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Project director vs consultant/project manager

The differences between project directors and consultant/project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project director has an average salary of $107,396, which is higher than the $100,754 average annual salary of a consultant/project manager.

The top three skills for a project director include project management, oversight and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a consultant/project manager are project management, project scope, and business development.

Project director vs consultant/project manager overview

Project DirectorConsultant/Project Manager
Yearly salary$107,396$100,754
Hourly rate$51.63$48.44
Growth rate-11%
Number of jobs116,968213,963
Job satisfaction5-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age4747
Years of experience--

What does a project director do?

A project director is an individual responsible for supervising workers from various departments given specific tasks to complete a given project. They create a budget to complete a job while monitoring the amount of money spent to ensure that overspending is avoided. They provide presentations to investors, business partners, and company executives to inform them about their progress and development. Project directors must have several years of experience and obtain at least a bachelor's degree in business economics or a related field to be hired.

What does a consultant/project manager do?

Consultants/project managers act as planners, leaders, and advisors in business enterprises. These professionals facilitate meetings and establish positive relationships with vendors, management, and clients. They make customer visits, maintain industry knowledge, procure third-party software and hardware, and deliver projects. It is also part of their duty to manage complex initiatives in an individual business unit or organization. Their skills include analytical, time and cost management, problem-solving, interpersonal skills, and proficiency in project management software.

Project director vs consultant/project manager salary

Project directors and consultant/project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Project DirectorConsultant/Project Manager
Average salary$107,396$100,754
Salary rangeBetween $70,000 And $162,000Between $74,000 And $136,000
Highest paying CityLas Vegas, NVHartford, CT
Highest paying stateNevadaConnecticut
Best paying companyFried FrankMicrosoft
Best paying industryTechnologyTechnology

Differences between project director and consultant/project manager education

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

Project DirectorConsultant/Project Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Project director vs consultant/project manager demographics

Here are the differences between project directors' and consultant/project managers' demographics:

Project DirectorConsultant/Project Manager
Average age4747
Gender ratioMale, 56.2% Female, 43.8%Male, 65.4% Female, 34.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 8.8% White, 65.9% 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, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between project director and consultant/project manager duties and responsibilities

Project director example responsibilities.

  • Provide direction and guidance to Americas regional executives with all aspects of managing their regions in order to achieve business goals.
  • Manage commercial real estate, adaptive reuse development project.
  • Create, maintain, and manage software development project schedules according to PMI standards.
  • Manage customer service center issues spanning Americas, European, and Asian delivery centers.
  • Refine and develop strong/functional on-site OCI management teams to ensure project EPC objectives are achieve.
  • Manage offshore / onshore test teams through entire SDLC for major, minor and hotfix releases.
  • Show more

Consultant/project manager example responsibilities.

  • Lead and manage team of business analysts responsible for defining detail functional specifications for large-scale CRM implementation.
  • Project manage software development initiatives according to company SDLC.
  • Manage quality/regulatory control and clinical personnel, to deliver on time data-migration project using SDLC.
  • Develop training programs for ERP implementations, and manage development of custom performance support and knowledge management software solutions.
  • Implement a repeatable process methodology base on the PMI PMBOK defining a systematic approach to delivering solutions and achieving customer objectives.
  • Draft system documentation and create business process flows using Visio.
  • Show more

Project director vs consultant/project manager skills

Common project director skills
  • Project Management, 20%
  • Oversight, 19%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 8%
  • HR, 5%
  • Adaptive, 5%
  • ERP, 4%
Common consultant/project manager skills
  • Project Management, 19%
  • Project Scope, 11%
  • Business Development, 10%
  • Executive Management, 6%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 6%
  • Manage Project Scope, 6%

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