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Project management specialist vs project manager

The differences between project management specialists and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project manager has an average salary of $91,578, which is higher than the $81,204 average annual salary of a project management specialist.

The top three skills for a project management specialist include PMP, powerpoint and status reports. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.

Project management specialist vs project manager overview

Project Management SpecialistProject Manager
Yearly salary$81,204$91,578
Hourly rate$39.04$44.03
Growth rate11%8%
Number of jobs145,872167,116
Job satisfaction-4.17
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age4447
Years of experience4-

What does a project management specialist do?

A project management specialist is an individual who manages an entire project and serves as a point of contact for a client or customer. Project management specialists must provide detailed cost analysis and timetable reports to keep projects on schedule and budget. They must ask for frequent updates from all staff assigned so that they can identify potential problems that may keep projects from being completed on time. Project management specialists must also prepare progress reports of projects and create presentations for senior management.

What does a project manager do?

Project managers oversee a specific project related to the organization's business. They manage the whole project from inception to evaluation. They initiate planning with involved departments, follow-through on the plans, ensure smooth execution of the plans, and evaluate the project for further improvements should these be needed. In line with this, project managers also ensure that the project is cost-efficient and well within the budget. They also manage the different work teams involved in the project and ensure that things are running smoothly on this aspect as well.

Project management specialist vs project manager salary

Project management specialists and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Project Management SpecialistProject Manager
Average salary$81,204$91,578
Salary rangeBetween $58,000 And $112,000Between $64,000 And $129,000
Highest paying CityBridgewater, NJSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateNew JerseyCalifornia
Best paying companyEnbridgeThe Citadel
Best paying industryFinanceTechnology

Differences between project management specialist and project manager education

There are a few differences between a project management specialist and a project manager in terms of educational background:

Project Management SpecialistProject Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeStanford UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Project management specialist vs project manager demographics

Here are the differences between project management specialists' and project managers' demographics:

Project Management SpecialistProject Manager
Average age4447
Gender ratioMale, 52.4% Female, 47.6%Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 11.8% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage12%10%

Differences between project management specialist and project manager duties and responsibilities

Project management specialist example responsibilities.

  • Plan and manage all development and production activities for the company s new cardiac rhythmic management (CRM) extrusion line.
  • Manage user authorization in SharePoint.
  • Manage change management activation and stabilization activities for ERP project within all sites.
  • Manage a team responsible for designing service-orient application architecture, standards and best practices guidelines, security and data access frameworks.
  • Update, create stories, and modify VDS tasks in JIRA.
  • Facilitate project meetings, including setting the agenda, meeting logistics and documentation of meetings.
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Project manager example responsibilities.

  • Schedule and manage the GCP audit process.
  • Define, develop and manage metrics and KPIs systems for new product business group.
  • Manage the application process for the FDA medical device, minority and small business certifications.
  • Manage multiple projects and resources simultaneously while mentoring, coaching and implementing best practices, SOX and HIPAA compliance standards.
  • Lead teams using the Informatica ETL tool for the design and development of multiple financial and risk enterprise data warehouses.
  • Administer and manage Salesforce requirements.
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Project management specialist vs project manager skills

Common project management specialist skills
  • PMP, 9%
  • PowerPoint, 7%
  • Status Reports, 7%
  • Program Management, 6%
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Project Management Tools, 5%
Common project manager skills
  • Project Management, 23%
  • Project Scope, 6%
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Infrastructure, 5%
  • Status Reports, 4%
  • Risk Management, 3%

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