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Project team lead vs project consultant

The differences between project team leads and project consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a project team lead, becoming a project consultant takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a project team lead has an average salary of $105,306, which is higher than the $86,654 average annual salary of a project consultant.

The top three skills for a project team lead include project management, R and project scope. The most important skills for a project consultant are customer service, project management, and client facing.

Project team lead vs project consultant overview

Project Team LeadProject Consultant
Yearly salary$105,306$86,654
Hourly rate$50.63$41.66
Growth rate10%11%
Number of jobs125,539113,013
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4444
Years of experience64

What does a project team lead do?

A project team lead sets up the expectations for the team members. Project team leads are in charge of setting the direction for the team members. They see to it that the members will not stray from the team's goals. They lead and engage in project works. It is their job to maintain the dynamics of the team. It is their aim not to fail in their management and leadership skills. They need to have conflict and resolution skills, communication skills, attention to detail, and patience.

What does a project consultant do?

A project consultant is responsible for communicating with the clients for their specific needs, develop strategic plans, and determine project resources to achieve their business goals and objectives. Project consultants are employed across various industries, offering their knowledge and expertise to facilitate clients' requests and propositions. They also collaborate with different development teams to discuss project parameters and analyze opportunities to improve plans and progress efficiency. A project consultant must have excellent communication and critical-thinking skills, responding to clients' inquiries and concerns, and providing recommendations to ensure successful project completion.

Project team lead vs project consultant salary

Project team leads and project consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

Project Team LeadProject Consultant
Average salary$105,306$86,654
Salary rangeBetween $80,000 And $137,000Between $59,000 And $126,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CANewark, NJ
Highest paying stateCaliforniaNew Jersey
Best paying companyCitiDell
Best paying industryFinance-

Differences between project team lead and project consultant education

There are a few differences between a project team lead and a project consultant in terms of educational background:

Project Team LeadProject Consultant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 66%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeStanford UniversityNorthwestern University

Project team lead vs project consultant demographics

Here are the differences between project team leads' and project consultants' demographics:

Project Team LeadProject Consultant
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 67.6% Female, 32.4%Male, 61.9% Female, 38.1%
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, 7.4% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.5% Asian, 14.4% White, 65.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage11%12%

Differences between project team lead and project consultant duties and responsibilities

Project team lead example responsibilities.

  • Manage UAT, build test plans, regression testing, compile results, training.
  • Lead the program integration effort for a major conversion / upgrade of ERP software for military aircraft production programs.
  • Design SharePoint Wiki sites, and manage SharePoint environment.
  • Manage RFP large scale network/infrastructure relate expansion, integration, and/or decommissioning projects.
  • Lead team that develop an integrate database with a web-base user interface that allow repair crews in locating information and equipment.
  • Design and implement SQL data table setup and program financial and payroll system interfaces.
  • Show more

Project consultant example responsibilities.

  • Lead a pilot project to introduce strong document management features to support document repositories in SharePoint.
  • Manage a team responsible for designing service-orient application architecture, standards and best practices guidelines, security and data access frameworks.
  • Create SQL scripts to implement test unit cases and ensure data quality.
  • Gather all systems, applications and processes documentation into one repository on SharePoint to enable incoming vendor education.
  • Implement strategic initiatives for operational transformation, including SDLC processes, role specialization, order tracking and labor tracking.
  • Develop amendment projection and confirmations user interfaces using JavaScript and XML and develop PL/SQL procedures and packages to handle business logic.
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Project team lead vs project consultant skills

Common project team lead skills
  • Project Management, 15%
  • R, 8%
  • Project Scope, 6%
  • Logistics, 6%
  • Database, 5%
  • HVAC, 5%
Common project consultant skills
  • Customer Service, 16%
  • Project Management, 12%
  • Client Facing, 6%
  • Project Scope, 5%
  • Process Improvement, 5%
  • Healthcare, 4%

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