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The differences between operations specialists and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project manager has an average salary of $91,578, which is higher than the $54,752 average annual salary of an operations specialist.
The top three skills for an operations specialist include customer service, logistics and basic math. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.
| Operations Specialist | Project Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $54,752 | $91,578 |
| Hourly rate | $26.32 | $44.03 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 109,181 | 167,116 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | 4.17 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 44 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
An operations specialist is responsible for optimizing the business' daily operations, ensuring smooth process flow to provide the best services to clients. Operations specialists' duties include analyzing business procedures, identifying opportunities for business improvement, tracking the department's metrics and activities, providing assistance to colleagues, suggesting strategies for operations efficiency, and managing customer's inquiries and complaints. An operations specialist must be an excellent team player and detail-oriented, as well as proven time-management and decision-making skills to meet clients' needs and support the business' objectives.
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.
Operations specialists and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Operations Specialist | Project Manager | |
| Average salary | $54,752 | $91,578 |
| Salary range | Between $35,000 And $85,000 | Between $64,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | California |
| Best paying company | Coatue Management | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Government | Technology |
There are a few differences between an operations specialist and a project manager in terms of educational background:
| Operations Specialist | Project Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between operations specialists' and project managers' demographics:
| Operations Specialist | Project Manager | |
| Average age | 44 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.6% Female, 49.4% | Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | 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 | 11% | 10% |