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The differences between principal consultants and lead consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a principal consultant has an average salary of $116,478, which is higher than the $103,221 average annual salary of a lead consultant.
The top three skills for a principal consultant include cloud, business development and C #. The most important skills for a lead consultant are customer service, digital transformation, and business process.
| Principal Consultant | Lead Consultant | |
| Yearly salary | $116,478 | $103,221 |
| Hourly rate | $56.00 | $49.63 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 143,753 | 78,252 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 44 | 43 |
| Years of experience | - | 6 |
A principal consultant is responsible for evaluating business' needs and opportunities, identifying potential leads to create project proposals, and maintaining strong business relationships that would generate revenues and increase the organization's profitability. Principal consultants must be up-to-date with the current market trends to ensure that the business adapts to the industry's changes. They also initiate new product development to expand its brand image, working closely with the marketing team for marketing strategies and promotions.
The lead consultants oversee the work of a consultant team and are responsible for offering clients their advice and recommendations on the given project. They are multi-focus experts that assist the company in improving its business performance by acting as liaisons between clients and the consultancy team. Their main job is to ensure the daily management of client's projects. They help the client identify and understand their needs together with finding solutions to their difficulties. Additionally, they analyze and review proposals from the team and then provide relevant solutions to the problems.
Principal consultants and lead consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Principal Consultant | Lead Consultant | |
| Average salary | $116,478 | $103,221 |
| Salary range | Between $90,000 And $150,000 | Between $80,000 And $132,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Oregon | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Pure Storage | |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a principal consultant and a lead consultant in terms of educational background:
| Principal Consultant | Lead Consultant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Western Carolina University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between principal consultants' and lead consultants' demographics:
| Principal Consultant | Lead Consultant | |
| Average age | 44 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.8% Female, 24.2% | Male, 67.9% Female, 32.1% |
| 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, 9.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.7% Asian, 19.5% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 8% |