Program management specialist vs manager, project management

The differences between program management specialists and managers, project management can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a manager, project management has an average salary of $102,925, which is higher than the $82,591 average annual salary of a program management specialist.

The top three skills for a program management specialist include project management, DOD and powerpoint. The most important skills for a manager, project management are project management, risk management, and portfolio.

Program management specialist vs manager, project management overview

	Program Management Specialist	Manager, Project Management
Yearly salary	$82,591	$102,925
Hourly rate	$39.71	$49.48
Growth rate	6%	16%
Number of jobs	152,144	263,655
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	-	-

What does a program management specialist do?

A project management specialist is responsible for overseeing different programs and projects within a company, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities typically revolve around identifying project needs, participating in setting goals and objectives, managing schedules and budgets, performing risk and cost assessments, and producing progress reports and presentations for the directors and other executives. Furthermore, a project management specialist may also perform research and analysis to find new business opportunities and liaise with clients to generate sales.

What does a manager, project management do?

The role of a project management manager involves the planning, execution, monitoring, control, and closure of projects. Project managers oversee the scope of the entire project, the team, success or failure, and its resources. They facilitate productivity and commitment, remove obstacles, and motivate their team members. Their skills should include leadership, critical thinking, communication, negotiating, and risk management. They should also know about cost management, scheduling, and task management.

Program management specialist vs manager, project management salary

Program management specialists and managers, project management have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Program Management Specialist	Manager, Project Management
Average salary	$82,591	$102,925
Salary range	Between $55,000 And $122,000	Between $73,000 And $144,000
Highest paying City	Worcester, MA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	California
Best paying company	Microsoft	Ropes & Gray
Best paying industry	Technology	Pharmaceutical

Differences between program management specialist and manager, project management education

There are a few differences between a program management specialist and a manager, project management in terms of educational background:

	Program Management Specialist	Manager, Project Management
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Program management specialist vs manager, project management demographics

Here are the differences between program management specialists' and managers, project management' demographics:

	Program Management Specialist	Manager, Project Management
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 39.9% Female, 60.1%	Male, 61.9% Female, 38.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between program management specialist and manager, project management duties and responsibilities

Program management specialist example responsibilities.

Manage key performance indicators (KPI) for service metrics daily, weekly, monthly.
Manage the SharePoint website portal as well as classified/unclassified records.
Manage, monitors and measures project portfolio status, recommending corrective action as necessary and communicate portfolio status to their management.
Review, research and accurately process HAZMAT stock requests.
Involve in safety training, forklift training, hazmat training.
Practice and champion establish PMO standards and policies and contribute to continuous improvement of best practices.

Manager, project management example responsibilities.

Manage budgets and resources of various project groups to successfully implement ERP & CRM application.
Counsele application team leads in maximizing available migration windows for defect resolution.
Facilitate efforts on prioritizing bugs find during QA testing and manage remediation efforts.
Manage and monitor compliance with FDA validate system requirements, documentation creation and SDLC methodologies.
Manage services portfolio releases and delivery enablement process for major cloud and big data professional services offerings.
Lead digital initiative developments that integrate with current infrastructure, delivering timely market penetration to enhance organizational competitiveness.

Program management specialist vs manager, project management skills

Common program management specialist skills

Project Management, 17%
DOD, 10%
PowerPoint, 7%
Business Development, 5%
Financial Management, 5%
Management Support, 4%

Common manager, project management skills

Project Management, 20%
Risk Management, 7%
Portfolio, 5%
Customer Service, 3%
Process Improvement, 3%
On-Time Delivery, 3%

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Program Management Specialist
Program Management Specialist vs Manager, Project Management

Updated January 8, 2025

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