Post job

Project leader vs junior project manager

The differences between project leaders and junior project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project leader has an average salary of $98,559, which is higher than the $60,672 average annual salary of a junior project manager.

The top three skills for a project leader include project management, work ethic and C++. The most important skills for a junior project manager are project management, sharepoint, and project scope.

Project leader vs junior project manager overview

Project LeaderJunior Project Manager
Yearly salary$98,559$60,672
Hourly rate$47.38$29.17
Growth rate9%-8%
Number of jobs221,165116,530
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age4447
Years of experience6-

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.

What does a junior project manager do?

The junior project manager plans to organize and direct project-related operations in the company. Junior project managers define the scope of projects. Their duties include resource planning, developing schedules, documentation, time estimation, and activity sequencing. They should develop communication skills, risk management, and the ability to motivate, risk management, and business development and management. Orientation to detail, leadership skills, and knowledge of business are also necessary for this job.

Project leader vs junior project manager salary

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

Project LeaderJunior Project Manager
Average salary$98,559$60,672
Salary rangeBetween $70,000 And $138,000Between $36,000 And $100,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaConnecticut
Best paying companyBoston Consulting GroupCredit Suisse
Best paying industryProfessionalTechnology

Differences between project leader and junior project manager education

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

Project LeaderJunior Project Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeStanford UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Project leader vs junior project manager demographics

Here are the differences between project leaders' and junior project managers' demographics:

Project LeaderJunior Project Manager
Average age4447
Gender ratioMale, 69.0% Female, 31.0%Male, 52.3% Female, 47.7%
Race ratioBlack 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%Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 8.9% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage11%10%

Differences between project leader and junior project manager duties and responsibilities

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.
  • Show more

Junior project manager example responsibilities.

  • Lead the RFP process; successfully acquiring key service providers for each program site
  • Develop and manage key partnerships to promote public health messages of multiple campaigns for CDC and NIH.
  • Plan and manage a series of short films about international students and their experiences in the UK.
  • Have got appreciations from clients and onsite leads constantly for the deadlines meet, and work done in general.
  • Collaborate and lead development of SharePoint sites and successfully complete all testing phases with developer.
  • Manage a SalesForce data migration to consolidate ValueClick and GrayStripe accounts, contracts and documentation.
  • Show more

Project leader vs junior project manager skills

Common project leader skills
  • Project Management, 17%
  • Work Ethic, 7%
  • C++, 4%
  • C #, 4%
  • Project Plan, 4%
  • Status Reports, 3%
Common junior project manager skills
  • Project Management, 27%
  • SharePoint, 6%
  • Project Scope, 5%
  • Project Documentation, 4%
  • Microsoft Project, 3%
  • Jira, 3%

Browse computer and mathematical jobs