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Functional manager vs information technology director

The differences between functional managers and information technology directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a functional manager and an information technology director. Additionally, an information technology director has an average salary of $138,906, which is higher than the $113,849 average annual salary of a functional manager.

The top three skills for a functional manager include professional development, customer service and ERP. The most important skills for an information technology director are customer service, project management, and cloud.

Functional manager vs information technology director overview

Functional ManagerInformation Technology Director
Yearly salary$113,849$138,906
Hourly rate$54.74$66.78
Growth rate16%16%
Number of jobs48,50087,765
Job satisfaction-4
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4747
Years of experience88

What does a functional manager do?

A functional manager handles resources in a certain department like IT, engineering, PR, or marketing. Generally, they direct the technical work of employees from that functional part who are working on the project. They share responsibility with the project manager for directing the work of employees. They assign specific employees to the team and discuss with the project manager regarding resources to improved staff utilization. In addition, they also participate in the initial planning until activities are assigned and recommend possible changes to the project, including corrective actions.

What does an information technology director do?

An information technology (IT) Director is an individual responsible for the management, strategy, and execution of an organization's IT infrastructure. He/She supervises a team of workers while working with the organization's management and external vendors and advisors. Aside from managing workers, an IT director should possess problem-solving skills and an aptitude for organizational thinking. An IT director must also identify new market opportunities and should lead an effort to improve the organization's IT process.

Functional manager vs information technology director salary

Functional managers and information technology directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Functional ManagerInformation Technology Director
Average salary$113,849$138,906
Salary rangeBetween $88,000 And $146,000Between $97,000 And $197,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyAppleThe Tipping Point
Best paying industryProfessionalTechnology

Differences between functional manager and information technology director education

There are a few differences between a functional manager and an information technology director in terms of educational background:

Functional ManagerInformation Technology Director
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 58%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University

Functional manager vs information technology director demographics

Here are the differences between functional managers' and information technology directors' demographics:

Functional ManagerInformation Technology Director
Average age4747
Gender ratioMale, 67.2% Female, 32.8%Male, 88.1% Female, 11.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 12.7% White, 65.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 12.7% White, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between functional manager and information technology director duties and responsibilities

Functional manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage product and solution infrastructure with continuous deployments, and engineering requirements to support product releases and solutions.
  • Verify installations ability to load new DoD supply chain system.
  • Train unit point of contacts on SharePoint procedures on a quarterly basis.
  • Integrate the necessary architecture that would consistently work with web services systems, external systems.
  • Lead program engineer defining vehicle architecture for new segment entries as well as in cycle product updates.
  • Develop a data parsing routine in Java in order to validate record data integrity and continuity of data feed.
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Information technology director example responsibilities.

  • Lead the implementation of the ServiceNow ITSM solution.
  • Work with customers and internal management to create and manage acceptable SLA standards and measurements.
  • Manage the migration of email system for 400 plus users from Novell GroupWise to Google Gmail.
  • Manage the QA department and oversee the support of all storage for the company and its outsource customers.
  • Perform resource planning for a portfolio of projects via prioritizing the demand queue and successfully managing business relationships.
  • Lead the prototyping of a Microsoft SharePoint implementation that customize the look & feel to support the organizational requirements.
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Functional manager vs information technology director skills

Common functional manager skills
  • Professional Development, 16%
  • Customer Service, 14%
  • ERP, 10%
  • Business Process, 9%
  • HR, 9%
  • Project Management, 6%
Common information technology director skills
  • Customer Service, 10%
  • Project Management, 7%
  • Cloud, 6%
  • Network Infrastructure, 6%
  • Disaster Recovery, 3%
  • Windows Server, 3%

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