per year or $66 per hour. Practice director salaries range between $95,000 and $198,000 per year.

Average Practice Director Salary
$137,385 Yearly
$66.05 hourly

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Practice Director reviews

profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2024
Pros

You can apply a diverse set of skills and help across many areas

Cons

The role is often misunderstood and overlooked in applications for higher-level positions.


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2021
Pros

Flexibility of who I can interact

Cons

At times it becomes difficult to manage the expectations of competing teams


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2020
Pros

Creating a positive environment and helping the growth of the practice. The challenge of it all is the most exciting!

Cons

Unnecessary complications that could have been avoided by staff and/or physicians.


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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