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The differences between senior application architects and principal architects can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a principal architect has an average salary of $133,276, which is higher than the $121,139 average annual salary of a senior application architect.
The top three skills for a senior application architect include cloud, java and API. The most important skills for a principal architect are cloud, infrastructure, and emerging technologies.
| Senior Application Architect | Principal Architect | |
| Yearly salary | $121,139 | $133,276 |
| Hourly rate | $58.24 | $64.08 |
| Growth rate | 21% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 283,741 | 118,908 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 39 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | - |
Senior application architects are information technology (IT) professionals who are responsible for designing and developing IT applications architecture solutions to business problems of an organization. These architects must utilize new technologies that can improve existing systems and ensure the proper synchronization of software and system architectures. They must lead a team of professionals in application development to build plans for capacity planning, application performance, and endurance testing. Senior application architects must also work with customers to gather and analyze their functional and business requirements.
Principal Architects manage all design work at an architecture firm. They ensure that all work is of high professional quality and manage the activity of other design professionals.
Senior application architects and principal architects have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Application Architect | Principal Architect | |
| Average salary | $121,139 | $133,276 |
| Salary range | Between $93,000 And $156,000 | Between $97,000 And $181,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | NVIDIA | |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a senior application architect and a principal architect in terms of educational background:
| Senior Application Architect | Principal Architect | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Architecture |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between senior application architects' and principal architects' demographics:
| Senior Application Architect | Principal Architect | |
| Average age | 39 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.1% Female, 10.9% | Male, 89.3% Female, 10.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.6% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 29.8% White, 52.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | 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 | 8% | 11% |