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The differences between digital 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 digital product manager and a product owner. Additionally, a digital product manager has an average salary of $98,127, which is higher than the $97,070 average annual salary of a product owner.
The top three skills for a digital product manager include product management, digital marketing and user experience. The most important skills for a product owner are user stories, acceptance criteria, and product backlog.
| Digital Product Manager | Product Owner | |
| Yearly salary | $98,127 | $97,070 |
| Hourly rate | $47.18 | $46.67 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 129,203 | 129,990 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 10 |
It is the key role of digital product managers to develop new online products or services. They handle the company's existing products and determine strategies to improve the products through market data. It is their duty to articulate their business value to better understand the creation of the new product. A background and knowledge in digital technology is a requirement. They should develop skills in communication, marketing, delegation, analytics, business management, and market research.
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.
Digital product managers and product owners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Digital Product Manager | Product Owner | |
| Average salary | $98,127 | $97,070 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $136,000 | Between $71,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | McKinsey & Company Inc | ORIX USA |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a digital product manager and a product owner in terms of educational background:
| Digital Product Manager | Product Owner | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between digital product managers' and product owners' demographics:
| Digital Product Manager | Product Owner | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.2% Female, 38.8% | 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% |