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The differences between incident managers and service delivery managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes More than 10 years to become an incident manager, becoming a service delivery manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a service delivery manager has an average salary of $102,213, which is higher than the $87,053 average annual salary of an incident manager.
The top three skills for an incident manager include incident response, infrastructure and ITIL. The most important skills for a service delivery manager are service delivery, project management, and cloud.
| Incident Manager | Service Delivery Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $87,053 | $102,213 |
| Hourly rate | $41.85 | $49.14 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 22,181 | 71,475 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 48 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | 8 |
As the name entails, the job of an incident manager revolves around the incident management process. Your duties and responsibilities may vary depending on the sector, but typically include defining the process on how your team should work with handling incidents, keeping a report of incidents, logging all service request and incident details. Additionally, you will be responsible for investigating all service requests and incidents and identifying, scheduling, and performing incident reviews. As an incident manager, it also your responsibility to guide the incident process analysts and coordinators.
A service delivery manager is primarily responsible for overseeing department operations, ensuring everything is running smoothly and that all customers receive optimal services. They are also responsible for performing technical tasks such as addressing issues and concerns, troubleshooting, spearheading system repairs and maintenance, and performing corrective measures. They also have clerical duties such as producing progress reports and presentations, maintaining data and records, managing budgets and expenditures, setting goals, assessing workforce performance, and adhering to deadlines. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the team, all while prioritizing customer satisfaction.
Incident managers and service delivery managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Incident Manager | Service Delivery Manager | |
| Average salary | $87,053 | $102,213 |
| Salary range | Between $63,000 And $119,000 | Between $74,000 And $140,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Stamford, CT |
| Highest paying state | New York | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Airbnb | McKinsey & Company Inc |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between an incident manager and a service delivery manager in terms of educational background:
| Incident Manager | Service Delivery Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor | Carnegie Mellon University |
Here are the differences between incident managers' and service delivery managers' demographics:
| Incident Manager | Service Delivery Manager | |
| Average age | 48 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.4% Female, 24.6% | Male, 72.3% Female, 27.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 13.3% White, 69.6% 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 Percentage | 9% | 11% |