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Product manager vs associate product manager

The differences between product managers and associate product 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 manager and an associate product manager. Additionally, a product manager has an average salary of $111,729, which is higher than the $89,963 average annual salary of an associate product manager.

The top three skills for a product manager include product management, QA and product strategy. The most important skills for an associate product manager are product management, project management, and user stories.

Product manager vs associate product manager overview

Product ManagerAssociate Product Manager
Yearly salary$111,729$89,963
Hourly rate$53.72$43.25
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs125,678107,763
Job satisfaction5-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

What does a product manager do?

A product manager is responsible for ensuring product development, providing the best marketing strategies, and effectively handling the sales and marketing team. Product managers' duties include monitoring the market trends and conditions, identifying business opportunities and plan initiatives, and collaborating the product launch process with the appropriate departments. A product manager is also responsible for generating ideas on improving product features, determining timetables and reasonable pricing, and analyzing product sales. A product manager must have excellent strategic and decision-making skills to contribute to its growth and profitability.

What does an associate product manager do?

An associate product manager is someone who assists the product development teams in the development of new product features. The duties of an associate include formulation of product strategies, collection of quantitative product data, and interpretation of consumer feedback. The requirements to qualify for the position include a bachelor's degree in computer science, marketing, business management, or a related field, the ability to maintain strong customer relations, and excellent communication skills.

Product manager vs associate product manager salary

Product managers and associate product managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Product ManagerAssociate Product Manager
Average salary$111,729$89,963
Salary rangeBetween $81,000 And $152,000Between $65,000 And $122,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaMeta
Best paying industryRetailStart-up

Differences between product manager and associate product manager education

There are a few differences between a product manager and an associate product manager in terms of educational background:

Product ManagerAssociate Product Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 80%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia

Product manager vs associate product manager demographics

Here are the differences between product managers' and associate product managers' demographics:

Product ManagerAssociate Product Manager
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 65.3% Female, 34.7%Male, 45.0% Female, 55.0%
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 manager and associate product manager duties and responsibilities

Product manager example responsibilities.

  • Lead collaborative efforts within the PMO, vendors, customers, and internal stakeholders.
  • Manage developers accountable for coding, database development, UI implementation, and system architecture.
  • Manage inventory service levels / overstocks /defective inventory and supplier buy-in opportunities to maximize ROI.
  • Lead customization of the company's administrative SaaS software solution by defining features and functionality for internal/external stakeholder teams.
  • Lead weekly meetings between engineering, sales/marketing, and QA departments to facilitate communication, collaboration and resolution of product issues.
  • Handle design and specification of administration system requirements to efficiently manage, operate, and support client API configurations and sessions.
  • Show more

Associate product manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage e-commerce packaging program, displays and packaging.
  • Lead a cross-functional team to launch the diabetes monitoring product.
  • Manage seven brand categories in the livestock feed and pet feed industries
  • Manage POS analysis to build sales tools, identify trends, and report performance.
  • Manage cross-functional teams to develop and produce new product for Chinese, UK and European markets.
  • Manage the department of a medical diabetes blood glucose manufacturing leader of visual blood glucose test strips.
  • Show more

Product manager vs associate product manager skills

Common product manager skills
  • Product Management, 11%
  • QA, 5%
  • Product Strategy, 5%
  • Project Management, 4%
  • Market Research, 4%
  • User Stories, 4%
Common associate product manager skills
  • Product Management, 9%
  • Project Management, 6%
  • User Stories, 5%
  • Market Research, 5%
  • PowerPoint, 4%
  • Customer Service, 4%

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