Chief of staff vs associate director

The differences between chiefs of staff and associate directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a chief of staff has an average salary of $130,835, which is higher than the $114,223 average annual salary of an associate director.

The top three skills for a chief of staff include PET, team support and project management. The most important skills for an associate director are patients, healthcare, and project management.

Chief of staff vs associate director overview

	Chief Of Staff	Associate Director
Yearly salary	$130,835	$114,223
Hourly rate	$62.90	$54.91
Growth rate	6%	8%
Number of jobs	124,272	72,370
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	52	47
Years of experience	-	-

What does a chief of staff do?

A chief of staff primarily supports an executive through performing various administrative tasks. Most of their responsibilities revolve around collaborating with other executive support personnel to devise strategies that will help the company, responding to inquiries and correspondence, approving communications letters, managing schedules, setting appointments, and serving as an advisor to the executive. Furthermore, when it comes to issues and disputes, the chief of staff must be quick to conduct research and perform damage control to help the executive and the company rise from the occasion.

What does an associate director do?

An associate director oversees the daily activities and business operations within a particular area. They are primarily responsible for devising strategies that aim for growth in profit and customer satisfaction, implementing policies and standards, evaluate the workforce, providing support to various departments, and setting goals in terms of budget and sales. Furthermore, they must regularly report progress to the director and coordinate with managers and supervisors in the joint effort to reach the vision and mission of the company.

Chief of staff vs associate director salary

Chiefs of staff and associate directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Chief Of Staff	Associate Director
Average salary	$130,835	$114,223
Salary range	Between $85,000 And $200,000	Between $79,000 And $164,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	South San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	New Jersey
Best paying company	Lyft	Legalmatch.com
Best paying industry	Start-up	Pharmaceutical

Differences between chief of staff and associate director education

There are a few differences between a chief of staff and an associate director in terms of educational background:

	Chief Of Staff	Associate Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Chief of staff vs associate director demographics

Here are the differences between chiefs of staff' and associate directors' demographics:

	Chief Of Staff	Associate Director
Average age	52	47
Gender ratio	Male, 62.0% Female, 38.0%	Male, 52.0% Female, 48.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 7.8% White, 76.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 8.9% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	12%	10%

Differences between chief of staff and associate director duties and responsibilities

Chief of staff example responsibilities.

Lead headquarters (HQ) operations staff.
Manage the G3's fiscal year budget planning, formulation, and execution.
Supervise the G2 administrative section and maintain and manage the G2 budget and material resources.
Manage the predeployment training and the deployment process to receiving commands, and subsequent redeployment and deactivation.
Manage budgets of $75,000 to $22 million paying keen attention to cost containment and ROI.
Credit for managing and improving the HAZMAT program, which serve as a benchmark example for the base community.

Associate director example responsibilities.

Lead implementation of OPPE and FPPE for TJC.
Manage accounting, weekly reports, local contacts, and maintenance of sets, props, and costumes.
Manage all aspects of music ministry - including arranging all music for schedule services special programs and events.
Manage departmental training schedules, work schedules and CPSI electronic medical record (EMR), certifications and competencies.
Manage web development and rebranding initiative.
Create a coordinate university social media committee quadrupling engagement during campaigns and achieving a national twitter trend during commencement.

Chief of staff vs associate director skills

Common chief of staff skills

PET, 15%
Team Support, 11%
Project Management, 8%
Oversight, 7%
Direct Reports, 6%
Marketing Campaigns, 6%

Common associate director skills

Patients, 11%
Healthcare, 8%
Project Management, 6%
Oversight, 6%
Portfolio, 6%
Excellent Interpersonal, 5%

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Chief Of Staff vs Associate Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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