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The differences between commercial product managers and product owners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a commercial product manager and a product owner. Additionally, a commercial product manager has an average salary of $106,412, which is higher than the $97,070 average annual salary of a product owner.
The top three skills for a commercial product manager include treasury, product line and product development. The most important skills for a product owner are user stories, acceptance criteria, and product backlog.
| Commercial Product Manager | Product Owner | |
| Yearly salary | $106,412 | $97,070 |
| Hourly rate | $51.16 | $46.67 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 139,724 | 129,990 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 10 |
The commercial product manager focuses on determining consumers' wants and needs and drafts a product plan for the business to tweak their product development to take advantage of the demand. The commercial product manager works with the marketing team on ensuring existing products and newly developed items fare well in the market. This position is tasked with monitoring product performance, determining weaknesses in the marketing strategy, and providing suggestions and recommendations to improve sales. The added responsibility of a commercial product manager is to help in conceptualizing product designs and marketing strategies.
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.
Commercial product managers and product owners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Commercial Product Manager | Product Owner | |
| Average salary | $106,412 | $97,070 |
| Salary range | Between $73,000 And $153,000 | Between $71,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Flexport | ORIX USA |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a commercial product manager and a product owner in terms of educational background:
| Commercial Product Manager | Product Owner | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between commercial product managers' and product owners' demographics:
| Commercial Product Manager | Product Owner | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 70.0% Female, 30.0% | Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7% |
| Race ratio | 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% | 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 | 10% | 10% |