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Director, program manager vs project director

The differences between director, program managers and project directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a director, program manager has an average salary of $107,861, which is higher than the $107,396 average annual salary of a project director.

The top three skills for a director, program manager include program management, project management and oversight. The most important skills for a project director are project management, oversight, and customer satisfaction.

Director, program manager vs project director overview

Director, Program ManagerProject Director
Yearly salary$107,861$107,396
Hourly rate$51.86$51.63
Growth rate12%-
Number of jobs163,036116,968
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age4747
Years of experience--

What does a director, program manager do?

A director or program manager is in charge of spearheading and overseeing programs and projects in a company, ensuring it adheres to budgets and deadlines. It is their duty to set goals and guidelines, manage staff and deadlines, liaise with internal and external parties, coordinate managers, and monitor the progress of all efforts. They must also address issues and concerns, resolving them promptly. Furthermore, as a director, it is essential to lead and encourage teams to reach goals while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

What does a project director do?

A project director is an individual responsible for supervising workers from various departments given specific tasks to complete a given project. They create a budget to complete a job while monitoring the amount of money spent to ensure that overspending is avoided. They provide presentations to investors, business partners, and company executives to inform them about their progress and development. Project directors must have several years of experience and obtain at least a bachelor's degree in business economics or a related field to be hired.

Director, program manager vs project director salary

Director, program managers and project directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Director, Program ManagerProject Director
Average salary$107,861$107,396
Salary rangeBetween $67,000 And $173,000Between $70,000 And $162,000
Highest paying CityJersey City, NJLas Vegas, NV
Highest paying stateRhode IslandNevada
Best paying companyCapgeminiFried Frank
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between director, program manager and project director education

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

Director, Program ManagerProject Director
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Director, program manager vs project director demographics

Here are the differences between director, program managers' and project directors' demographics:

Director, Program ManagerProject Director
Average age4747
Gender ratioMale, 52.3% Female, 47.7%Male, 56.2% Female, 43.8%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.8% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 8.8% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between director, program manager and project director duties and responsibilities

Director, program manager example responsibilities.

  • Lead SharePoint consulting projects and practice.
  • Lead the introduction and upgrade of wireless infrastructure at remote locations to ensure adherence with internal and international wireless standards.
  • Task with providing a gap analysis for the team in order to create a tighter structure and PMO within the organization.
  • Develop SharePoint site to communicate platform.
  • Provide oversight; develop national training center basic academy business/functional processes.
  • Provide weekly spiritual renewal groups where patients identify their assets and liabilities.
  • Show more

Project director example responsibilities.

  • Provide direction and guidance to Americas regional executives with all aspects of managing their regions in order to achieve business goals.
  • Manage commercial real estate, adaptive reuse development project.
  • Create, maintain, and manage software development project schedules according to PMI standards.
  • Manage customer service center issues spanning Americas, European, and Asian delivery centers.
  • Refine and develop strong/functional on-site OCI management teams to ensure project EPC objectives are achieve.
  • Manage offshore / onshore test teams through entire SDLC for major, minor and hotfix releases.
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Director, program manager vs project director skills

Common director, program manager skills
  • Program Management, 12%
  • Project Management, 10%
  • Oversight, 7%
  • Digital Marketing, 6%
  • Rehabilitation, 5%
  • Patients, 5%
Common project director skills
  • Project Management, 20%
  • Oversight, 19%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 8%
  • HR, 5%
  • Adaptive, 5%
  • ERP, 4%

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