Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between product design managers and product designers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 8-10 years to become a product design manager, becoming a product designer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a product design manager has an average salary of $133,190, which is higher than the $102,033 average annual salary of a product designer.
The top three skills for a product design manager include product design, user research and sketch. The most important skills for a product designer are sketch, visual design, and UI.
| Product Design Manager | Product Designer | |
| Yearly salary | $133,190 | $102,033 |
| Hourly rate | $64.03 | $49.05 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 146,576 | 98,465 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 39 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 4 |
A product design manager typically works with engineers and specialists in the joint effort to develop high-quality standard products. As a product design manager, they are responsible for managing product design teams, understanding and identifying a project's needs, performing research and analysis, setting objectives and guidelines, liaising with external parties, and presenting prototypes for client approval. Moreover, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage staff to reach product goals while enforcing the company's policies and regulations.
A product designer's key responsibilities are to perform design research, selecting the best materials, and develop user storyboards for the client and users' best interest. Product designers usually work with a whole design team, documenting suggestions to deliver high-quality outputs or improve existing products to match the market trends. They must also communicate with other skilled professionals to enhance their ideas and consult clients for any necessary adjustments that would affect the total user experience. A product designer should also have extensive knowledge of the consumer's preference to make the design more appealing and engaging.
Product design managers and product designers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Product Design Manager | Product Designer | |
| Average salary | $133,190 | $102,033 |
| Salary range | Between $91,000 And $193,000 | Between $68,000 And $152,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Sacramento, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Meta | Netflix |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a product design manager and a product designer in terms of educational background:
| Product Design Manager | Product Designer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Graphic Design | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | University of Wisconsin - Madison | Carnegie Mellon University |
Here are the differences between product design managers' and product designers' demographics:
| Product Design Manager | Product Designer | |
| Average age | 39 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.2% Female, 33.8% | Male, 74.2% Female, 25.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 1.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.3% Asian, 10.1% White, 76.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 8% |