Post job

Lead product developer vs director of product development

The differences between lead product developers and directors of product development can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a lead product developer and a director of product development. Additionally, a director of product development has an average salary of $140,507, which is higher than the $122,863 average annual salary of a lead product developer.

The top three skills for a lead product developer include lifecycle management, java and product development. The most important skills for a director of product development are product development, project management, and product management.

Lead product developer vs director of product development overview

Lead Product DeveloperDirector Of Product Development
Yearly salary$122,863$140,507
Hourly rate$59.07$67.55
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs152,976175,429
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

Lead product developer vs director of product development salary

Lead product developers and directors of product development have different pay scales, as shown below.

Lead Product DeveloperDirector Of Product Development
Average salary$122,863$140,507
Salary rangeBetween $87,000 And $173,000Between $100,000 And $196,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Mateo, CA
Highest paying stateArizonaCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaApple
Best paying industryManufacturingManufacturing

Differences between lead product developer and director of product development education

There are a few differences between a lead product developer and a director of product development in terms of educational background:

Lead Product DeveloperDirector Of Product Development
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Most common majorMechanical EngineeringBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of Texas at AustinUniversity of Georgia

Lead product developer vs director of product development demographics

Here are the differences between lead product developers' and directors of product development' demographics:

Lead Product DeveloperDirector Of Product Development
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 74.3% Female, 25.7%Male, 72.0% Female, 28.0%
Race ratioBlack 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%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 Percentage10%10%

Differences between lead product developer and director of product development duties and responsibilities

Lead product developer example responsibilities.

  • Manage development resources among development, QA, support, documentation, sales and marketing.
  • Manage projects build on technologies including .NET, C++, H.264 video, PHP and AJAX, JavaScript.
  • Target select electrical engineer database to yield increase and additional sales leads.
  • Used Redgate API to create tools for syncing data across databases.
  • Coordinate efforts among vendors to determine the mutual requirements and to define API.
  • Utilize SQL to support data-driven analysis and decision processes to inform project prioritization, assess feature effectiveness, and troubleshoot issues.
  • Show more

Director of product development example responsibilities.

  • Organize and manage project meetings between partners, vendors, and associates using both scrum and waterfall methodologies.
  • Manage long-term care, hospital transition, and Medicaid- Medicare expansion initiatives, that includes model of care design and implementation )
  • Manage packaging design and nutritional labeling within QA guidelines.
  • Manage company intellectual portfolio and develop key relationships with vendors and clients including leading global technology companies.
  • Develop using Java, JSP, J2EE, CSS, DHTML, HTML, Plugins and JavaScript.
  • Prepare proposals for new projects, including project feasibility, ROI, expenses and costs.
  • Show more

Lead product developer vs director of product development skills

Common lead product developer skills
  • Lifecycle Management, 27%
  • Java, 9%
  • Product Development, 8%
  • Project Management, 7%
  • R, 6%
  • Product Management, 3%
Common director of product development skills
  • Product Development, 12%
  • Project Management, 9%
  • Product Management, 9%
  • R, 7%
  • Product Strategy, 4%
  • Market Research, 3%

Browse executive management jobs