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The differences between project leaders and scrum masters 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 leader and a scrum master. Additionally, a project leader has an average salary of $98,559, which is higher than the $86,329 average annual salary of a scrum master.
The top three skills for a project leader include project management, work ethic and C++. The most important skills for a scrum master are jira, software development, and agile scrum.
| Project Leader | Scrum Master | |
| Yearly salary | $98,559 | $86,329 |
| Hourly rate | $47.38 | $41.50 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 221,165 | 44,670 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
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.
A scrum master is a job that's rooted in leadership. It is the scrum master's responsibility to ensure a scrum process over the development of a project. They are not directly involved in the decision-making but guide the team in completing the scrum process with their experience and expertise. Also, a scrum master must be adept at being agile in approaching a project and also be able to schedule meetings during the process. In addition, the scrum master acts as a coach as well, helping the scrum teamwork cross-functionally.
Project leaders and scrum masters have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Project Leader | Scrum Master | |
| Average salary | $98,559 | $86,329 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $138,000 | Between $65,000 And $114,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Boston Consulting Group | ICE Mortgage Technology |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Energy |
There are a few differences between a project leader and a scrum master in terms of educational background:
| Project Leader | Scrum Master | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between project leaders' and scrum masters' demographics:
| Project Leader | Scrum Master | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.0% Female, 31.0% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| Race ratio | 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% | 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 Percentage | 11% | 11% |