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Lead product developer vs product development manager

The differences between lead product developers and product development managers 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 product development manager. Additionally, a lead product developer has an average salary of $122,863, which is higher than the $113,437 average annual salary of a product development manager.

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

Lead product developer vs product development manager overview

Lead Product DeveloperProduct Development Manager
Yearly salary$122,863$113,437
Hourly rate$59.07$54.54
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs152,976166,871
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

Lead product developer vs product development manager salary

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

Lead Product DeveloperProduct Development Manager
Average salary$122,863$113,437
Salary rangeBetween $87,000 And $173,000Between $84,000 And $152,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateArizonaNevada
Best paying companyMetaMeta
Best paying industryManufacturingRetail

Differences between lead product developer and product development manager education

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

Lead Product DeveloperProduct Development Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorMechanical EngineeringBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of Texas at AustinUniversity of Georgia

Lead product developer vs product development manager demographics

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

Lead Product DeveloperProduct Development Manager
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 74.3% Female, 25.7%Male, 62.2% Female, 37.8%
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 product development manager 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

Product development manager example responsibilities.

  • Used PLM tools to track, manage, and organize the development process.
  • Design front-end UX for e-tailor website, manage customer service tracking and CRM solutions.
  • Manage the entire development and implementation process for a $750K SaaS solution for education.
  • Lead acquisition of StudyinBritain.com, expanding client base to schools in the UK and Ireland.
  • Lead development of open API, blogs, custom video player, numerous sites, and internal applications.
  • Establish reliable and predictable agile process, with measure KPIs and quantitative metrics; manage release schedule and risk.
  • Show more

Lead product developer vs product development manager skills

Common lead product developer skills
  • Lifecycle Management, 27%
  • Java, 9%
  • Product Development, 8%
  • Project Management, 7%
  • R, 6%
  • Product Management, 3%
Common product development manager skills
  • Product Development, 11%
  • Project Management, 9%
  • Lifecycle Management, 7%
  • Product Management, 6%
  • R, 5%
  • Customer Service, 4%

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