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The differences between functional leads and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a functional lead has an average salary of $113,422, which is higher than the $91,578 average annual salary of a project manager.
The top three skills for a functional lead include ERP, client facing and enterprise solutions. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.
| Functional Lead | Project Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $113,422 | $91,578 |
| Hourly rate | $54.53 | $44.03 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 33,917 | 167,116 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.17 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 43 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 6 | - |
Functional leads are professionals who analyze business requirements and provide system design while implementing system solutions for various business initiatives. These professionals must work with clients and internal stakeholders to identify and understand the functional or business requirements. They must analyze and solve complex system problems so that they can improve the organization's overall Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) development and support process. Functional leads must also facilitate a team to design document control procedures that can significantly reduce process cycle time and cost.
Project managers oversee a specific project related to the organization's business. They manage the whole project from inception to evaluation. They initiate planning with involved departments, follow-through on the plans, ensure smooth execution of the plans, and evaluate the project for further improvements should these be needed. In line with this, project managers also ensure that the project is cost-efficient and well within the budget. They also manage the different work teams involved in the project and ensure that things are running smoothly on this aspect as well.
Functional leads and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Functional Lead | Project Manager | |
| Average salary | $113,422 | $91,578 |
| Salary range | Between $85,000 And $149,000 | Between $64,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | Sunnyvale, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Airbnb | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Technology |
There are a few differences between a functional lead and a project manager in terms of educational background:
| Functional Lead | Project Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between functional leads' and project managers' demographics:
| Functional Lead | Project Manager | |
| Average age | 43 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 68.1% Female, 31.9% | Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 9.5% Asian, 24.9% White, 52.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 10% |