Account Executive Job Description (2026): Duties, Skills and Salary
An account executive sells a company's product to new customers and closes the deals. In B2B companies, AEs take qualified opportunities, often booked by sales development reps, and run the sales cycle: discovery calls, demos, proposals, negotiation and signature, while keeping their pipeline and forecast current in the CRM.
AEs carry a revenue quota and earn a base salary plus commission, so pay follows results. The job differs by segment: small-business AEs run many short deals, mid-market AEs balance volume and complexity, and enterprise AEs manage long cycles with many stakeholders, procurement and legal review.
Account Executive job description template
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Account Executive
[Company] · [City and office days, or remote with the countries or time zones you hire in] · [Full-time]
About [Company]
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, who it serves and why this team matters now.]
About the role
[Company] is hiring an account executive to win new [segment] customers for [product]. You'll own the full sales cycle from first meeting to signed contract, work with SDRs and solutions engineers, and help shape how we sell as we grow.
What you'll do
- Run the full sales cycle: discovery, demos, proposals, negotiation and close.
- Meet or beat a quarterly new-revenue quota of [amount].
- Build your own pipeline through outbound prospecting, alongside SDR-sourced opportunities.
- Qualify deals with [MEDDIC, BANT or our framework] and spend your time on winnable ones.
- Keep opportunities, next steps and forecasts accurate in [Salesforce / HubSpot].
- Bring in solutions engineers, legal and finance on complex deals.
- Hand new customers over smoothly to account management or customer success.
What you'll bring
- [X]+ years of closing experience in B2B sales, ideally selling [software or services] to [buyers].
- A record of meeting or beating quota, with numbers you can share.
- Experience running discovery and tailored demos.
- Strong negotiation and written communication.
- Disciplined CRM habits and accurate forecasting.
- Resilience, and the habit of learning from lost deals.
Nice to have
- Experience selling to [industry or buyer persona].
- Experience at a company at our stage.
- Training in MEDDIC, Challenger or Command of the Message.
- Deals that went through security reviews and procurement.
What we offer
- [Pay range: e.g. $X–$Y base salary, plus bonus or equity if offered]
- [On-target earnings and the base-to-commission split, uncapped commission, accelerators above quota, President's Club]
- [Health cover, retirement or pension plan, paid time off, parental leave]
- [Work authorization: whether you can sponsor a visa or hire through an employer of record]
[Our process: a recruiter call, a conversation with the sales manager about your numbers, a mock discovery call or demo with the team, and a final meeting with sales leadership.]
[Your equal opportunity statement, and how candidates can ask for adjustments during the process]
Put the pay range in the ad. Several US states, including California, Colorado, New York and Washington, require it in job postings, and the EU Pay Transparency Directive gives applicants the right to know the starting pay or its range before the interview.
What real account executive job ads ask for
The skills named most often in the 391 newest account executive job ads we analyzed (out of 8,473 live postings), as the share of ads that mention each. A skill most ads name is a fair must-have; one few ads name belongs under nice-to-have.
- 1Prospecting46%
- 2Sales cycle46%
- 3SaaS40%
- 4Negotiation39%
- 5Quota attainment39%
- 6Forecasting36%
- 7CRM31%
- 8Salesforce27%
Degrees mentioned most: Bachelor's degree (28%).
From live job ads · computed November 2, 2026 · refreshed daily
Account Executive duties by seniority
What the job usually looks like at each level. Pitch the ad at one level and say which in the title.
Junior
- Sells to smaller customers, with shorter cycles and simpler deals.
- Learns the product, the sales methodology and the CRM routine.
- Is often promoted from SDR after a strong year.
Mid-level
- Owns mid-market deals with several stakeholders.
- Sources a large share of their own pipeline.
- Forecasts accurately and negotiates without backup.
Senior
- Closes enterprise deals through long cycles, procurement and legal.
- Runs strategic accounts, building relationships across the customer's organization.
- Mentors other AEs and shapes the sales playbook.
Account Executive career path
- SDR or BDR
- SMB Account Executive
- Mid-Market or Enterprise AE
- Sales Manager or Strategic Account Director
Most account executives start as sales development reps, booking meetings for AEs, and are promoted once they've proved themselves. Others come from customer-facing jobs in support, success or recruiting. Strong AEs move up to larger segments and bigger deals, or into sales management, sales leadership and revenue operations.
Advertised pay for account executive jobs
Median advertised base salary in Account Executive job ads in the United States: $150,000 (middle half: $107,500–$192,500), from 1,866 job ads with a published salary in the last 90 days.
This is advertised pay, not total compensation: bonuses, commission, equity and benefits aren't included, and many ads publish no pay at all. Sales ads often quote on-target earnings (base plus commission) as the range, so these figures can run above base pay alone.
- Account Executive salary in the United States · median $150,000, 1,866 ads
- Remote Account Executive salary · median $155,700, 1,174 ads
- Account Executive salary in the United Kingdom · median £106,400, 96 ads
- Account Executive salary in Germany · median €121,900, 58 ads
Similar roles
- Sales Representative job description
Prospects and books meetings; most AEs start there.
- Account Manager job description
Grows and renews existing customers instead of winning new ones.
- Solutions Engineer job description
Backs the AE with technical discovery, demos and proofs of concept.
- Customer Success Manager job description
Drives adoption and retention once the deal is signed.
- Marketing Manager job description
Generates the demand and pipeline AEs convert.
Account Executive job description FAQ
What does an account executive do?
Sells the company's product to new customers: running discovery, giving demos, writing proposals, negotiating and closing deals against a revenue quota, and keeping the pipeline accurate in the CRM.
How are account executives paid?
Usually a base salary plus commission, stated as on-target earnings (OTE): what an AE earns on hitting quota exactly. A job description should give the OTE, the split between base and commission, and whether commission is capped.
What's the difference between an account executive and an account manager?
An account executive wins new customers; an account manager looks after existing ones, handling renewals, upsells and the relationship. Small companies sometimes combine the two roles.