Account Director CV example

An Account Director CV needs to strike the right tone from the very first glance. Whether you’re applying in marketing, PR, advertising, or client services, your CV must show that you can build relationships and drive business.

This guide walks you through how to frame your leadership and align your achievements with business outcomes in order to write a CV that positions you as the strategic partner every organisation wants to hire.

An Account Director manages complexity – but your CV should be anything but complicated. Recruiters and decision-makers don’t want to decode your career; they want to see exactly how you’ve delivered value and led teams. Following the below layout advice and tips will make sure your CV is as easy to read as it can be.

Here’s the structure your CV should follow:

• Name and contact details – Display your personal details clearly at the top so employers can get in touch easily. Including a photo is entirely optional.
• Profile – Begin with a concise summary that highlights your expertise and what you bring to the role.
• Core skills – Highlight your strongest skills that align with the role’s requirements.
• Work experience – Start with your most recent role and work backwards, showcasing achievements and responsibilities.
• Education – Mention your degrees, certifications, and any training that supports your career path.
• Additional info – Include any additional details, like awards, professional memberships, or hobbies that highlight your skills or personality.
  

Keep the format clean and client-ready. Use clear headings to structure your content, and stick to a simple, professional font throughout. Bullet points in each section make your achievements easier to scan. Limit the length to two pages – this isn’t a full campaign retrospective, it’s your headline reel. Good structure shows that you know how to communicate clearly and respect your reader’s time.

Your professional profile should make your commercial value obvious within seconds. This short paragraph is your positioning statement – a summary of the sectors you’ve worked in, your leadership scope, and your ability to grow client accounts or lead major projects.

You don’t need to list every campaign – just enough to give a sense of scale and impact. Your CV profile needs to show your impressive track record, and prove that you’ll continue it at any new firm which takes you on board.

Include the following:

• Where you worked – Give a quick sense of the agencies, industries, or brands you’ve supported, and the environments you’ve led within.
• Your top qualifications – Mention your degree or certifications that support your business, marketing, or project management expertise.
• Essential skills – Focus on the leadership, commercial, and client-handling skills that matter most at a senior level.
• Sector specialisms – Note any specific industries or account types you’ve worked with, to tailor your profile to the roles you’re targeting.
• Value delivered – Outline the core results you’ve driven: revenue growth, account retention, strategic success, or high-impact team delivery.
  

This section is your chance to show that you understand what matters to a hiring manager – not generic descriptors, but hard, strategic CV skills aligned to the role.

Think in terms of tangible abilities which recruiters are going to be scanning for when they open up a CV. Mirror the language in the job advert where appropriate, as this’ll contain exactly the skills a company is looking for.

This is where your leadership and strategic outcomes need to shine. Your work experience section should reflect both the scale of your responsibilities and the impact of your work. Don’t just state what you did – show what changed because you did it.

Take the hiring manager through your roles in reverse chronological order. Start each one with a short paragraph explaining your position, the company or agency, and the nature of the accounts you led. Then break out your responsibilities and most noteworthy achievements with bullet points.

• Outline – Introduce the agency, client, or organisation, and summarise your leadership scope – size of team, type of accounts, and who you reported to.
• Responsibilities – Use action words like “spearheaded” and “oversaw.” For example: “spearheaded multi-channel brand campaigns for FMCG clients” or “oversaw the retention and growth of top-tier accounts across EMEA.” Mention client types, tools, or processes.
• Achievements – Focus on quantifiable results: revenue increases, retention metrics, campaign performance, client wins, or business transformation outcomes.

While experience matters most in senior roles, your education still plays a supporting role. Whether it’s a business degree, a CIM qualification, or specialist training, include anything that underpins your credibility.

List your most recent or highest qualification first. If you’ve completed leadership or strategy courses, they’re worth including too – especially if you’re targeting more senior roles.