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Project officer vs project management specialist

The differences between project officers and project management specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project management specialist has an average salary of $81,204, which is higher than the $59,291 average annual salary of a project officer.

The top three skills for a project officer include project management, technical assistance and press releases. The most important skills for a project management specialist are PMP, powerpoint, and status reports.

Project officer vs project management specialist overview

Project OfficerProject Management Specialist
Yearly salary$59,291$81,204
Hourly rate$28.51$39.04
Growth rate-8%11%
Number of jobs127,352145,872
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4744
Years of experience-4

What does a project officer do?

A project officer provides vital support to a project by monitoring deadlines for each project task and closely monitors the project schedule. They work with the project manager and other team members to reach the project target. They can work in almost every field of industry, such as construction, communications, education, and even sales. They can also do administrative tasks, including arranging team meetings, file project documents to the database, and technological skills, and they report directly to the Project Manager to assess project progress and to discuss future steps.

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.

Project officer vs project management specialist salary

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

Project OfficerProject Management Specialist
Average salary$59,291$81,204
Salary rangeBetween $41,000 And $84,000Between $58,000 And $112,000
Highest paying CityBaltimore, MDBridgewater, NJ
Highest paying stateRhode IslandNew Jersey
Best paying companyMorgan StanleyEnbridge
Best paying industryHealth CareFinance

Differences between project officer and project management specialist education

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

Project OfficerProject Management Specialist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 63%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaStanford University

Project officer vs project management specialist demographics

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

Project OfficerProject Management Specialist
Average age4744
Gender ratioMale, 65.5% Female, 34.5%Male, 52.4% Female, 47.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%Black 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%
LGBT Percentage10%12%

Differences between project officer and project management specialist duties and responsibilities

Project officer example responsibilities.

  • Lead project to create a PMO data warehouse for analysts to track, validate, analyze and manage day-to-day portfolio activities.
  • Manage repository of SharePoint site to update and monitor inventory.
  • Lead multiple projects, including developing a SharePoint information portal.
  • Manage quality assurance checks for FDA and internal audits which result in no documentation/information error and successful completion of the audits.
  • Review and provide analysis statements on RFP and subsequent contractor responses to RFP.
  • Design and implement an algorithm to crawl over LinkedIn API and merge them using python program.
  • Show more

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.
  • Show more

Project officer vs project management specialist skills

Common project officer skills
  • Project Management, 18%
  • Technical Assistance, 9%
  • Press Releases, 7%
  • Project Proposals, 7%
  • Logistical Support, 6%
  • Financial Reports, 6%
Common project management specialist skills
  • PMP, 9%
  • PowerPoint, 7%
  • Status Reports, 7%
  • Program Management, 6%
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Project Management Tools, 5%

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