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What does a lead product developer do?

Updated January 8, 2025
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Lead product developer responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real lead product developer resumes:

  • 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.
  • Create dynamic template for new product development ROI financial analysis that enable management to forecast risk exposure prior to funding commitment.

Lead product developer skills and personality traits

We calculated that 27% of Lead Product Developers are proficient in Lifecycle Management, Java, and Product Development. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Analytical skills, and Communication skills.

We break down the percentage of Lead Product Developers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Lifecycle Management, 27%

    Managed product portfolio encompassing multiple product lines including lifecycle management of products and identification and prioritization of new product introduction projects.

  • Java, 9%

    Developed extensively in Oracle Forms, PL/SQL packages, Pro*C batch modules, and Java Swing.

  • Product Development, 8%

    Single point of accountability for product development programs ranging from Research through Commercialization in Purdue's fully outsourced business model.

  • Project Management, 7%

    Mentor and coach for Project Managers and technical resources within the organization on project management methodology.

  • R, 6%

    Plotted various plots using various R libraries to find out the resulting trend.

  • Product Management, 3%

    Recognized for outstanding team leadership in 1999 with an all-expense paid trip to BMC Product Management and Development Cayman Island Event.

"lifecycle management," "java," and "product development" are among the most common skills that lead product developers use at work. You can find even more lead product developer responsibilities below, including:

Organizational skills. One of the key soft skills for a lead product developer to have is organizational skills. You can see how this relates to what lead product developers do because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." Additionally, a lead product developer resume shows how lead product developers use organizational skills: "manage scope changes and plan for project risk, monitoring against client needs, organizational goals, and business objective changes. "

Analytical skills. Many lead product developer duties rely on analytical skills. "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization.," so a lead product developer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways lead product developer responsibilities rely on analytical skills: "gap analysis of current business processes for custom code with continuing developer support and unit testing. "

Communication skills. lead product developers are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to lead product developer responsibilities, because "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." A lead product developer resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "performed labeling lead project management including maintaining project schedules and collaborative communications and working relationships with cross-functional project team partners. "

Creativity. lead product developer responsibilities often require "creativity." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." This resume example shows what lead product developers do with creativity on a typical day: "increased profit margins by 27% through negotiations, product development and disposing of obsolete inventory. "

See the full list of lead product developer skills

Compare different lead product developers

Lead product developer vs. Marketing manager

Marketing managers are experienced employees who oversee the marketing department of the organization. They manage activities such as marketing campaigns, social media postings, company branding, and other strategic marketing activities. They provide strategic direction and come up with departmental goals. They also provide proper training for employees in the department to ensure that they have a deep understanding of its marketing tools. Marketing managers should be creative, should have good interpersonal skills, and should be flexible.

The annual salary of marketing managers is $18,313 lower than the average salary of lead product developers.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between lead product developers and marketing managers are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like product development, project management, and r.

While similarities exist, there are also some differences between lead product developers and marketing manager. For instance, lead product developer responsibilities require skills such as "lifecycle management," "java," "strong work ethic," and "product management." Whereas a marketing manager is skilled in "digital marketing," "marketing campaigns," "integrated marketing," and "email marketing." This is part of what separates the two careers.

Marketing managers earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $115,553. On the other hand, lead product developers are paid more in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $120,260.The education levels that marketing managers earn slightly differ from lead product developers. In particular, marketing managers are 11.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a lead product developer. Additionally, they're 3.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Lead product developer vs. Vice president, product management

A vice president of product management is responsible for handling the overall operational decisions of product deliverables, creating strategic procedures for product marketing strategy, and ensuring that the outputs provide the highest customer satisfaction. The vice president of product management monitors the department's budget, allocating adequate resources to every team to support operational promotions and research on current market trends. They also adjust product management approaches to meet the company's goals and objectives and identify opportunities to increase revenues and profitability.

A career as a vice president, product management brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a lead product developer. In fact, vice presidents, product management salary is $60,368 higher than the salary of lead product developers per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both lead product developers and vice presidents, product management have skills such as "lifecycle management," "java," and "product development. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real lead product developer resumes. While lead product developer responsibilities can utilize skills like "strong work ethic," "development process," "business process," and "process improvement," vice presidents, product management use skills like "analytics," "product strategy," "cloud," and "product roadmap."

Vice presidents, product management may earn a higher salary than lead product developers, but vice presidents, product management earn the most pay in the start-up industry with an average salary of $176,856. On the other hand, lead product developers receive higher pay in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $120,260.vice presidents, product management earn similar levels of education than lead product developers in general. They're 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Lead product developer vs. Product marketing manager

A product marketing manager is responsible for managing the company's goods and services, promoting brand awareness, developing effective marketing campaigns to attract existing and potential clients, generating more revenues, and achieving its profitability goals. Product marketing managers must have excellent knowledge of the marketing industry, as well as broad ideas on the current industry trends to meet clients' demands and identify business opportunities. A product marketing manager should be highly communicative and display excellent leadership skills to work with other departments and respond to clients' inquiries and concerns timely and efficiently.

An average product marketing manager eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of lead product developers. The difference in salaries amounts to product marketing managers earning a $10,643 lower average salary than lead product developers.By looking over several lead product developers and product marketing managers resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "lifecycle management," "product development," and "project management." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, lead product developers are more likely to have skills like "java," "strong work ethic," "development process," and "business process." But a product marketing manager is more likely to have skills like "digital marketing," "marketing campaigns," "b2b marketing," and "market trends."

Product marketing managers make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $121,046. On the other hand, lead product developers are paid the highest salary in the manufacturing industry, with average annual pay of $120,260.Most product marketing managers achieve a lower degree level compared to lead product developers. For example, they're 6.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 3.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Lead product developer vs. Senior product marketing manager

A senior product marketing manager develops marketing projects and programs for new products, aiming to attract consumers and increase the brand value, which will translate into sales. They primarily have administrative duties such as making decisions, establishing schedules and guidelines, setting budgets and goals, delegating responsibilities among teams, and monitoring their progress, solving issues and concerns when any arise. They also lead the efforts to conduct market research and analyses, create marketing materials, and streamlining project requirements, all while implementing standards and regulations.

Senior product marketing managers average a higher salary than the annual salary of lead product developers. The difference is about $5,608 per year.While both lead product developers and senior product marketing managers complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like lifecycle management, java, and product development, the two careers vary in some skills.While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "project management," "strong work ethic," "development process," and "business process" are skills that commonly show up on lead product developer resumes. On the other hand, senior product marketing managers use skills like digital marketing, cloud, integrated marketing, and go-to-market strategy on their resumes.In general, senior product marketing managers earn the most working in the technology industry, with an average salary of $134,623. The highest-paying industry for a lead product developer is the manufacturing industry.senior product marketing managers reach similar levels of education compared to lead product developers, in general. The difference is that they're 2.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 3.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of lead product developer

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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