What Does a Program Manager Do?

We looked at the average program manager annual salary and compared it with the average of a manager, project management. Generally speaking, managers, project management receive $6,841 higher pay than program managers per year.

While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both program managers and managers, project management positions are skilled in project management, customer service, and infrastructure.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A program manager responsibility is more likely to require skills like "program management," "oversight," "excellent organizational," and "patients." Whereas a manager, project management requires skills like "portfolio," "on-time delivery," "continuous improvement," and "sox." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

Managers, project management receive the highest salaries in the pharmaceutical industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $115,297. But program managers are paid more in the technology industry with an average salary of $115,112.

The education levels that managers, project management earn is a bit different than that of program managers. In particular, managers, project management are 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a program manager. Additionally, they're 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Next up, we have the consultant/project manager profession to look over. This career brings along a higher average salary when compared to a program manager annual salary. In fact, consultant/project managers salary difference is $4,670 higher than the salary of program managers per year.

A similarity between the two careers of program managers and consultant/project managers are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "project management," "infrastructure," and "risk management. "

But both careers also use different skills, according to real program manager resumes. While program manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "program management," "oversight," "customer service," and "excellent organizational," some consultant/project managers use skills like "cash flow," "crm," "strong analytical," and "business analysts."

Consultant/project managers may earn a higher salary than program managers, but consultant/project managers earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $107,463. On the other side of things, program managers receive higher paychecks in the technology industry where they earn an average of $115,112.

When it comes to the differences in education between the two professions, consultant/project managers tend to reach similar levels of education than program managers. In fact, they're 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The third profession we take a look at is operations project manager. On an average scale, these workers bring in lower salaries than program managers. In fact, they make a $5,732 lower salary per year.

While looking through the resumes of several program managers and operations project managers we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "project management," "oversight," and "customer service," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers as shown by resumes from each profession. Some of those differences include the skills required to complete responsibilities within each role. As an example of this, a program manager is likely to be skilled in "program management," "infrastructure," "excellent organizational," and "hr," while a typical operations project manager is skilled in "business operations," "business process," "provide management," and "operations project."

Additionally, operations project managers earn a higher salary in the finance industry compared to other industries. In this industry, they receive an average salary of $90,596. Additionally, program managers earn an average salary of $115,112 in the technology industry.

Operations project managers are known to earn similar educational levels when compared to program managers. Additionally, they're 4.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Associate project managers tend to earn a lower pay than program managers by about $6,632 per year.

While both program managers and associate project managers complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like project management, customer service, and risk management, the two careers also vary in other skills.

Even though a few skill sets overlap, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a program manager might have more use for skills like "program management," "oversight," "infrastructure," and "excellent organizational." Meanwhile, some associate project managers might include skills like "project documentation," "meeting minutes," "powerpoint," and "microsoft project" on their resume.

Associate project managers reach similar levels of education when compared to program managers. The difference is that they're 3.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree less, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.