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The differences between project directors and program 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 $96,084 average annual salary of a program manager.
The top three skills for a project director include project management, oversight and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a program manager are project management, program management, and oversight.
| Project Director | Program Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $107,396 | $96,084 |
| Hourly rate | $51.63 | $46.19 |
| Growth rate | - | 12% |
| Number of jobs | 116,968 | 197,556 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
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 program manager is responsible for monitoring the project's progress, improving and developing new strategies, and coordinate various projects across the organization to ensure the success of the business objective. Program managers also manage the program's expenses, ensuring that the projects adhere to the budget goals without compromising the quality and accuracy of the result. A program manager should regularly connect with the different teams of every project under the program to keep track of the processes and procedures for the timely delivery of the product.
Project directors and program managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Project Director | Program Manager | |
| Average salary | $107,396 | $96,084 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $162,000 | Between $65,000 And $141,000 |
| Highest paying City | Las Vegas, NV | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | California |
| Best paying company | Fried Frank | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a project director and a program manager in terms of educational background:
| Project Director | Program Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between project directors' and program managers' demographics:
| Project Director | Program Manager | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 56.2% Female, 43.8% | Male, 52.9% Female, 47.1% |
| 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, 7.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 8.9% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |