Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between product specialists and data product managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a product specialist, becoming a data product manager takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a data product manager has an average salary of $117,599, which is higher than the $85,932 average annual salary of a product specialist.
The top three skills for a product specialist include customer service, product knowledge and sales floor. The most important skills for a data product manager are product management, BI, and QA.
| Product Specialist | Data Product Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $85,932 | $117,599 |
| Hourly rate | $41.31 | $56.54 |
| Growth rate | 19% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 103,863 | 189,532 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Average age | 37 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 10 |
A product specialist is required to have excellent knowledge about a product and work with a business unit to ensure excellent product delivery. Product specialists perform product demonstrations to customers and other stakeholders and assist in their promotions and product releases. To gain increased revenue, product specialists must be able to identify new market opportunities. They are required to conduct product and sales training for the marketing team. They must also provide reports about their product-related activities to the management.
A data product manager is responsible for supervising the data flow within the product management process, ensuring that the data address the product's features and functionality. Data product managers analyze data statistics by conducting surveys and reviewing reports, adjusting business plans according to the results. They also coordinate with the clients to inform them of progress updates and assist with their additional requirements and requests. A data product manager must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in performing quality control procedures before releasing final product outputs.
Product specialists and data product managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Product Specialist | Data Product Manager | |
| Average salary | $85,932 | $117,599 |
| Salary range | Between $56,000 And $130,000 | Between $87,000 And $158,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Bruno, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | ByteDance | Credit Karma |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a product specialist and a data product manager in terms of educational background:
| Product Specialist | Data Product Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between product specialists' and data product managers' demographics:
| Product Specialist | Data Product Manager | |
| Average age | 37 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 59.8% Female, 40.2% | Male, 64.2% Female, 35.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 10.6% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | 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% |