Account Executive
Take a qualified prospect from the first sales meeting to a signed contract, and carry a revenue target for the deals you close.
About the profession
An Account Executive (AE) is the salesperson who turns an interested prospect into a paying customer. Once a lead has been qualified, often by a Sales Development Representative who booked the first meeting, the AE runs the rest of the sale: discovery calls to understand the buyer's problem, demos and presentations, proposals, pricing and negotiation, and finally the signed contract. AEs are measured against a quota, a revenue target for a month, quarter or year, and spend much of their week managing a pipeline of open deals at different stages so that enough of them close on time.
Why choose it
How to Get Started
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Career Match Test →Personality Fit
Based on the Account Executive role, here are the RIASEC personality types that tend to thrive in this career. While these alignments are common, individual success depends on motivation, skill development, and finding the right work environment.
Enterprising
Leading, persuading, business
Social
Helping, teaching, working with people
Conventional
Organizing, detail-oriented, structured
Not sure if these types match you? Take the full RIASEC assessment to discover your personality profile and see how it aligns with hundreds of careers.
Career levels
Most sales teams organise the path in four steps. Titles, and how long people stay at each step, vary from company to company.
Skills used in this career
Click any skill to see how to learn it and what salary boost it gives
Day in Life
Junior vs Senior, daily schedule breakdown
No two days are the same, but most AE weeks are built from the same blocks: Morning: review the pipeline in the CRM, update the stage and next step of each deal, and prepare for…
Learning Path 0 → Junior
Step-by-step plan from zero to first job
There is no single required degree. Employers hire AEs from many backgrounds; what they look for is evidence that you can sell.
Is this for me?
Answer honestly
[ ] You enjoy talking to people you have never met and can hear "no" often without losing energy. [ ] A clear target motivates you, and you like being measured by results.
Myths vs Reality
Honest about what the internet doesn't say
Myth: AEs win by being pushy talkers. Reality: good AEs spend more time asking questions and listening than pitching.
Work-Life Balance
Stress, flexibility, burnout risk
The balance depends on where you are in the sales period. The start of a month or quarter is usually calmer; the last weeks, when deals have to close to hit quota, are the…
💰 Pay for Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel
BLS OEWS, May 2023The federal survey does not count this job title on its own — it is counted under Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel (41-3091).
Half of U.S. workers in this occupation earn more than this, half earn less.
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Create Free AccountPersonality types that fit this career
Based on career-match data from our Result Library:
The fit level is JobCannon’s editorial rating of how well a result suits this career — not a statistical prediction. How we rate each test’s validity →
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Related Holland / RIASEC Types