Principal investigator vs project manager

The differences between principal investigators 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 $84,635 average annual salary of a principal investigator.

The top three skills for a principal investigator include patients, data collection and project management. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.

Principal investigator vs project manager overview

	Principal Investigator	Project Manager
Yearly salary	$84,635	$91,578
Hourly rate	$40.69	$44.03
Growth rate	5%	8%
Number of jobs	44,475	167,116
Job satisfaction	-	4.17
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	4	-

What does a principal investigator do?

A Principal Investigator is the primary person who is responsible for designing, conducting, and reporting a research project. They report to a designated official such as the department head or division chief.

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.

Principal investigator vs project manager salary

Principal investigators and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Principal Investigator	Project Manager
Average salary	$84,635	$91,578
Salary range	Between $59,000 And $120,000	Between $64,000 And $129,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Incyte	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between principal investigator and project manager education

There are a few differences between a principal investigator and a project manager in terms of educational background:

	Principal Investigator	Project Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 53%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Psychology	Business
Most common college	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	University of Pennsylvania

Principal investigator vs project manager demographics

Here are the differences between principal investigators' and project managers' demographics:

	Principal Investigator	Project Manager
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 52.2% Female, 47.8%	Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 4.3% White, 66.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	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	16%	10%

Differences between principal investigator and project manager duties and responsibilities

Principal investigator example responsibilities.

Serve chemistry project leads for two early-stage drug discovery projects.
Design, build and manage CADD, NMR and MRI facilities.
Attain IRB approval, recruit participants, analyze the data and present results
Manage outsource projects, and interact with vendors for API sourcing, and device components base on project needs.
Conduct research using industry standards: GCP, GLP, SORP and compliance with IRB.
Receive IRB approval and clearance for research

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.

Principal investigator vs project manager skills

Common principal investigator skills

Patients, 10%
Data Collection, 9%
Project Management, 8%
Technical Reports, 6%
FDA, 4%
Data Analysis, 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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Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator vs Project Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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