Account executive salary
What remote US account executive roles pay at each experience level, and where the next step up sits. All roles
Pay by experience level
Median posted pay by the experience each posting asks for. The role family is the base title plus the steps on the ladder below, 2498 postings.
How pay is spread across postings
Each outline is one experience band. Taller means more postings at that pay. Dashed lines mark each band median.
Half of 5 to 10 year postings pay between $113,000 and $200,000, with a median of $145,000. The medians are $100,000 for 2 to 5 years, $145,000 for 5 to 10 years and $173,000 for 10+ years.
What each step up the ladder pays
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile within one experience band, so it holds the middle half of postings. The dot is the median. A step needs 30 postings in a band before we draw it.
Among 5 to 10 year postings, the median moves from $135,000 for Account executive to $132,000 for Sales manager, a difference of $-3,000.
| Step | 2 to 5 years | 5 to 10 years | 10+ years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account executive | $100,000middle half $75,000 to $138,450, n 665 | $135,000middle half $102,500 to $193,475, n 406 | $159,092middle half $130,000 to $194,700, n 85 |
| Senior account executive | $108,833middle half $79,625 to $131,250, n 52 | $145,750middle half $116,250 to $196,580, n 139 | $162,500middle half $145,000 to $222,600, n 81 |
| Enterprise or strategic account executive | $156,125middle half $122,789 to $221,250, n 40 | $176,250middle half $140,000 to $290,000, n 301 | $193,100middle half $156,900 to $300,000, n 112 |
| Sales manager | $101,000middle half $85,000 to $125,000, n 209 | $132,310middle half $109,620 to $159,500, n 353 | $182,550middle half $148,305 to $230,500, n 93 |
How pay changes with job title
Each outline is one step of the ladder, and each posting counts once, in the highest step its title matches. A step needs 30 postings in the view to be drawn. Dashed lines mark medians.
For postings asking for 5 or more years, the median is $140,000 for Account executive and $140,000 for Sales manager. Postings asking for 2 to 5 years are shown in the charts above.
| Step, 5 or more years | Median | n |
|---|---|---|
| Account executive | $140,000 | 491 |
| Senior account executive | $151,575 | 184 |
| Enterprise or strategic account executive | $187,500 | 413 |
| Sales manager | $140,000 | 446 |
This view combines the 5 to 10 and 10+ bands, which come from the same continuous pulls. The 2 to 5 band is never combined with them.
Where this role leads
Two kinds of next move. Steps up the ladder compare the same experience band at both ends. Nearby roles compare whole role families.
Worth noting, Sales manager pays $43,940 less than Enterprise or strategic account executive at 5 to 10 years. Titles overlap across employers, so the ladder is not a strict order of pay.
These roles list similar skills, so they are common moves. Each figure is the other role median minus this one, in the same experience band, and each role mixes every step of its ladder. It is not the raise a move would bring.
Individual contributors and people managers
Median posted pay within each experience band. A people manager role has a management title or states direct reports or leading a team. Project, program and product manager titles count as individual contributor work unless the posting says it leads people.
Among 5 to 10 year postings, people manager roles have a median of $148,000 and individual contributor roles $145,000, a gap of $3,000 in favor of managers.
| Experience | Individual contributor | People manager |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 5 years | $100,495 (n 920) | $101,500 (n 44) |
| 5 to 10 years | $145,000 (n 1090) | $147,500 (n 94) |
| 10+ years | $170,000 (n 317) | $193,725 (n 33) |
The skill groups this role asks for
Skills that tend to be listed together are grouped. The bar shows the share of this role's postings that list at least two skills from a group. Postings with no skills listed are left out.
Enterprise sales appears in 44% of the 2498 postings that list skills, followed by outbound prospecting at 35%.
Enterprise sales
44% of postings, n 1090- enterprise sales
- sales forecasting
- saas sales
- contract negotiation
- pipeline generation
- value-based selling
Among 5 to 10 year postings, those with this group have a median pay about $17,000 higher than those without, compared within the same ladder step (618 with, 566 without, Account executive, Senior account executive, Enterprise or strategic account executive and Sales manager).
Outbound prospecting
35% of postings, n 884- prospecting
- b2b sales
- lead generation
- closing
- cold calling
- consultative sales
Among 5 to 10 year postings, those with this group have a median pay about $8,000 lower than those without, compared within the same ladder step (354 with, 830 without, Account executive, Senior account executive, Enterprise or strategic account executive and Sales manager).
Territory and healthcare sales
14% of postings, n 341- sales strategy
- territory management
- customer relationship management
- business acumen
- business planning
- product demonstration
Among 5 to 10 year postings, those with this group have a median pay about $15,000 lower than those without, compared within the same ladder step (123 with, 636 without, Account executive and Sales manager).
Pay comparisons show association and not cause. Postings that ask for a skill group may differ in employer, industry or the work itself, and listing a skill does not guarantee the raise. A comparison appears only for 5 to 10 years of experience, within one ladder step, with at least 30 postings with and without the group.
Highest paying employers for 5 to 10 years of experience
Median posted pay for employers with at least 5 postings in this band. Counts per employer are small, so read these as a guide.
Among employers with at least 5 5 to 10 year postings that state pay, Cisco has the highest median at $310,000.
| Employer | Median | n |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco | $310,000 | 6 |
| Glean | $285,000 | 9 |
| Alteryx | $275,000 | 5 |
| Extreme Networks | $200,000 | 5 |
| Danaher Corporation | $161,000 | 8 |
| ServiceNow | $161,000 | 7 |
| Salesforce | $159,000 | 5 |
| Medtronic | $150,000 | 6 |
Top hiring employers
- Block17
- Siemens Healthineers15
- Motorola Solutions11
- ServiceNow11
- Glean11
- Salesforce10
- Zscaler10
- Atlassian10
How wide posted pay ranges are
Median gap between the top and bottom of the range, within each experience band. Postings with a single figure are left out.
A typical 5 to 10 year posting's range spans $40,000 from bottom to top, so the top is about 1.25 times the bottom.
| Experience | Median range width | Top as a multiple of bottom | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 to 5 years | $26,000 | 1.29 | 831 |
| 5 to 10 years | $40,000 | 1.25 | 1067 |
| 10+ years | $49,000 | 1.31 | 321 |
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