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Lead product developer vs product director

The differences between lead product developers and product directors 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 director. Additionally, a product director has an average salary of $148,910, 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 product director are product management, product strategy, and project management.

Lead product developer vs product director overview

Lead Product DeveloperProduct Director
Yearly salary$122,863$148,910
Hourly rate$59.07$71.59
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs152,976125,200
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

Lead product developer vs product director salary

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

Lead Product DeveloperProduct Director
Average salary$122,863$148,910
Salary rangeBetween $87,000 And $173,000Between $104,000 And $212,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateArizonaCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaMeta
Best paying industryManufacturingInternet

Differences between lead product developer and product director education

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

Lead Product DeveloperProduct Director
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 director demographics

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

Lead Product DeveloperProduct Director
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 74.3% Female, 25.7%Male, 72.4% Female, 27.6%
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 director 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 director example responsibilities.

  • Lead the overall site ISO implementation.
  • Manage Salesforce integration to SaaS platform and client systems.
  • Lead SaaS application visibility and performance monitoring in hybrid enterprise to accelerate adoption of cloud.
  • Utilize SQL to support data-driven analysis and decision processes to inform project prioritization, assess feature effectiveness, and troubleshoot issues.
  • Interact with FDA, CDC, and other external agencies as required to introduce novel molecular products into the market.
  • Spearhead transformation of the organization to modern best practices, ISO & lean manufacturing.
  • Show more

Lead product developer vs product director skills

Common lead product developer skills
  • Lifecycle Management, 27%
  • Java, 9%
  • Product Development, 8%
  • Project Management, 7%
  • R, 6%
  • Product Management, 3%
Common product director skills
  • Product Management, 10%
  • Product Strategy, 6%
  • Project Management, 6%
  • Product Roadmap, 5%
  • Product Design, 4%
  • Software Development, 4%

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