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The differences between principal project engineers and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a principal project engineer has an average salary of $122,090, which is higher than the $91,578 average annual salary of a project manager.
The top three skills for a principal project engineer include project management, program management and DOD. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.
| Principal Project Engineer | Project Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $122,090 | $91,578 |
| Hourly rate | $58.70 | $44.03 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 95,718 | 167,116 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.17 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 42 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 4 | - |
A principal project engineer spearheads and oversees engineering projects, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. It is their duty to set guidelines and objectives, provide technical and engineering support to various teams, gather and analyze data, identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing procedures, implement solutions against problem areas, and conducting inspections to ensure that all processes adhere to the company's quality standards and safety regulations, including the state and industry laws. Moreover, as a principal project engineer, it is essential to monitor the progress of all operations, training junior engineers when necessary.
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 project engineers and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Principal Project Engineer | Project Manager | |
| Average salary | $122,090 | $91,578 |
| Salary range | Between $74,000 And $200,000 | Between $64,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | Houston, TX | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Texas | California |
| Best paying company | Alphanumeric | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a principal project engineer and a project manager in terms of educational background:
| Principal Project Engineer | Project Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between principal project engineers' and project managers' demographics:
| Principal Project Engineer | Project Manager | |
| Average age | 42 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.7% Female, 11.3% | Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.5% Asian, 15.5% White, 65.6% 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 | 4% | 10% |