Roles we recruit
Seven practices, 27 functions. Start at the practice when you cannot yet name the title; go straight to the function when you can.
Browse all 229 roles Brief us on a seatFlat 15% of first-year base · shortlist in 10 working days
Six seats sit under account management, from the relationship manager who keeps a book healthy to the client partner who owns your largest relationships at executive level. We split them by how much of the account each one is expected to grow, screen for growth on a book of known size, and charge a flat 15% only once your hire starts.
Most account management briefs ask for an account manager and describe a retention problem or a growth problem. We start with how much revenue the seat is expected to add, and from how many accounts.
The account growth motion, and the seat that owns each stage
Moves: retention and satisfaction across the book
1 seat
The day-to-day relationship across a book of clients: service, escalations, reviews and the retention that protects revenue.
Brief us when clients churn over service issues that a single point of contact would have caught early.
Moves: renewal and expansion revenue against target
1 seat
A book of existing customers with a revenue target: renewals, upsell and cross-sell, and the commercial relationship after the first sale.
Brief us when new logos close but nobody is paid to grow them, or expansion depends on customers asking.
Hire an Account ManagerMoves: revenue growth in your largest accounts
1 seat
Your largest or most important accounts: service levels, commercial terms and growth in the customers the business cannot afford to lose.
Brief us when a few customers carry a large share of revenue and are managed the same way as everyone else.
Moves: multi-year account plans and share of wallet
2 seats
A small number of accounts with large growth potential: multi-threaded relationships, long-range account plans and deals that span business units.
Brief us when a handful of accounts could double, and nobody has a plan beyond the next renewal.
Enterprise customers after the sale: procurement cycles, renewals at scale and expansion across divisions and regions.
Brief us when enterprise renewals stall in procurement, or expansion stops at the first team that bought.
Moves: executive relationships and account profit
1 seat
The senior relationship with a major client: the executive sponsor, the account profit and the plan that brings in new lines of work.
Brief us when your biggest clients are run deal by deal, and nobody owns the relationship at their executive level.
Measured on
Account management attracts strong relationship builders, and relationships are easy to describe in an interview. We screen for what grows revenue: growth on a book of known size, a real account plan, and comfort with the commercial conversation most relationship people avoid.
We ask for the book: how many accounts, the revenue it started at, what they grew it to and what they lost. Relationship stories without numbers are where we dig.
Candidates walk us through a plan for one of their accounts: stakeholders, white space, risks and the next expansion, with dates.
We role-play a price increase or an expansion pitch to a skeptical buyer. Account managers who avoid money conversations renew flat.
We ask how they handled an account at risk, and check it with a former manager who saw it happen.
Not sure which seat you need? Tell us how big the book is, how many accounts sit in it and how much growth you expect, and we will tell you which of the six owns it.
Public US benchmarks, read October 2026. Account management pairs a base with commission or a bonus tied to renewals and expansion, so total pay runs well above base for seats with a growth target.
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile, the middle half of reported pay.
Base salaryAverage total pay, base plus variable
Account Manager
Salary.com base, Built In total
$87,202 to $110,565 base$123,206 average total
Key Account Manager
Salary.com base benchmark
$87,530 to $110,981 base
Strategic Account Manager
Salary.com base benchmark
$90,871 to $115,218 base
Account Manager: Salary.com base salary, 25th to 75th percentile, United States, as of October 1, 2026, with Built In average total compensation (self-reported), reviewed September 30, 2026. Key Account Manager and Strategic Account Manager: Salary.com base salary, 25th to 75th percentile, as of October 1, 2026. Public aggregates, not ZaphyrRecruit placement data.
The clock starts when the brief is signed and stops when three to five calibrated candidates are in front of you. Most of that time is spent talking to people, not searching for them.
Day 1
Forty-five minutes with whoever the hire reports to. We leave with the number the seat owns, the range you can pay and the two or three things that genuinely disqualify.
Days 2 to 7
We build the list from people doing the job now, approach them directly and screen every name against the brief before it reaches you.
Days 8 to 10
Three to five people, each with a page: what they have run, why they fit this seat, pay expectations, notice period and where they are weak.
After the shortlist
Interviews run at your pace. We handle scheduling, references and the counter-offer conversation, and nothing is payable until your hire starts.
Three clients, quoted as they wrote to us about searches we ran for them. We publish no names or logos without permission.
An account manager owns the commercial relationship: renewals, upsell and expansion revenue against a target. A customer success manager owns adoption and outcomes after the sale. Many teams combine them early; once expansion is a real part of the plan, splitting the seats stops either one from avoiding the conversation the other is paid for.
A key account manager protects and grows your most important existing accounts; a strategic account manager builds long-range plans to grow accounts with the most potential. Key account work leans on service and terms. Strategic account work leans on multi-threading, executive access and deals that span business units. The titles overlap, so we brief on the accounts, not the label.
A flat 15% of the hire’s first-year base salary, payable only once they start. On a $90,000 base that is $13,500; commission and bonus are not part of the calculation. There is no retainer, no exclusivity and nothing to pay if the search does not produce a hire. If a placement leaves inside the guarantee period, we rerun the search at no further fee.
Salary.com puts account managers at $87,202 to $110,565 base, and self-reported data on Built In shows $123,206 average total compensation once commission is included (October 2026). Strategic account managers sit at $90,871 to $115,218 base on Salary.com. Book size, quota and whether the seat carries an expansion target move the number.
When the existing customer base can produce meaningful expansion revenue and your account executives are spending their week on it instead of new logos. Other triggers are flat renewals, discounts creeping in at renewal, or a few large customers with obvious room to grow. Before that, a customer success manager with a renewal target can carry it.
Yes, if the seat is expected to grow revenue. A quota on renewal and expansion, sized to the book, keeps the seat commercial. Pure retention roles, such as relationship managers on service-heavy books, can run on retention and satisfaction targets instead. We agree the plan at the brief so candidates know what they are signing up for.
Ten working days from a signed brief to a shortlist of three to five calibrated candidates. The book review and a commercial role-play sit inside our screen, so your own interviews can focus on your customers and your team. Interviews and the offer then run at your pace. Most candidates then need two to four weeks before they can start.
Tell us how big the book is, how it is split and how much growth the seat should deliver. We reply within one business day with which of the six seats it is and what it pays.
Most of our account management searches are filled from people we already know, the week an employer briefs us. Set up a job alert for customer roles, or send your CV and we will come to you when a seat opens.
Account Management sits in our Customer & Retention practice, next to customer success and support. Growth in the base also depends on sales and the systems behind it, so those are here too.