Account executive

The AE then runs discovery, builds the business case, brings in solution engineers or legal when needed, negotiates terms and closes. Salesforce describes AEs as the closers who own the middle and bottom of the funnel.

The role is usually split by segment. SMB AEs carry many short deals, mid-market AEs fewer and larger ones, and enterprise AEs may work a handful of multi-month deals with large buying committees. Pay is usually a base salary plus commission, quoted as on-target earnings (OTE). At smaller companies AEs often prospect for part of their own pipeline.

Example: a mid-market AE carries a $600,000 annual quota. With an average deal of $30,000 and a 25% win rate, the AE needs to close 20 deals a year, which takes about 80 qualified opportunities, or roughly 7 new ones a month from SDRs, marketing and the AE's own prospecting.

For outbound teams, the AE is where pipeline quality shows up. If AEs reject many of the meetings SDRs book, the ICP, the qualification bar (BANT or MEDDPICC) or the handoff notes need work. Teams track meeting-to-opportunity rate and win rate per AE to see where deals stall.