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The differences between instructional design consultants and instructional design managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an instructional design consultant and an instructional design manager. Additionally, an instructional design consultant has an average salary of $70,045, which is higher than the $66,959 average annual salary of an instructional design manager.
The top three skills for an instructional design consultant include instructional design, subject matter experts and elearning. The most important skills for an instructional design manager are subject matter experts, project management, and learning solutions.
| Instructional Design Consultant | Instructional Design Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $70,045 | $66,959 |
| Hourly rate | $33.68 | $32.19 |
| Growth rate | 7% | 7% |
| Number of jobs | 47,057 | 44,475 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
An instructional design consultant is responsible for assisting, developing, and managing instructional material and plans with other professionals such as programmers, web developers, and teachers in IT. They usually collaborate, coordinate, and interact with the aforementioned professionals to develop a program design to enhance their expertise and learning experiences. Also, they must research electronic learning, run usability tests, find learning objectives for a particular project, and do a content development review and analysis.
An instructional design manager is an executive professional who manages a team of instructional designers to handle and completes a project efficiently and effectively. This manager must design strategies and uses various instructional tools effectively to evaluate instructional design solutions that offer quality to achieve the desired business impact. The manager must try to identify problematic issues related to the project and recommends effective solutions to solve the said issues. Instructional design manager must also develop the details of their project plans as well as work within the assigned budget.
Instructional design consultants and instructional design managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Instructional Design Consultant | Instructional Design Manager | |
| Average salary | $70,045 | $66,959 |
| Salary range | Between $51,000 And $95,000 | Between $48,000 And $91,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Qualtrics | DoorDash |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Energy |
There are a few differences between an instructional design consultant and an instructional design manager in terms of educational background:
| Instructional Design Consultant | Instructional Design Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Harvard University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between instructional design consultants' and instructional design managers' demographics:
| Instructional Design Consultant | Instructional Design Manager | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 47.5% Female, 52.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 5.4% White, 62.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 17.4% Asian, 5.5% White, 62.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 16% | 16% |