Account Manager

An Account Manager sits between a company and its clients. The core job is to maintain those client relationships, spot opportunities to grow the account, and solve problems before they escalate. This is not a pure sales role, though selling is often part of it. The work is about understanding what a client needs, coordinating the right internal people to deliver it, and keeping the client satisfied enough to stay. Account Managers appear across many sectors, including technology, advertising, logistics, financial services, and professional services.

A typical day might include a morning check of client emails and flagging anything urgent, followed by a call with a client to review a recent project or proposal. There could be an internal meeting with a delivery or product team to align on a client's requirements. Afternoons often involve preparing reports or presentations, updating a CRM system, and responding to new briefs. Travel to client sites is common in some industries. The pace varies: some days are reactive and fast, others involve longer-term planning work.

A bachelor degree is the preferred qualification for this role (JSA Occupation Profile). Common fields of study include business, marketing, communications, and commerce. That said, many people move into Account Manager positions from related roles in sales, customer service, or project coordination, sometimes without a degree in a directly relevant field. Demonstrated experience managing client relationships often carries significant weight with employers. For those looking to build formal credentials, yourcareer.gov.au lists relevant courses, and it is worth checking dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for any subsidised study options in your state or territory.

The hardest part of this role is that you are accountable for outcomes you do not fully control. If a delivery team misses a deadline or a product falls short, the client calls you. Managing that gap between what clients expect and what the business can deliver takes patience and strong internal influence. There is also a commercial pressure that does not go away: most Account Manager roles carry revenue targets, and retaining clients while growing their spend is a constant balancing act. People who move into this role from technical or creative backgrounds sometimes find the shift to relationship-first thinking takes real adjustment.

In practice, Account Manager roles tend to concentrate in major commercial centres where client-facing businesses operate.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 6113, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• ICT Account Manager: what carries over
• ICT Sales Representative: what carries over
• Sales Representative (Business Services): what carries over

• Churn Risk Identificationcore
• CRM System Managementcore
• Customer Needs Assessmentcore
• Customer Success Planningcore
• Objection Handlingcore
• Outbound Customer Contactcore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Stakeholder Communicationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Upselling and Cross-Sellingcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Written Communicationcore
• Conflict Resolution
• Feedback Collection and Actioning
• Microsoft Office Suite Proficiency
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) Analysis
• Reporting and Analytics
• Salesforce CRM Navigation
• SLA and KPI Adherence

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

Last updated: 10 October 2026