Senior category manager vs senior product manager

The differences between senior category managers and senior product managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a senior category manager and a senior product manager. Additionally, a senior product manager has an average salary of $133,868, which is higher than the $116,590 average annual salary of a senior category manager.

The top three skills for a senior category manager include category strategy, project management and strategic sourcing. The most important skills for a senior product manager are product management, cloud, and product strategy.

Senior category manager vs senior product manager overview

	Senior Category Manager	Senior Product Manager
Yearly salary	$116,590	$133,868
Hourly rate	$56.05	$64.36
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	66,599	119,025
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	10	10

What does a senior category manager do?

In a retail setting, a senior category manager is in charge of devising strategies to market different product categories. Their responsibilities revolve around coordinating with other departments to gather necessary data, performing market research and analysis to find new business opportunities, identifying the needs of consumers, and keeping abreast of the latest trends. Furthermore, as a senior category manager, it is essential to lead and serve as a mentor to junior category managers, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

What does a senior product manager do?

A senior product manager oversees the workflow and workforce involved in product and service development, ensuring a high return for its investments. They are primarily responsible for assessing and providing recommendations, producing review and reference documents, and obtaining feedback from consumers and high-ranking company personnel. Furthermore, as a senior product manager, they must lead a group of product managers, motivating and supervising them in their joint effort to accomplish goals according to the company's standards and policies.

Senior category manager vs senior product manager salary

Senior category managers and senior product managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Category Manager	Senior Product Manager
Average salary	$116,590	$133,868
Salary range	Between $83,000 And $162,000	Between $98,000 And $182,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Rhode Island	California
Best paying company	Devon Energy	Roku
Best paying industry	Technology	Start-up

Differences between senior category manager and senior product manager education

There are a few differences between a senior category manager and a senior product manager in terms of educational background:

	Senior Category Manager	Senior Product Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Georgia	University of Georgia

Senior category manager vs senior product manager demographics

Here are the differences between senior category managers' and senior product managers' demographics:

	Senior Category Manager	Senior Product Manager
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 69.6% Female, 30.4%	Male, 68.5% Female, 31.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between senior category manager and senior product manager duties and responsibilities

Senior category manager example responsibilities.

Manage relationships, budgets and invoicing for multiple vendors, including the SEM & DR agency and strategic partners.
Lead a marketing team responsible for strategic planning and implementation of B2B and B2C marketing initiatives to achieve business goals.
Project manage large work streams incorporating data and technology to support all business analytics used across the organization.
Coordinate with SOX compliance team and internal & external auditors.
Review SOX documentation, including VISIO process flow diagrams to ensure accuracy.
Execute RFP process, price negotiation, business award, capacity and supply assurance.

Senior product manager example responsibilities.

Manage and lead pipeline visualization project team to successful presentation at annual customer event.
Research reimbursement and payment/coding policies with manage care plans and Medicare for new services.
Manage customer CRM implementations, upgrades and customer relationships (at all client levels) with sales team as SME.
Manage the PLM and PDM product quality data metrics to review process successes and deficiencies enhancing existing product delivery work cycles.
Lead SaaS application visibility and performance monitoring in hybrid enterprise to accelerate adoption of cloud.
Manage requirements capture, engineering and QA schedules, feature stability and iterative feature revisions.

Senior category manager vs senior product manager skills

Common senior category manager skills

Category Strategy, 14%
Project Management, 9%
Strategic Sourcing, 8%
Continuous Improvement, 6%
Internal Stakeholders, 4%
Supplier Management, 4%

Common senior product manager skills

Product Management, 11%
Cloud, 6%
Product Strategy, 4%
User Stories, 4%
Product Vision, 4%
Product Roadmap, 4%

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Senior Category Manager
Senior Category Manager vs Senior Product Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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