Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
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 | Project Management Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $59,291 | $81,204 |
| Hourly rate | $28.51 | $39.04 |
| Growth rate | -8% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 127,352 | 145,872 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 47 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | 4 |
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.
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 officers and project management specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Project Officer | Project Management Specialist | |
| Average salary | $59,291 | $81,204 |
| Salary range | Between $41,000 And $84,000 | Between $58,000 And $112,000 |
| Highest paying City | Baltimore, MD | Bridgewater, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Morgan Stanley | Enbridge |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Finance |
There are a few differences between a project officer and a project management specialist in terms of educational background:
| Project Officer | Project Management Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between project officers' and project management specialists' demographics:
| Project Officer | Project Management Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 65.5% Female, 34.5% | Male, 52.4% Female, 47.6% |
| Race ratio | Black 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 Percentage | 10% | 12% |