Production engineering manager vs design manager

The differences between production engineering managers and design managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes More than 10 years to become both a production engineering manager and a design manager. Additionally, a design manager has an average salary of $102,637, which is higher than the $96,688 average annual salary of a production engineering manager.

The top three skills for a production engineering manager include production engineering, continuous improvement and R. The most important skills for a design manager are sketch, project management, and visualization.

Production engineering manager vs design manager overview

	Production Engineering Manager	Design Manager
Yearly salary	$96,688	$102,637
Hourly rate	$46.48	$49.34
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	123,344	61,273
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	-	-

What does a production engineering manager do?

Most of the production engineering managers oversee the designing and planning methods to improve existing programs. Part of their duties is to review budgets, production requirements, and schedules to determine the most cost-effective methods of obtaining necessary resources. These managers recommend revisions to schedules, monetary resource allocations, and production requirements. They act as an advisor to the production engineering teams about tasks, projects, and operations. Production engineering managers must be capable of resolving escalated concerns from operations and requiring coordination with other departments.

What does a design manager do?

A design manager is responsible for creating graphic and digital designs, following clients' specifications, and managing project deliverables efficiently. Design managers work closely with the marketing and public relations department, developing strategies to promote the brand to the target audience. They coordinate with the creative team and present the design ideas to the management, ask for final approval, perform revisions as needed, and follow the budget goals. A design manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills to handle the design team's concerns and needs.

Production engineering manager vs design manager salary

Production engineering managers and design managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Production Engineering Manager	Design Manager
Average salary	$96,688	$102,637
Salary range	Between $68,000 And $135,000	Between $69,000 And $150,000
Highest paying City	Menlo Park, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Meta	Meta
Best paying industry	Energy	Technology

Differences between production engineering manager and design manager education

There are a few differences between a production engineering manager and a design manager in terms of educational background:

	Production Engineering Manager	Design Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common major	Mechanical Engineering	Graphic Design
Most common college	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Production engineering manager vs design manager demographics

Here are the differences between production engineering managers' and design managers' demographics:

	Production Engineering Manager	Design Manager
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 94.4% Female, 5.6%	Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 11.8% White, 71.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 11.8% White, 71.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between production engineering manager and design manager duties and responsibilities

Production engineering manager example responsibilities.

Establish KPI s per processes to assure the objectives accomplish.
Manage product allocation and inventory through MRP software and communicate technical specifications.
Manage state-of-the-art extrusion plant with single screw and twin screw technology and co-extrusion capability.
Manage workflow and oversee strict cleanroom operations, assuring compliance with FDA specifications including labeling and packaging traceability.
Manage QA for research orient development efforts and for high visibility, production focuse development efforts tie to revenue generation.
Prepare KPI reports and present at executive meetings.

Design manager example responsibilities.

Help achieve status of medical device manufacturer through the FDA.
Manage several consultants preparing contract documents on the various NYC let and NYS let projects.
Manage and collaborate with ASIC library/memory vendors.
Manage design, tooling, equipment implementations and process improvements for foundry/machining metalworking manufacturer of automotive OEM products.
Design blueprints, bills of materials, FEA as required.
Include producing FDA and ISO-9000 level documentation of the project.

Production engineering manager vs design manager skills

Common production engineering manager skills

Production Engineering, 17%
Continuous Improvement, 7%
R, 5%
Lean Manufacturing, 5%
Process Improvement, 5%
Sigma, 4%

Common design manager skills

Sketch, 8%
Project Management, 8%
Visualization, 5%
User Experience, 4%
PowerPoint, 4%
Design Process, 4%

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Production Engineering Manager
Production Engineering Manager vs Design Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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