Management consultant vs project manager

The differences between management consultants and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a management consultant has an average salary of $99,360, which is higher than the $91,578 average annual salary of a project manager.

The top three skills for a management consultant include healthcare, project management and portfolio. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.

Management consultant vs project manager overview

	Management Consultant	Project Manager
Yearly salary	$99,360	$91,578
Hourly rate	$47.77	$44.03
Growth rate	11%	8%
Number of jobs	153,045	167,116
Job satisfaction	-	4.17
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	44	47
Years of experience	4	-

What does a management consultant do?

A management consultant's responsibility focuses on conducting an in-depth analysis of a company or business, including its target market. Through their findings, they can devise strategies that will help the business grow and attain a significant profit. There are also instances when a management consultant must solve particular issues that will require them to investigate the problem, assess damages, identify risks, and recommend the best solutions to take. Furthermore, a management consultant must adhere to the company's vision, mission, and policies at all times.

What does a project manager do?

Project managers oversee a specific project related to the organization's business. They manage the whole project from inception to evaluation. They initiate planning with involved departments, follow-through on the plans, ensure smooth execution of the plans, and evaluate the project for further improvements should these be needed. In line with this, project managers also ensure that the project is cost-efficient and well within the budget. They also manage the different work teams involved in the project and ensure that things are running smoothly on this aspect as well.

Management consultant vs project manager salary

Management consultants and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Management Consultant	Project Manager
Average salary	$99,360	$91,578
Salary range	Between $72,000 And $136,000	Between $64,000 And $129,000
Highest paying City	Jersey City, NJ	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	California
Best paying company	Apple	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between management consultant and project manager education

There are a few differences between a management consultant and a project manager in terms of educational background:

	Management Consultant	Project Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 67%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	University of Pennsylvania

Management consultant vs project manager demographics

Here are the differences between management consultants' and project managers' demographics:

	Management Consultant	Project Manager
Average age	44	47
Gender ratio	Male, 65.9% Female, 34.1%	Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 13.6% White, 64.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	12%	10%

Differences between management consultant and project manager duties and responsibilities

Management consultant example responsibilities.

Streamline and program manage operations for end-to-end creation of all assets using Smartsheet.
Lead daily agile scrum meetings towards the end of the development phase of the project.
Monitor and control project schedule for SaaS product to achieve project deliveries in at least 95th percentile.
Lead teams in implementation of value map streaming, ISO 9000 and waste reduction in manufacturing process.
Manage functional design team activities using baseline scope document information and develop process standards in line with SDLC methodologies.
Develop light-weight (fast) proprietary cloud-base licensing engine and UI to manage and track end user subscription licenses.

Project manager example responsibilities.

Schedule and manage the GCP audit process.
Define, develop and manage metrics and KPIs systems for new product business group.
Manage the application process for the FDA medical device, minority and small business certifications.
Manage multiple projects and resources simultaneously while mentoring, coaching and implementing best practices, SOX and HIPAA compliance standards.
Lead teams using the Informatica ETL tool for the design and development of multiple financial and risk enterprise data warehouses.
Administer and manage Salesforce requirements.

Management consultant vs project manager skills

Common management consultant skills

Healthcare, 9%
Project Management, 7%
Portfolio, 6%
Business Process, 5%
Business Strategy, 5%
Business Development, 4%

Common project manager skills

Project Management, 23%
Project Scope, 6%
Customer Service, 6%
Infrastructure, 5%
Status Reports, 4%
Risk Management, 3%

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Management Consultant vs Project Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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