What Is an Account Executive (AE)?
An account executive (AE) is the salesperson who owns deals from qualified opportunity to close. AEs run discovery, demos and negotiation, and carry a revenue quota — typically taking handoffs from SDRs and working with Customer Success after the win.
Key takeaways
- An AE owns the deal from qualified opportunity to closed-won.
- They carry a revenue quota and run discovery, demos and negotiation.
- AEs usually receive pipeline from SDRs/BDRs and hand off to CS after close.
What an AE does
- Runs discovery and qualifies opportunities.
- Delivers demos and builds the business case.
- Negotiates and closes the deal.
- Hands the new customer to Customer Success.
AE vs SDR
SDRs and BDRs generate and qualify pipeline; AEs close it. The SDR books the meeting, the AE runs the deal. In larger orgs an account manager then owns the relationship post-sale, while the AE moves to the next opportunity.
Frequently asked questions
What is an account executive?
A quota-carrying salesperson who owns deals from qualified opportunity through to close, running discovery, demos and negotiation.
What does an AE do?
Qualifies opportunities, demos the product, builds the business case, negotiates and closes — then hands the customer to Customer Success.
What's the difference between an AE and an account manager?
AEs focus on closing new deals; account managers own and grow the relationship after the sale. Some roles blend both.
Related service: Equip your AEs in HubSpot