Director, product & project management vs product manager

The differences between directors, product & project management and product managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a director, product & project management and a product manager. Additionally, a director, product & project management has an average salary of $129,963, which is higher than the $111,729 average annual salary of a product manager.

The top three skills for a director, product & project management include customer satisfaction, architecture and product development. The most important skills for a product manager are product management, QA, and product strategy.

Director, product & project management vs product manager overview

	Director, Product & Project Management	Product Manager
Yearly salary	$129,963	$111,729
Hourly rate	$62.48	$53.72
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	214,699	125,678
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	10	10

Director, product & project management vs product manager salary

Directors, product & project management and product managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Director, Product & Project Management	Product Manager
Average salary	$129,963	$111,729
Salary range	Between $94,000 And $178,000	Between $81,000 And $152,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Meta
Best paying industry	-	Retail

Differences between director, product & project management and product manager education

There are a few differences between a director, product & project management and a product manager in terms of educational background:

	Director, Product & Project Management	Product Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Georgia	University of Georgia

Director, product & project management vs product manager demographics

Here are the differences between directors, product & project management' and product managers' demographics:

	Director, Product & Project Management	Product Manager
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 67.9% Female, 32.1%	Male, 65.3% Female, 34.7%
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%

Differences between director, product & project management and product manager duties and responsibilities

Director, product & project management example responsibilities.

Manage horizontal UX prototyping resource needs, implementing effective collaborative expectations and cross-product timeline allocation strategies.
Review design and perform QA testing of deliver products.
Perform QA testing, and direct internal alpha testing and customer beta testing.
Redesign core SaaS product to add industry-leading functionality and enterprise platform.
Develop detailed cloud products opportunity analysis, XaaS service matrix, value proposition, build/buy/partner analysis, and financial business case.
Manage horizontal UX prototyping resource needs, implementing effective collaborative expectations and cross-product timeline allocation strategies.

Product manager example responsibilities.

Lead collaborative efforts within the PMO, vendors, customers, and internal stakeholders.
Manage developers accountable for coding, database development, UI implementation, and system architecture.
Manage inventory service levels / overstocks /defective inventory and supplier buy-in opportunities to maximize ROI.
Lead customization of the company's administrative SaaS software solution by defining features and functionality for internal/external stakeholder teams.
Lead weekly meetings between engineering, sales/marketing, and QA departments to facilitate communication, collaboration and resolution of product issues.
Handle design and specification of administration system requirements to efficiently manage, operate, and support client API configurations and sessions.

Director, product & project management vs product manager skills

Common director, product & project management skills

Customer Satisfaction, 45%
Architecture, 36%
Product Development, 3%
Project Management, 3%
Product Management, 1%
Web Content, 1%

Common product manager skills

Product Management, 11%
QA, 5%
Product Strategy, 5%
Project Management, 4%
Market Research, 4%
User Stories, 4%

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Director, Product & Project Management
Director, Product & Project Management vs Product Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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