Engineering director vs engineering program manager

The differences between engineering directors and engineering program managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes More than 10 years to become both an engineering director and an engineering program manager. Additionally, an engineering director has an average salary of $162,252, which is higher than the $122,604 average annual salary of an engineering program manager.

The top three skills for an engineering director include java, architecture and infrastructure. The most important skills for an engineering program manager are project management, program management, and software development.

Engineering director vs engineering program manager overview

	Engineering Director	Engineering Program Manager
Yearly salary	$162,252	$122,604
Hourly rate	$78.01	$58.94
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	63,868	148,543
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	-	-

What does an engineering director do?

An engineering director or director of engineering is an individual who manages a team of engineering managers and coordinates all the engineering activities within the organization. Engineering directors work closely with the organization's executives to develop new strategies to reduce unnecessary costs and time to complete their projects. They must understand and interpret complex sets of data such as profits, losses, or value of liabilities to identify problems and come up with solutions. Engineering directors must also ensure that safety protocols are implemented in the workforce.

What does an engineering program manager do?

As an engineering program manager in the world of technology, it is their main responsibility to lead the development of important modules of new technology such as display, camera, touch ID, etc. It is their job to ensure that modules are correctly built according to specifications and given timeline. They drive day-to-day engineering related activities at the vendor's factory to meet overall program ideas. They are knowledgeable of the hardware process development and other features like display or camera design.

Engineering director vs engineering program manager salary

Engineering directors and engineering program managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Engineering Director	Engineering Program Manager
Average salary	$162,252	$122,604
Salary range	Between $109,000 And $239,000	Between $95,000 And $157,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Brookfield Properties	Meta
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between engineering director and engineering program manager education

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

	Engineering Director	Engineering Program Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Mechanical Engineering
Most common college	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Engineering director vs engineering program manager demographics

Here are the differences between engineering directors' and engineering program managers' demographics:

	Engineering Director	Engineering Program Manager
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 94.6% Female, 5.4%	Male, 83.5% Female, 16.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 13.1% White, 69.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 14.0% White, 69.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between engineering director and engineering program manager duties and responsibilities

Engineering director example responsibilities.

Monitor and manage performance base on multiple KPI's.
Manage all FCC filings for the registration of license frequencies.
Improve network reliability and manage signal leakage and FCC compliance.
Lead implementation and remediation efforts to ensure HIPPA, SOX, and PCI compliance.
Manage a team to develop and support SaaS base access control product for health care industry.
Manage release and deployments for multiple, concurrent Java project across varying release cycles from inception to delivery.

Engineering program manager example responsibilities.

Manage & assist component qualification through PPAP approval process.
Manage prototyping, optics, and tooling for Harley-Davidson aftermarket turn signal and brake lenses.
Manage several projects simultaneously, with excellent track record for ensuring team on-time IP delivery.
Manage committees and task forces ensuring synchronization of CNC training and skills need to promote successful CNC careers.
Work closely with PMO to understand product portfolio needs and manage internal and external resources to meet those goals.
Lead IPT meetings to provide status, address programmatic and customer concerns, assign priorities, assess risk and identifyopportunities.

Engineering director vs engineering program manager skills

Common engineering director skills

Java, 7%
Architecture, 7%
Infrastructure, 6%
AWS, 5%
Project Management, 5%
Customer Service, 4%

Common engineering program manager skills

Project Management, 15%
Program Management, 14%
Software Development, 6%
Scrum, 4%
Risk Management, 3%
Continuous Improvement, 3%

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Engineering Director
Engineering Director vs Engineering Program Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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