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The differences between application development directors and senior development managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both an application development director and a senior development manager. Additionally, an application development director has an average salary of $151,898, which is higher than the $141,487 average annual salary of a senior development manager.
The top three skills for an application development director include application development, architecture and java. The most important skills for a senior development manager are java, software development, and cloud.
| Application Development Director | Senior Development Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $151,898 | $141,487 |
| Hourly rate | $73.03 | $68.02 |
| Growth rate | 16% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 100,053 | 148,732 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 8 |
The applications development director focuses on ensuring the smooth and productive development process of strategies and applications used in a company. The development director manages a team of developers who will improve, upgrade, and, if needed, replace existing systems and applications currently used in the company. The development director's role is essential for continuing the company's productivity, which is why this position is only open for people with relevant experience in application development and managerial skills. A development director's added tasks are to work with all related departments in the company, collate their application needs, and integrate those inputs to come up with an application that resolves all company problems.
A senior development manager oversees the daily operations of a company's product development team. They mostly have administrative duties, such as spearheading projects and programs, streamlining project requirements, establishing objectives and timelines, setting budgets and guidelines, delegating responsibilities among teams, and monitoring their progress, coordinating every team's efforts to ensure an effective workflow. Being a senior development manager takes years of experience, which they utilize to lead and guide teams in a joint effort to reach project goals and deliver profitable products.
Application development directors and senior development managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Application Development Director | Senior Development Manager | |
| Average salary | $151,898 | $141,487 |
| Salary range | Between $116,000 And $198,000 | Between $106,000 And $188,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | ServiceNow | Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between an application development director and a senior development manager in terms of educational background:
| Application Development Director | Senior Development Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | Carnegie Mellon University |
Here are the differences between application development directors' and senior development managers' demographics:
| Application Development Director | Senior Development Manager | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 84.0% Female, 16.0% | Male, 71.9% Female, 28.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 13.4% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 13.6% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |