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.
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An account executive runs deals from first meeting to signed contract against a quota: qualification, demos, proposals, negotiation and the forecast for their own pipeline. Every seller interviews well, so we screen for attainment we can verify, deals like yours and a forecast that held up.
A new account executive is judged on the pipeline they built and the deals they moved, not on the activity they logged. Each stage below has a signal that predicts it, and we test for that signal before you meet anyone.
The ramp, and the test behind each milestone
Weeks 1 to 3
Calls and demos shadowed, recent closed-won and closed-lost deals read, the qualification criteria, pricing and discount rules learned, and the first working sessions with the sales engineer and the CRM.
On track looks like a written account of who buys, why deals are lost and what a qualified opportunity looks like here, checked with the sales manager.
How we test for it before you meet them
A mock discovery call in our screen, run against a persona like your buyer. We score the questions they ask before they present anything.
Weeks 4 to 6
Pipeline built from inbound, outbound or both, every opportunity qualified against the same criteria, with a next step, a named buyer and a close date logged in the CRM.
On track looks like enough qualified opportunities to reach quota at the team's win rate, each with a next step, a named buyer and a date.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask for pipeline coverage by quarter and where it came from, then check the account against a CRM export they bring or a call with a former sales manager.
Weeks 7 to 10
Discovery, a demo built around the buyer's problem, a proposal, pricing and negotiation, with the economic buyer and procurement involved well before the last week.
On track looks like first deals moving from stage to stage without the manager running the calls, and discounts that follow the rules.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask them to walk a closed deal from first call to signature: who was involved, what nearly stopped it and what they would change. A former sales manager confirms the account.
Weeks 11 to 13
A weekly forecast with evidence behind every deal, risks stated early, and a clean handoff to customer success or the account manager when a deal closes.
On track looks like a forecast within an agreed range of what closes, and no deal sitting in a late stage without a dated next step.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask how close their forecasts landed, quarter by quarter, and check it with a former sales manager.
After day 90
Strong account executives review their pipeline weekly, drop deals that will not close and ask for help on a stalled deal before it is late.
On track looks like attainment tracking to plan, and a manager who hears about a risk from the rep first.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask about a quarter they missed and what they changed. A plain account that names the cause predicts a rep who will tell you early.
Five responsibilities. If the seat also builds pipeline from cold outreach all day, brief it as an outbound role; if it mostly grows customers you already have, it is an account manager.
A number for the year, split by quarter and tracked weekly against closed revenue.
Deciding which opportunities deserve time, against criteria agreed with sales leadership.
Finding the buyer’s problem and showing the product against it, with a sales engineer where there is one.
Pricing, terms, discount approvals and the stakeholders on the buyer’s side, through to signature.
A weekly call on each deal with the evidence behind it, and risk raised early.
Three neighboring seats absorb work people assume belongs here. Drawing the line wrong is how an account executive search ends with a prospector who cannot close or a closer who cannot find meetings.
That seat ownsOutbound prospecting and the first conversation: lists, sequences and booked meetings for account executives.
Hire it instead whenmeetings are the bottleneck, not closing them.
That seat ownsExisting customers: renewals, expansion and the relationship after the sale.
Hire it instead whenthe gap is growth inside customers you already have, not new logos.
That seat ownsA team of account executives: coaching, deal reviews, pipeline discipline, hiring and the weekly forecast.
Hire it instead whenyou have four or more reps and results depend on who closed what.
The title stays the same; the deal does not. Pick the one that matches what you sell.
Closes fast, transactional deals with owner-operators and small teams, often in one or two calls.
Runs structured deals with a small buying committee over several weeks to a few months.
Plans named accounts and large, long deals with many stakeholders, security review and procurement.
The questions we ask in our own screen. Use them in yours; the warning signs are as useful as the answers.
Every candidate we put forward is scored on these five, and the scores travel with the shortlist, gaps included. Four out of five with a named weakness beats a clean sweep you cannot verify.
| What we score | Weak evidence | Strong evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment | Personal bests with no quota behind them. | Quota and attainment by quarter, confirmed with a former sales manager. |
| Deal fit | Sold a different deal size, buyer or sales cycle. | Closed deals like yours, at a similar size and cycle. |
| Qualification | Works every lead the same way. | Clear criteria and a record of deals dropped early. |
| Forecast discipline | Calls deals on feel. | Evidence per deal and a record of accuracy by quarter. |
| Coachability | Defensive about lost deals. | Names what they changed after a loss, confirmed by a former sales manager. |
Public US benchmarks, read October 2026. Account executive pay is base plus commission, so the total depends on quota and plan: Built In’s self-reported additional cash averages $108,787 on a $104,062 average base, while Salary.com’s total cash average is $130,193. The two sources measure different groups, so read the gap as a range. Deal size and quota size move the number most.
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile, the middle half of reported pay.
Base salaryAverage total pay, base plus variable
Account Executive
Salary.com base, Built In total
$87,513 to $111,393 base$212,849 average total
Sales Development Representative
Salary.com base, Built In total, the seat below
$56,156 to $67,489 base$83,110 average total
Enterprise Account Executive
Salary.com base benchmark, the larger-deal version
$89,090 to $112,959 base
Sales Manager
Salary.com base, Built In total, the seat above
$114,937 to $144,893 base$167,231 average total
Bars: Salary.com base salary, 25th to 75th percentile, United States, as of October 1, 2026. Rings: Built In average total compensation (base plus additional cash, self-reported), reviewed October 21, 2026 for Account Executive, October 22, 2026 for Sales Development Representative and October 7, 2026 for Sales Manager. Public aggregates, not ZaphyrRecruit placement data.
An account executive runs deals from first meeting to signed contract against a quota. They qualify opportunities, run discovery and demos, write proposals, negotiate with the buyer’s stakeholders and forecast their own pipeline, usually working with a sales engineer on technical questions. The measure is attainment against quota, which is why we check attainment by quarter rather than a story about the biggest deal they ever closed.
Salary.com puts an account executive at $87,513 to $111,393 base, with a median of $100,193 and total cash averaging $130,193 (October 2026). Built In’s self-reported figures show a $100,000 median base and a $212,849 average total once commission is included. The two sources measure different groups, so treat the gap as a range. Ask for on-target earnings and the quota behind them, not base alone.
An account executive wins new customers; an account manager grows the ones you already have. The executive works a new-business quota through discovery, demo and negotiation. The account manager owns renewals, expansion and the relationship after the sale, usually against a retention and growth target. A brief that blurs the two hires a closer who neglects customers or a relationship builder who does not hunt, so we write the seat down first.
When the founder is still on every deal and meetings are arriving faster than one person can close them. A first account executive needs a repeatable pitch, a defined buyer and a price they can quote without approval. Hiring before those exist produces a rep who invents the sale from scratch. If meetings are scarce rather than closes, founder-led outreach or an SDR comes first.
We check quota and attainment by quarter with a former sales manager, ask each candidate to walk a closed deal from first call to signature, and run a mock discovery call against a persona like your buyer. Every candidate is scored on the five criteria on this page, and the scores travel with the shortlist, gaps included. Closing stories alone prove little, because every seller interviews well.
Most plans pair a base salary with commission paid on closed revenue, often with accelerators above quota. Built In’s self-reported data shows additional cash averaging $108,787 on a $104,062 average base, so variable pay can be as large as base. Quota size, the ramp period and whether the first months carry a guaranteed draw all matter, so compare on-target earnings and attainment, not base alone.
Ten working days from a signed brief to a shortlist of three to five calibrated candidates, each with a mock discovery call scored and attainment checked with a former sales manager. Interview speed decides the rest: a seller with a good record usually has several processes open, so a decision within two weeks of the first interview keeps them. They will also want the plan and the quota before they say yes.
Tell us the average deal size, the sales cycle and who sells today. We come back within one business day with how we would run the search and what the seat pays.
We build shortlists from people doing this work now, often before a seat is advertised. Set up a job alert for sales roles, or send your CV and we will come to you, in confidence, when a seat opens.
The account executive is one of eleven seats in this function. If the gap sits elsewhere, start there.