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The differences between directors of user experience and user experience designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 8-10 years to become a director of user experience, becoming a user experience designer takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a director of user experience has an average salary of $133,732, which is higher than the $91,159 average annual salary of a user experience designer.
The top three skills for a director of user experience include user experience, sketch and human centered design. The most important skills for a user experience designer are sketch, UI, and user research.
| Director Of User Experience | User Experience Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $133,732 | $91,159 |
| Hourly rate | $64.29 | $43.83 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 43,631 | 52,582 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 39 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 12 |
A user experience director is responsible for evaluating and studying reports of the users' experience regarding the organizations' products and services. User experience directors facilitate surveys and address the users' concerns by reviewing the operational processes and procedures, ensuring that the team provides the best user experience and customer satisfaction. They also coordinate with the clients for progress updates, as well as informing them of adjustments as needed to improve the outputs. A user experience director must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on analyzing the current industry trends to meet client demands and public interests.
A User Experience (UX) designer is an individual who measures and optimizes applications to improve the experience of end-users. His/Her or her duties and responsibilities include considering a design's human-computer interaction element, defining interaction models, and working with creative directors and designers. The key skills for UX designers include strong mathematical and problem-solving skills and excellent information technology and programming skills. Having a bachelor's degree in a design or computing-related subject is an advantage to qualify for the UX designer position.
Directors of user experience and user experience designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Director Of User Experience | User Experience Designer | |
| Average salary | $133,732 | $91,159 |
| Salary range | Between $88,000 And $201,000 | Between $65,000 And $127,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Bruno, CA |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | Washington |
| Best paying company | Roku | BitGo |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a director of user experience and a user experience designer in terms of educational background:
| Director Of User Experience | User Experience Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Wisconsin - Madison | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between directors of user experience' and user experience designers' demographics:
| Director Of User Experience | User Experience Designer | |
| Average age | 39 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.7% Female, 30.3% | Male, 59.6% Female, 40.4% |
| 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, 3.4% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 10.4% White, 70.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 13% |