Department administrator vs administrative director

The differences between department administrators and administrative directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a department administrator and an administrative director. Additionally, an administrative director has an average salary of $80,158, which is higher than the $49,768 average annual salary of a department administrator.

The top three skills for a department administrator include patient care, patients and financial reports. The most important skills for an administrative director are patients, patient care, and customer service.

Department administrator vs administrative director overview

	Department Administrator	Administrative Director
Yearly salary	$49,768	$80,158
Hourly rate	$23.93	$38.54
Growth rate	5%	7%
Number of jobs	84,441	52,849
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average age	43	50
Years of experience	2	2

What does a department administrator do?

Department administrators are professionals who are responsible for performing administrative and clerical tasks for a specific department within an organization. These administrators are required to prepare financial statements for clients while evaluating revisions through feedback with stakeholders. They must work with the human resources department to recruit and identify workers for retraining and skill upgrades. Department administrators must also develop and streamline departmental policies and processes so that they can ensure efficiency, productivity, and accountability.

What does an administrative director do?

An administrative director primarily functions to oversee daily operations within a company, ensuring everything is running smoothly. Among their responsibilities include monitoring the budget and audits, allocating funds to every department, coordinating with supervisors, and analyzing key data such as finances and progress reports. Additionally, they are also responsible for implementing policies and regulations, even crafting new ones when necessary. They typically report all progress and concerns to higher officials such as the president and vice president.

Department administrator vs administrative director salary

Department administrators and administrative directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Department Administrator	Administrative Director
Average salary	$49,768	$80,158
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $72,000	Between $53,000 And $121,000
Highest paying City	South San Francisco, CA	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	Alaska	Connecticut
Best paying company	MacArthur Foundation	Mayer Brown
Best paying industry	Energy	Media

Differences between department administrator and administrative director education

There are a few differences between a department administrator and an administrative director in terms of educational background:

	Department Administrator	Administrative Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	California State University - Bakersfield	University of Pennsylvania

Department administrator vs administrative director demographics

Here are the differences between department administrators' and administrative directors' demographics:

	Department Administrator	Administrative Director
Average age	43	50
Gender ratio	Male, 30.3% Female, 69.7%	Male, 33.8% Female, 66.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 8.8% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.8% Asian, 4.3% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	9%	5%

Differences between department administrator and administrative director duties and responsibilities

Department administrator example responsibilities.

Manage calendars, correspondence, logs, reports and maintain documentation in Prolog.
Lead implementation of local area network and upgrade of scheduling, billing and A/R software.
Manage patient records ensuring confidentiality and compliance with all HIPAA regulations.
Initiate and manage the implementation of facilities management oversight of external properties.
Direct Medicaid health plan management division activities (manage care program operations, quality improvement, and contract administration).
Verify vendor quotes and resolve invoice discrepancies.

Administrative director example responsibilities.

Manage payroll system and provide staff and directors with essential reporting necessary for managing employee resources.
Manage A/P, A/R and general accounting.
Lead a change in system philosophy on physician equity interest in surgery centers.
Manage administrative operations for the business -purchasing, accounting, payroll, safety and environmental safety training and testing.
Receive and process incoming Medicaid, Medicare, government grants and donation checks.
Charge with improving customer service for patients and physicians as well as re-capturing lose outpatient radiology business.

Department administrator vs administrative director skills

Common department administrator skills

Patient Care, 10%
Patients, 10%
Financial Reports, 7%
Human Resources, 6%
Payroll, 6%
Departmental Policies, 5%

Common administrative director skills

Patients, 11%
Patient Care, 9%
Customer Service, 6%
Human Resources, 5%
Financial Reports, 5%
Payroll, 5%

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Department Administrator vs Administrative Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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