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Product management director vs product owner

The differences between product management directors and product owners 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 management director and a product owner. Additionally, a product management director has an average salary of $156,724, which is higher than the $97,070 average annual salary of a product owner.

The top three skills for a product management director include product management, product strategy and cloud. The most important skills for a product owner are user stories, acceptance criteria, and product backlog.

Product management director vs product owner overview

Product Management DirectorProduct Owner
Yearly salary$156,724$97,070
Hourly rate$75.35$46.67
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs170,460129,990
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

What does a product management director do?

A Product Management Director is responsible for a business product planning as well as execution throughout the life cycle of the business. They create the product strategy and requirements, develop and execute tactical plans, and maintain product and market knowledge.

What does a product owner do?

Product owners are at the forefront of an organization's development cycle. They have various duties and responsibilities, which include ensuring that the value of products created by the development team is maximized, creating a vision and defining the goals for development projects, and working closely with all stakeholders. As the product owner, you are responsible for ensuring that the development team maintains a consistent vision and overseeing the product backlog. You are also expected to supervise the actual product development stages and anticipate the needs of clients.

Product management director vs product owner salary

Product management directors and product owners have different pay scales, as shown below.

Product Management DirectorProduct Owner
Average salary$156,724$97,070
Salary rangeBetween $112,000 And $219,000Between $71,000 And $130,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaORIX USA
Best paying industryTechnologyManufacturing

Differences between product management director and product owner education

There are a few differences between a product management director and a product owner in terms of educational background:

Product Management DirectorProduct Owner
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 70%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia

Product management director vs product owner demographics

Here are the differences between product management directors' and product owners' demographics:

Product Management DirectorProduct Owner
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 77.1% Female, 22.9%Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7%
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 management director and product owner duties and responsibilities

Product management director example responsibilities.

  • Lead initiatives across broad categories ranging from search engine optimization to promotions and CRM to customer retention.
  • Deploy a highly customize third-party CRM and sales management software, managing $40MM annual ad sales revenue.
  • Manage a team of 8 developers , 3 editors , 1 QA person, and 1 graphic designer.
  • Manage cross-functional projects to integrate new products and features into the roadmap and GTM approach and drive adoption.
  • Manage the product management, business analyst, and UI teams in the development of a new class of EMM applications.
  • Manage the design development process from designer sketch handover to bulk production delivery.
  • Show more

Product owner example responsibilities.

  • Manage remote teams to port core and legacy components into AWS.
  • Manage a global team to create Java base EDI / XML / XSL mapping suite.
  • Gather and define requirements for the BSS require to operate and manage the SaaS offerings.
  • Serve as technical contact for affiliate partners during API integration and create and manage API documentation.
  • Manage the team to redesign the Java base desktop trading community management product to a web base portal.
  • Used Microsoft TFS to manage project phases, sprints and burn down chart of various stages of SDLC.
  • Show more

Product management director vs product owner skills

Common product management director skills
  • Product Management, 13%
  • Product Strategy, 7%
  • Cloud, 6%
  • Analytics, 5%
  • Market Research, 4%
  • Product Roadmap, 4%
Common product owner skills
  • User Stories, 10%
  • Acceptance Criteria, 7%
  • Product Backlog, 5%
  • Analytics, 5%
  • Product Management, 4%
  • EPICS, 4%

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