Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between lead technicians and product owners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a lead technician, becoming a product owner takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a product owner has an average salary of $97,070, which is higher than the $90,615 average annual salary of a lead technician.
The top three skills for a lead technician include java, architecture and digital transformation. The most important skills for a product owner are user stories, acceptance criteria, and product backlog.
| Lead Technician | Product Owner | |
| Yearly salary | $90,615 | $97,070 |
| Hourly rate | $43.56 | $46.67 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 250,590 | 129,990 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 42 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 10 |
Lead technicians are technicians who oversee the technical needs of a specific project or department. They are usually tenured employees, and their familiarity with the company's technical and technological processes, software, and hardware would be a great advantage in succeeding in their role. Lead technicians are responsible for installing, updating, and maintaining various software and hardware components in the office. They often manage a group of technicians, and they ensure that the group they manage is properly trained and well-versed on the processes of the company. Lead technicians are expected to have strong analytical skills and decision-making skills.
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 technicians and product owners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lead Technician | Product Owner | |
| Average salary | $90,615 | $97,070 |
| Salary range | Between $67,000 And $121,000 | Between $71,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | ORIX USA |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a lead technician and a product owner in terms of educational background:
| Lead Technician | Product Owner | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | 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 technicians' and product owners' demographics:
| Lead Technician | Product Owner | |
| Average age | 42 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.4% Female, 16.6% | Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 15.1% White, 53.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | 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 | 11% | 10% |