Product manager vs director of product development

The differences between product managers and directors of product development 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 a director of product development. Additionally, a director of product development has an average salary of $140,507, which is higher than the $111,729 average annual salary of a product manager.

The top three skills for a product manager include product management, QA and product strategy. The most important skills for a director of product development are product development, project management, and product management.

Product manager vs director of product development overview

	Product Manager	Director Of Product Development
Yearly salary	$111,729	$140,507
Hourly rate	$53.72	$67.55
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	125,678	175,429
Job satisfaction	5	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	10	10

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 a director of product development do?

A Director of Product Development supervises and implements product development policies, initiatives, and objectives. They conduct market research to determine consumer needs and identify competitors.

Product manager vs director of product development salary

Product managers and directors of product development have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Product Manager	Director Of Product Development
Average salary	$111,729	$140,507
Salary range	Between $81,000 And $152,000	Between $100,000 And $196,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Mateo, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Meta	Apple
Best paying industry	Retail	Manufacturing

Differences between product manager and director of product development education

There are a few differences between a product manager and a director of product development in terms of educational background:

	Product Manager	Director Of Product Development
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 72%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Georgia	University of Georgia

Product manager vs director of product development demographics

Here are the differences between product managers' and directors of product development' demographics:

	Product Manager	Director Of Product Development
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 65.3% Female, 34.7%	Male, 72.0% Female, 28.0%
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, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between product manager and director of product development 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.

Director of product development example responsibilities.

Organize and manage project meetings between partners, vendors, and associates using both scrum and waterfall methodologies.
Manage long-term care, hospital transition, and Medicaid- Medicare expansion initiatives, that includes model of care design and implementation )
Manage packaging design and nutritional labeling within QA guidelines.
Manage company intellectual portfolio and develop key relationships with vendors and clients including leading global technology companies.
Develop using Java, JSP, J2EE, CSS, DHTML, HTML, Plugins and JavaScript.
Prepare proposals for new projects, including project feasibility, ROI, expenses and costs.

Product manager vs director of product development skills

Common product manager skills

Product Management, 11%
QA, 5%
Product Strategy, 5%
Project Management, 4%
Market Research, 4%
User Stories, 4%

Common director of product development skills

Product Development, 12%
Project Management, 9%
Product Management, 9%
R, 7%
Product Strategy, 4%
Market Research, 3%

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Product Manager vs Director Of Product Development

Updated January 8, 2025

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