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The Insurance Broking career path runs through three stages: Account Executive, Account Manager, then Broker with a portfolio of your own. Most people who end up running their own book started by processing renewals, learned the mechanics of the trade, stepped up to Account Manager, and then earned the right to client ownership. The road is well marked, but the distances between the signposts vary a lot, and so does the pay at each one. This is a practical map of the journey across the three biggest east coast markets, with 2026 salary bands attached, drawn from what HAYLO's insurance recruitment team is seeing in offers and placements right now.
A note on the figures: all salaries below are base, excluding superannuation, and reflect offers and placements in early 2026. The bands are drawn from HAYLO's 2026 Broking Salary Guide, built on the firm's own placement and offer data, part of a track record of 500+ placements across the Australian insurance market. Bonuses, commissions and book incentives sit on top, and at the senior end they matter a great deal.
A typical Insurance Broking career in Australia moves from Account Executive (two to four years) to Account Manager (three to five years) to Broker with portfolio ownership. The full journey usually takes seven to ten years. Base salaries range from around $75,000 at entry level to $200,000 or more for senior brokers in Sydney, before bonuses that commonly add 10 to 30 per cent at the top end.
An insurance account executive supports a senior broker's portfolio: processing renewals, preparing submissions, chasing underwriters, and handling endorsements and certificates. It is administrative in parts, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you the job. It is also where you build the technical base that everything else rests on.
Sydney: $80,000 to $120,000
Melbourne: $75,000 to $130,000
Brisbane: $75,000 to $120,000
The spread within each city mostly reflects experience and the complexity of the book you support. An AE supporting a corporate portfolio at a national brokerage will sit at the top of the band; an AE in a suburban SME practice will start lower but often gets client contact earlier, which has its own value.
You need Tier 1 compliance accreditation to provide personal advice, and most employers will fund it in your first months. The better move is not to stop there. A Diploma of Insurance Broking or progress toward ANZIIF Senior Associate status signals that you are serious about the profession, and it comes up in every promotion conversation.
Typical time at this stage: two to four years. People who move faster are usually the ones who volunteered for client meetings early and treated renewals as a chance to understand risk rather than a data entry task.
Account manager is the pivot point of a broking career, and right now it is the most in-demand role in the entire discipline, based on the volume of briefs HAYLO's broking recruiters are carrying across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. You hold client relationships in your own name, manage renewals end to end, negotiate with underwriters, and start to shape the portfolio rather than just service it. The senior broker is still there for the complex placements, but the client calls you.
Sydney: $110,000 to $160,000
Melbourne: $110,000 to $150,000
Brisbane: $110,000 to $150,000
Sydney pays a premium at this level, driven by the concentration of corporate and financial lines business. Brisbane has closed the gap noticeably over the past three years as the market there has grown, and the cost of living difference means a Brisbane account manager at $125,000 is often better off in real terms than a Sydney counterpart at $140,000. Candidates weighing an interstate move should run that calculation honestly.
Progression at this stage is driven by two things above all: retention and revenue. Can you keep the clients you are given, and can you grow what they place with you? Technical breadth matters too. An account manager who can handle property, liability, financial lines and motor across a mixed book is worth more than one who has only ever seen one class. This is also the stage where ANZIIF Senior Associate (CIP) or NIBA's QPIB designation stops being optional if you want the next step.
Typical time at this stage: three to five years. The people who compress it are the ones who bring in new business before anyone asked them to.
The title varies. Broker, senior broker, senior account manager, client manager. What defines the stage is ownership: a portfolio with your name on it, revenue responsibility, and accountability for growth. At this level you are the adviser, and the brokerage's relationship with a client largely is your relationship with that client.
Sydney: $125,000 to $200,000
Melbourne: $115,000 to $170,000
Brisbane: $125,000 to $195,000
These are base figures and they understate total earnings at this level more than at any other. Bonus structures tied to retention and new business commonly add 10 to 30 per cent, and brokers with a genuinely transportable client following can negotiate packages that go well beyond the top of these bands. That is also why the bands are wide: a broker holding a $2 million income portfolio is not in the same market as one holding $600,000, whatever their respective titles say.
Time to reach this stage from a standing start is usually seven to ten years. Some do it in six. Very few do it in less, and the ones who claim to have usually skipped the technical grounding that shows up later as expensive mistakes on complex placements.
What actually drives progression in insurance broking
Across the hundreds of conversations HAYLO's recruiters have with brokers and broking leaders every year, the pattern is consistent. Qualifications open doors but do not walk you through them. What moves people up is client exposure taken early, technical curiosity across classes, and evidence of revenue, either retained or won. Managers building team structures should read that list in reverse: if your account executives never sit in client meetings, you are training your competitors' future account managers.
Seven to ten years from a standing start is typical: two to four years as an account executive, three to five as an account manager, then promotion into a broker role with portfolio ownership. Some do it in six. Very few do it faster without skipping the technical grounding that shows up later as expensive mistakes.
In 2026, base salaries for insurance account managers are $110,000 to $160,000 in Sydney, $110,000 to $150,000 in Melbourne, and $110,000 to $150,000 in Brisbane, excluding superannuation and bonuses.
Tier 1 compliance accreditation is the entry requirement for providing personal advice, and most employers fund it. Beyond that, a Diploma of Insurance Broking, ANZIIF Senior Associate (CIP) or NIBA's QPIB designation carry real weight in promotion conversations, particularly at the account manager to broker step.
Sydney pays the highest base salaries at every stage, driven by its concentration of corporate and financial lines business. On cost of living adjusted terms, Brisbane is often the strongest market: an account manager on $125,000 in Brisbane is frequently better off in real terms than a Sydney counterpart on $140,000.
Account manager. Demand for candidates who can hold client relationships end to end currently outstrips supply in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, which is lifting salaries at this level and giving strong candidates genuine negotiating leverage.
If you are plotting your next step and want to know what your experience is worth in your city right now, that is a conversation HAYLO's insurance broking team has every day. The bands above are the market; where you sit within them depends on the specifics, and the specifics are worth getting right before you negotiate.
Bailey De Souza is Associate Recruitment Director, General Insurance at HAYLO People, recruiting broking professionals across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. HAYLO People is Sourcr Agency of the Year 2025 and TIARA Best Recruitment Company 2024, with 500+ placements across the Australian insurance market. Follow us on LinkedIn.
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