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The differences between professional services project managers and project specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a professional services project manager has an average salary of $110,886, which is higher than the $65,993 average annual salary of a project specialist.
The top three skills for a professional services project manager include project management, customer satisfaction and process improvement. The most important skills for a project specialist are customer service, project management, and project proposals.
| Professional Services Project Manager | Project Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $110,886 | $65,993 |
| Hourly rate | $53.31 | $31.73 |
| Growth rate | - | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 190,133 | 99,583 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | - |
The job of a professional services project manager is to ensure the delivery of client projects on budget and on time while maintaining your company's profit margins. You will be responsible for managing and communicating deliverables, risks, project timeline, ROI, and issues. In addition, you will be managing and overseeing complex projects, and planning team and client meetings. Other duties include counseling and disciplining consultants and internal personnel on technician and professional issues, providing leadership and technical expertise on how to design and deliver an efficient, reliable, and cost-effective technology infrastructure.
A project specialist's role is to ensure that a project or program's completion is within the allotted time and budget. They are primarily responsible for devising plans and strategies to quicken the pace of production or processes involved, creating a comprehensive schedule, monitoring the progress and producing reports, tracking the budget and expenditures, and coordinating with all department personnel. Moreover, a project specialist may also schedule and attend meetings, all while adhering to the company's policies and standards.
Professional services project managers and project specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Professional Services Project Manager | Project Specialist | |
| Average salary | $110,886 | $65,993 |
| Salary range | Between $85,000 And $143,000 | Between $41,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | CME Group | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Professional |
There are a few differences between a professional services project manager and a project specialist in terms of educational background:
| Professional Services Project Manager | Project Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between professional services project managers' and project specialists' demographics:
| Professional Services Project Manager | Project Specialist | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.1% Female, 33.9% | Male, 46.7% Female, 53.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |