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The differences between senior architects and chief architects can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a chief architect has an average salary of $168,836, which is higher than the $91,624 average annual salary of a senior architect.
The top three skills for a senior architect include cloud, java and infrastructure. The most important skills for a chief architect are cloud, infrastructure, and digital transformation.
| Senior Architect | Chief Architect | |
| Yearly salary | $91,624 | $168,836 |
| Hourly rate | $44.05 | $81.17 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 103,428 | 98,518 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 45 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | - |
A Senior Architect performs design drafting and evaluates architectural or engineering plans regarding building construction or improvement projects. They review building plans and site design for aesthetics, environmental acceptability, and compliance with quality standards.
Chief architects are C-level executives in information technology (IT) who look at IT functions that may be centralized for seamless collaboration. They are also called enterprise architects who design and manage the software release team base on the scrum/agile development methodologies. Their job involves systems analysis, and they project plan in transitioning the Internet operation of MCI to wireless and cable platforms. Also, they offer a disaster recovery solution for a virtual or physical server to a data center in the cloud.
Senior architects and chief architects have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Architect | Chief Architect | |
| Average salary | $91,624 | $168,836 |
| Salary range | Between $58,000 And $143,000 | Between $111,000 And $255,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Washington |
| Best paying company | Ropes & Gray | Zscaler |
| Best paying industry | - | Retail |
There are a few differences between a senior architect and a chief architect in terms of educational background:
| Senior Architect | Chief Architect | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Cornell University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between senior architects' and chief architects' demographics:
| Senior Architect | Chief Architect | |
| Average age | 45 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.0% Female, 11.0% | Male, 92.7% Female, 7.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 2.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 16.1% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | 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 | 15% | 11% |