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The differences between project directors and principal investigators 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 $84,635 average annual salary of a principal investigator.
The top three skills for a project director include project management, oversight and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a principal investigator are patients, data collection, and project management.
| Project Director | Principal Investigator | |
| Yearly salary | $107,396 | $84,635 |
| Hourly rate | $51.63 | $40.69 |
| Growth rate | - | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 116,968 | 44,475 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 53% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | 4 |
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.
A Principal Investigator is the primary person who is responsible for designing, conducting, and reporting a research project. They report to a designated official such as the department head or division chief.
Project directors and principal investigators have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Project Director | Principal Investigator | |
| Average salary | $107,396 | $84,635 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $162,000 | Between $59,000 And $120,000 |
| Highest paying City | Las Vegas, NV | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | California |
| Best paying company | Fried Frank | Incyte |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a project director and a principal investigator in terms of educational background:
| Project Director | Principal Investigator | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 53% |
| Most common major | Business | Psychology |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor |
Here are the differences between project directors' and principal investigators' demographics:
| Project Director | Principal Investigator | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 56.2% Female, 43.8% | Male, 52.2% Female, 47.8% |
| Race ratio | Black 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, 10.3% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.0% Asian, 4.3% White, 66.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 16% |