Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between lead developers and product owners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a lead developer, becoming a product owner takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a lead developer has an average salary of $116,340, which is higher than the $97,070 average annual salary of a product owner.
The top three skills for a lead developer include java, javascript and architecture. The most important skills for a product owner are user stories, acceptance criteria, and product backlog.
| Lead Developer | Product Owner | |
| Yearly salary | $116,340 | $97,070 |
| Hourly rate | $55.93 | $46.67 |
| Growth rate | 21% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 274,208 | 129,990 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 10 |
A lead developer is responsible for creating software programs and applications, following the client and the business's software quality standards and design specifications. Lead developers assist a team of developers in implementing strategic procedures, managing system codes, debugging applications, running diagnostic tests, and troubleshooting defects to ensure its smooth performance. They also respond to clients' inquiries and concerns, performing feature adjustments as needed. A lead developer must have strong knowledge of the technology industry and command on programming languages and software design processes.
Product owners are at the forefront of an organization's development cycle. They have various duties and responsibilities, which include ensuring that the value of products created by the development team is maximized, creating a vision and defining the goals for development projects, and working closely with all stakeholders. As the product owner, you are responsible for ensuring that the development team maintains a consistent vision and overseeing the product backlog. You are also expected to supervise the actual product development stages and anticipate the needs of clients.
Lead developers and product owners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lead Developer | Product Owner | |
| Average salary | $116,340 | $97,070 |
| Salary range | Between $83,000 And $161,000 | Between $71,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Mayo Clinic | ORIX USA |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a lead developer and a product owner in terms of educational background:
| Lead Developer | Product Owner | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between lead developers' and product owners' demographics:
| Lead Developer | Product Owner | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 76.4% Female, 23.6% | Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 29.9% White, 52.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 10% |