Use this account executive job description as a starting point for your next B2B sales hire. It's free to copy and edit, and it's built around the numbers AEs actually screen jobs on: deal size, sales cycle, quota and on-target earnings. Below the template, you'll find what the role involves, O*NET pay data, and five questions that show whether a candidate can run a deal end to end.
Account executive job description template
What an account executive does
An account executive owns deals from the first real meeting to the signed contract. The week is a mix of discovery calls, demos, internal deal reviews and a lot of follow-up: chasing a security questionnaire, drafting a business case for the buyer's CFO, or asking the champion who else needs to say yes. O*NET's task list for service sales describes the core of it well: contact prospects to discuss how a service meets their needs, develop presentations and proposals, negotiate prices and terms, and keep customer records in automated systems.
AEs work closely with SDRs, who book meetings; solutions engineers, who handle technical depth; and customer success, who takes over after the deal closes. Their manager reviews the pipeline every week and expects the forecast to hold.
At a startup, an AE might sell to anyone who'll take a meeting, write their own decks and help shape pricing. Deals are smaller and the playbook is half-written. At a larger company, AEs are split by segment (small business, mid-market, enterprise) or by territory, with defined stages, deal desks and legal teams. Enterprise AEs may carry only a handful of large deals a year, each with a long procurement process.
Skills and qualifications
A bachelor's degree is common but not universal. In O*NET's education survey for this occupation, 72% of respondents said a bachelor's degree is required for new hires. No specific major is expected, so proof of closing matters more than the field of study.
Salary
Account executive isn't its own occupation in O*NET. The plain fit for most B2B AEs is the broader Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel (41-3091.00), which O*NET describes through tasks like proposals, negotiation and contract terms. Advertising, insurance and financial-services sellers sit in separate groups, so use a different benchmark if that's what you sell.
O*NET reports 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for this group: a U.S. median of $69,990 a year ($33.65 an hour), a 10th percentile of $37,980, and a 90th percentile of $148,840. The California median is $80,850. The group mixes entry-level service sellers with senior closers, so decide where your role sits in that range instead of anchoring on the median. Set your own base and on-target earnings, and post the range: a growing number of states and cities require pay ranges in job ads, and AEs compare offers line by line.
Interview questions for account executive candidates
- "Pick a deal you closed last year. Who signed, who else had to agree, and what nearly killed it?" Strong AEs can name every stakeholder, the real risk and how they handled it, without inflating their part.
- "Run the first five minutes of a discovery call with me. I'm the buyer." Listen for questions about the problem, its cost and the decision process before any pitching.
- "Your best deal has a close date on Friday and the champion just stopped replying. What now?" Good answers reach other contacts, re-check the mutual plan, and update the forecast honestly instead of hoping.
- "The buyer asks for 30% off to sign this month. How do you respond?" Look for trading, not giving: a longer term, a case study or faster payment in exchange for any discount.
- "What was your quota and attainment for the last three years?" Clear numbers with context (territory changes, ramp time) are a good sign. Vague ranges are worth probing.
For 19 questions with model answers, role-plays and a scoring rubric, see our sales interview questions. If you're hiring for shorter-cycle product sales, compare this page with the sales representative job description, and to score every finalist the same way, use the interview scorecard template.
Writing tips for this role
- Put the segment in the title. "Mid-Market Account Executive" or "Enterprise Account Executive" tells candidates the deal size before they click. Plain "Account Executive" still gets the most searches, so keep those words in the title.
- Show the math. Quota, average contract value, cycle length and lead mix (inbound, SDR-sourced, self-sourced). AEs do this math in their heads, and the ones who can't are not the ones you want.
- Don't require a "President's Club" history. Club rules vary wildly between companies. Ask for attainment numbers instead, which you can verify.
- Name the buyer, not just the product. "You'll sell to heads of finance at 500-person manufacturers" attracts AEs with the right network and habits.
- Keep the requirements list short. Seven must-haves is plenty. A list of 15 tends to discourage good closers who meet 12 of them.
Screening account executive candidates with AI
A sales leader can only run so many first calls in a week, and AE candidates who are still carrying a quota are hard to schedule. NTRVSTA's AI interviewer runs a live first round, as a video avatar or audio only, that candidates take whenever suits them. The interview adapts to each answer, raising difficulty when a candidate is strong and following up when an answer is thin, and it asks behavioral questions in STAR format. You can customize the questions per role, so your discovery and deal-review prompts are part of every interview.
Each candidate gets a shareable report with a score breakdown, highlights and video snippets of key moments, and AI resume scoring ranks the applicant pool against your job description before anyone is invited. To see what sits behind those scores, read how AI interviews are scored.
Questions
What should an account executive job description say about quota?
State the annual quota or a range, the average deal size, and the typical sales cycle. If you can, add what share of the team hit quota last year. Experienced AEs use those three numbers to decide whether the job is winnable, so leaving them out costs you the best applicants.
Is an account executive the same as an SDR or BDR?
No. Sales or business development reps book first meetings, while account executives run the deal from that meeting to a signed contract. Many AEs start as SDRs, so if you promote from within, say what an SDR needs to show to move up.
Should an AE job description ask for experience in our exact industry?
Ask for experience selling to the same type of buyer, deal size and cycle length instead. An AE who has sold $50K annual contracts to finance leaders adapts quickly to a new product, while one who sold your category at a very different deal size may not.
Want to watch an AI interviewer run a discovery-style first round? Book a 20-minute demo, or start a sample interview on your own. Need another role? Browse every job description template.
