What does a Senior Account Director do?
A senior account director is responsible for managing client accounts and negotiating contracts with new customers by selling goods and services, following the demands of current market trends. Senior account directors work closely with the marketing and sales team to track the products' sales performance and develop efficient promotional campaigns for various media platforms. They help in publishing digital content that would attract the target audience and increase brand awareness and ask for recommendations from the team for product pitches.
Senior account director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior account director resumes:
- Supervise insurance billing maintenance and review all manage care contractual adjustments to ensure patients are billed correctly prior to self-pay transfer.
- Complete oversight of four grants.
- Demonstrate ROI with extensive post-program outcomes reports, as well as effective status reports, program updates, and evaluation summaries.
- Establish a governance and oversight model which become standard practice to monitor delivery performance of contract services.
- Develop detailed proprietary LTV, ROI, forecasting and segmentation models to provide inform investment and cost efficiency recommendations to client.
- Tailor and deliver PowerPoint presentations to perspective clients at both executive and line manager level to present capabilities and gain business.
- Establish initial Facebook page, develop initial content subjects.
- Grow existing customer base by upselling and cross-selling additional products and services, negotiating service agreement renewals, and controlling inventory.
Senior account director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Senior Account Directors are proficient in Healthcare, Account Management, and Business Development. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Interpersonal skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Account Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Healthcare, 15%
Resulted in extensive local coverage, one-to-one media interviews and healthcare trade press coverage
- Account Management, 14%
Shared expertise in account management to Client Service and Project Managers to ensure customer satisfaction within client partnerships.
- Business Development, 8%
Presented compelling sales presentations to top-level decision-makers including CIO's Managed Care Directors, Directors of Marketing and Business Development Executives.
- Client Facing, 8%
Conducted client facing assessments and interviews, identified challenges and bottlenecks, and delivering solution recommendations to executives and directors.
- Project Management, 7%
Project management of Creative Teams, budgets, implementation, reconciliation and on-site process.
- Digital Marketing, 5%
Identified campaign objectives, developed digital marketing strategy and defined success metrics.
Most senior account directors use their skills in "healthcare," "account management," and "business development" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential senior account director responsibilities here:
Analytical skills. For certain senior account director responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "analytical skills." The day-to-day duties of a senior account director rely on this skill, as "sales managers must collect and interpret complex data to target the most promising geographic areas and demographic groups, and determine the most effective sales strategies." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what senior account directors do: "leveraged customer insights to develop data driven marketing strategies that drove processes and results toward increased customer ltv and roi. "
Communication skills. Another crucial skill for a senior account director to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what senior account directors relies on this skill, since "sales managers need to work with colleagues and customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly." How this skill relates to senior account director duties can be seen in an example from a senior account director resume snippet: "provided overall account management including communications' objectives, strategies, planning, proposals and budgets. "
Customer-service skills. While "customer-service skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to senior account director responsibilities. Much of what a senior account director does relies on this skill, seeing as "when helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of senior account directors: "lead a global account team based in san jose and dublin with responsibility for 15 global and 25 strategic level customers. "
The three companies that hire the most senior account directors are:
- Coupa Software57 senior account directors jobs
- Adecco12 senior account directors jobs
- SSunshine Sachs9 senior account directors jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable senior account director resume templates
Build a professional senior account director resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your senior account director resume.
Compare different senior account directors
Senior account director vs. Director of sales & business development
A director of sales & business development is responsible for monitoring the business and project plans, ensuring that the sales targets are met, according to project requirements and specifications. Directors of sales & business development perform data analysis to track business performance and identify opportunities to grow revenues and profits. They also coordinate with the clients and maintain healthy business relationships by enhancing their brand image on various platforms and reach the target audience. A director of sales & business development works closely with the marketing and sales team for public relations and marketing campaigns placement.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior account director are more likely to require skills like "client facing," "project management," "digital marketing," and "client accounts." On the other hand, a job as a director of sales & business development requires skills like "value proposition," "sales cycle," "leveraged," and "sales strategies." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Directors of sales & business development earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $127,443. On the other hand, senior account directors are paid more in the professional industry with an average salary of $126,372.directors of sales & business development tend to reach similar levels of education than senior account directors. In fact, directors of sales & business development are 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.9% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Senior account director vs. Director new business development
A director of new business development is in charge of spearheading new programs and procedures, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. It is their duty to set goals and objectives in adherence to the company's vision and mission, establishing guidelines, allocating budgets, and overseeing the progress of all efforts. Furthermore, as a director of new business development, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real senior account director resumes. While senior account director responsibilities can utilize skills like "client facing," "digital marketing," "client accounts," and "cloud," directors new business development use skills like "business strategies," "treasury," "corporate clients," and "product development."
On average, directors new business development earn a lower salary than senior account directors. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, directors new business development earn the most pay in the energy industry with an average salary of $126,576. Whereas senior account directors have higher pay in the professional industry, with an average salary of $126,372.directors new business development earn similar levels of education than senior account directors in general. They're 0.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior account director vs. Director of sales
A sales director is responsible for managing the sales operation of the team, ensuring that members comply with the sales strategies and procedures in meeting sales goals. Sales directors' duties include maintaining consistency of sales targets, providing reports and important updates for sales improvement, managing customers' inquiries and resolving complaints, launching new services to expand product offers, researching the current market trends, and improving sales plans. A sales director must have excellent leadership and decision-making skills to support and acknowledge the team's best efforts.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, senior account directors are more likely to have skills like "client facing," "project management," "digital marketing," and "client accounts." But a director of sales is more likely to have skills like "sales process," "customer service," "sales management," and "salesforce."
Directors of sales earn the highest salary when working in the finance industry, where they receive an average salary of $124,924. Comparatively, senior account directors have the highest earning potential in the professional industry, with an average salary of $126,372.When it comes to education, directors of sales tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior account directors. In fact, they're 4.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior account director vs. Director, national accounts
A director of national accounts is in charge of spearheading the efforts in expanding client relationships at wide locations. Their responsibilities typically revolve around setting goals and objectives, managing budgets and schedules, developing projects and clients for customer satisfaction, and devising strategies to find new business opportunities. They also develop ways to optimize business procedures, ensuring efficiency and profit growth. Furthermore, as a director, it is essential to lead and encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Types of senior account director
Updated January 8, 2025
