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Product lead vs marketing manager

The differences between product leads and marketing managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a product lead and a marketing manager. Additionally, a product lead has an average salary of $118,828, which is higher than the $104,550 average annual salary of a marketing manager.

The top three skills for a product lead include product management, project management and architecture. The most important skills for a marketing manager are digital marketing, marketing campaigns, and project management.

Product lead vs marketing manager overview

Product LeadMarketing Manager
Yearly salary$118,828$104,550
Hourly rate$57.13$50.26
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs95,55789,627
Job satisfaction-3
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

What does a product lead do?

A product lead is responsible for monitoring the development of new products and services of an organization, starting from brand conceptualization to official market release and distribution. Product leads identify effective product management by conducting data analysis and evaluating market statistics of customer demands. They coordinate with the clients on their specifications and requirements, including the budget limit and timely deliverables. A product lead manages the brand promotion on media platforms, creating content that adheres to the target audience.

What does a marketing manager do?

Marketing managers are experienced employees who oversee the marketing department of the organization. They manage activities such as marketing campaigns, social media postings, company branding, and other strategic marketing activities. They provide strategic direction and come up with departmental goals. They also provide proper training for employees in the department to ensure that they have a deep understanding of its marketing tools. Marketing managers should be creative, should have good interpersonal skills, and should be flexible.

Product lead vs marketing manager salary

Product leads and marketing managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Product LeadMarketing Manager
Average salary$118,828$104,550
Salary rangeBetween $86,000 And $163,000Between $71,000 And $153,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CAMenlo Park, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyAirbnbMeta
Best paying industryHospitalityTechnology

Differences between product lead and marketing manager education

There are a few differences between a product lead and a marketing manager in terms of educational background:

Product LeadMarketing Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia

Product lead vs marketing manager demographics

Here are the differences between product leads' and marketing managers' demographics:

Product LeadMarketing Manager
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 71.1% Female, 28.9%Male, 44.4% Female, 55.6%
Race ratioBlack 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, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between product lead and marketing manager duties and responsibilities

Product lead example responsibilities.

  • Manage multiple teams of designers, information architects, and UI developers across various projects for desktop, mobile and tablets.
  • Design, manage, and implement internationalization QA process for radiology software in the European office.
  • Manage horizontal UX prototyping resource needs, implementing effective collaborative expectations and cross-product timeline allocation strategies.
  • Lead UX designer for multiple scrum teams.
  • Develop the first versions of cloud base web services APIs to integrate enterprise applications as well as 3rd party applications.
  • Used a combination of extreme programming, scrum, traditional waterfall processes to establish a multi-location, engineering and support operation.
  • Show more

Marketing manager example responsibilities.

  • Utilize SalesForce database to update contacts and prospect new leads.
  • Manage account process from RFP to full execution of campaign in its entirety.
  • Manage agency partners to develop target print media, sampling programs, POS, merchandising.
  • Manage redesign of four bank websites and implementation of new content management system (CMS . )
  • Utilize SalesForce daily to update and follow up on the sales team's leads and clients.
  • Manage various day-to-day projects for small e-commerce startup including constructing wine storage shelves and fulfilling club shipments.
  • Show more

Product lead vs marketing manager skills

Common product lead skills
  • Product Management, 9%
  • Project Management, 6%
  • Architecture, 5%
  • Digital Marketing, 5%
  • Lifecycle Management, 4%
  • Cloud, 4%
Common marketing manager skills
  • Digital Marketing, 14%
  • Marketing Campaigns, 7%
  • Project Management, 4%
  • Integrated Marketing, 4%
  • Email Marketing, 4%
  • CRM, 3%

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