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The differences between chief product officers and product owners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes More than 10 years to become a chief product officer, becoming a product owner takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a chief product officer has an average salary of $134,865, which is higher than the $97,070 average annual salary of a product owner.
The top three skills for a chief product officer include CPO, patrol and patients. The most important skills for a product owner are user stories, acceptance criteria, and product backlog.
| Chief Product Officer | Product Owner | |
| Yearly salary | $134,865 | $97,070 |
| Hourly rate | $64.84 | $46.67 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 145,190 | 129,990 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 52 | 39 |
| Years of experience | - | 10 |
A chief product officer (CPO) is an executive professional who is responsible for managing a company's product management team to create products that can deliver sustainable value to both customers and the business. This executive must lead the strategic product direction, which includes product vision, design, development, and marketing. To get insights from the needs of customers, this executive is required to initiate various types of customer research to use it to differentiate products from competitors. This chief product officer must also take part in exhibitions to present products to the audience.
Product owners are at the forefront of an organization's development cycle. They have various duties and responsibilities, which include ensuring that the value of products created by the development team is maximized, creating a vision and defining the goals for development projects, and working closely with all stakeholders. As the product owner, you are responsible for ensuring that the development team maintains a consistent vision and overseeing the product backlog. You are also expected to supervise the actual product development stages and anticipate the needs of clients.
Chief product officers and product owners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Chief Product Officer | Product Owner | |
| Average salary | $134,865 | $97,070 |
| Salary range | Between $74,000 And $242,000 | Between $71,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | Newark, NJ | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | California |
| Best paying company | McKinsey & Company Inc | ORIX USA |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a chief product officer and a product owner in terms of educational background:
| Chief Product Officer | Product Owner | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 48% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between chief product officers' and product owners' demographics:
| Chief Product Officer | Product Owner | |
| Average age | 52 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 71.4% Female, 28.6% | Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% Asian, 7.5% White, 76.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 10% |