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Project coordinator vs project leader

The differences between project coordinators and project leaders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a project coordinator and a project leader. Additionally, a project leader has an average salary of $98,559, which is higher than the $50,375 average annual salary of a project coordinator.

The top three skills for a project coordinator include project management, customer service and powerpoint. The most important skills for a project leader are project management, work ethic, and C++.

Project coordinator vs project leader overview

Project CoordinatorProject Leader
Yearly salary$50,375$98,559
Hourly rate$24.22$47.38
Growth rate-8%9%
Number of jobs38,743221,165
Job satisfaction5-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age4744
Years of experience66

What does a project coordinator do?

Project coordinators act as the liaising body between different departments involved in a specific project. They are members of the group assigned to work together for special projects or undertakings that will benefit the organization. Project coordinators join meetings of the special committee, from planning to evaluation. They take notes and jot down action plans. They ensure that the committee members assigned to do specific tasks are doing so. They also guarantee project success by ensuring that the people involved in the project are working well together.

What does a project leader do?

A project leader is responsible for supervising the team and managing the distribution of tasks to ensure the project's success with the highest efficiency and accuracy. Duties of a project leader include motivating the team, managing the team's needs and concerns, providing effective strategies to improve the team's performance, creating reports, monitoring the team's progress, and maintaining the coordination between team members. A project leader should have exceptional leadership skills to handle the team's operation and identify areas of improvement to deliver excellent results.

Project coordinator vs project leader salary

Project coordinators and project leaders have different pay scales, as shown below.

Project CoordinatorProject Leader
Average salary$50,375$98,559
Salary rangeBetween $33,000 And $75,000Between $70,000 And $138,000
Highest paying CityNew York, NYSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateNew YorkCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaBoston Consulting Group
Best paying industryFinanceProfessional

Differences between project coordinator and project leader education

There are a few differences between a project coordinator and a project leader in terms of educational background:

Project CoordinatorProject Leader
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeCalifornia State University - BakersfieldStanford University

Project coordinator vs project leader demographics

Here are the differences between project coordinators' and project leaders' demographics:

Project CoordinatorProject Leader
Average age4744
Gender ratioMale, 37.7% Female, 62.3%Male, 69.0% Female, 31.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 19.1% Asian, 5.3% White, 60.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%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%
LGBT Percentage8%11%

Differences between project coordinator and project leader duties and responsibilities

Project coordinator example responsibilities.

  • Create and lead Smartsheet training for team members.
  • Manage timely delivery of regular deliverables to the CIO.
  • Project manages all aspects of office redesign to include; new furniture, layout, logistics, and telephony requirements.
  • Manage FTP site for all projects and coordinate with all consultants and clients to help upload and download auto cad drawings.
  • Manage Minnesota Medicaid billing and patient eligibility from admission and renewals.
  • Manage the PMO Intranet site and develop related standard operating procedure documents.
  • Show more

Project leader example responsibilities.

  • Lead and manage the automation effort for the PeopleSoft financials modules ensuring the desired requirement (s) coverage.
  • Lead the installation of VSAM file extension software that facilitate files larger than native VSAM specs.
  • Lead sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, sprint retrospective, scrum of scrum meetings.
  • Play a similar role for an ASP.NET web application (APA) which manages power plant availability information.
  • Manage using PMI methodologies though life cycle ensuring projects successfully complete within plan budget, schedule and scope.
  • Prepare RFP, evaluate bids, select vendor, negotiate contract, acquire hardware and software, manage development & implementation.
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Project coordinator vs project leader skills

Common project coordinator skills
  • Project Management, 15%
  • Customer Service, 11%
  • PowerPoint, 7%
  • Data Entry, 5%
  • Purchase Orders, 5%
  • Project Coordination, 5%
Common project leader skills
  • Project Management, 17%
  • Work Ethic, 7%
  • C++, 4%
  • C #, 4%
  • Project Plan, 4%
  • Status Reports, 3%

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