Program officer vs program/project manager

The differences between program officers and program/project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a program/project manager has an average salary of $101,850, which is higher than the $79,553 average annual salary of a program officer.

The top three skills for a program officer include project management, program management and excellent interpersonal. The most important skills for a program/project manager are project management, program management, and PMP.

Program officer vs program/project manager overview

	Program Officer	Program/Project Manager
Yearly salary	$79,553	$101,850
Hourly rate	$38.25	$48.97
Growth rate	12%	16%
Number of jobs	118,383	243,017
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age	45	47
Years of experience	6	-

What does a program officer do?

A program officer is an essential part of a foundation or charitable organization. It is up to program officers to supervise program progress and proposals, seek grants, manage projects, and oversee budgets. They generally guarantee that an organization's activities and programs are met with the vision and mission statements of that foundation. It is the program officer's responsibility to complete various tasks in completing the demands of this position. Moreover, their job includes developing their staff, implementation, and daily management of activities.

What does a program/project manager do?

The program manager and project manager are two important positions within a company that are thought to be similar. However, program managers direct diverse projects and programs while project managers head the team who is responsible for ensuring a project is completed on time and within budget. Program managers are responsible for the conveyance of the company goals and generally act as a customer interface that helps clients get their desired update and change of a project. Project managers, on the other hand, focus on the project's schedule, scope, and resources needed to complete it on time.

Program officer vs program/project manager salary

Program officers and program/project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Program Officer	Program/Project Manager
Average salary	$79,553	$101,850
Salary range	Between $53,000 And $117,000	Between $74,000 And $138,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	BNP Paribas	Meta
Best paying industry	Finance	Professional

Differences between program officer and program/project manager education

There are a few differences between a program officer and a program/project manager in terms of educational background:

	Program Officer	Program/Project Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Program officer vs program/project manager demographics

Here are the differences between program officers' and program/project managers' demographics:

	Program Officer	Program/Project Manager
Average age	45	47
Gender ratio	Male, 47.1% Female, 52.9%	Male, 62.0% Female, 38.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 14.8% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 13.4% Asian, 5.0% White, 60.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 8.9% White, 65.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	14%	10%

Differences between program officer and program/project manager duties and responsibilities

Program officer example responsibilities.

Manage request for proposals (RFP) processes, and oversee contractors/vendors for research-relate activities.
Manage a political party strengthening program in Colombia and a civil society strengthening program in Peru from NDI's main office.
Lead the introduction and upgrade of wireless infrastructure at remote locations to ensure adherence with internal and international wireless standards.
Follow privacy guidelines (HIPAA).
Increase immunization coverage for the different age groups.
Improve store rates for hitting all internal sales and QA goals.

Program/project manager example responsibilities.

Plan and manage infrastructure installations and enterprise hardware and software upgrades of classify systems while balancing resources to manage troubleshooting/maintenance actions.
Facilitate daily scrum meetings and collaborate with product owners to prioritize and manage backlog.
Utilize SharePoint, the company's document repository engine to manage access and documentation reviews.
Manage, monitors and measures project portfolio status, recommending corrective action as necessary and communicate portfolio status to their management.
Promote to positions base on demonstrate skills in business analysis, project management, portfolio management and customer relationship management.
Provide program and project management support for applications and infrastructure systems monitoring as well as enhancements and maintenance of existing systems.

Program officer vs program/project manager skills

Common program officer skills

Project Management, 9%
Program Management, 7%
Excellent Interpersonal, 5%
PowerPoint, 5%
Public Health, 5%
Professional Development, 5%

Common program/project manager skills

Project Management, 18%
Program Management, 7%
PMP, 6%
Status Reports, 5%
Infrastructure, 4%
Portfolio, 4%

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Executive Management Industry
Program Officer
Program Officer vs Program/Project Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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