Senior director vs general manager

The differences between senior directors and general managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 8-10 years to become a senior director, becoming a general manager takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a senior director has an average salary of $152,047, which is higher than the $71,581 average annual salary of a general manager.

The top three skills for a senior director include healthcare, analytics and patients. The most important skills for a general manager are customer service, cleanliness, and food safety.

Senior director vs general manager overview

	Senior Director	General Manager
Yearly salary	$152,047	$71,581
Hourly rate	$73.10	$34.41
Growth rate	10%	6%
Number of jobs	131,871	442,690
Job satisfaction	-	4.25
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 56%
Average age	39	44
Years of experience	10	6

What does a senior director do?

Senior directors are the top management who manage the overall corporate structure of a brand. These executives take responsibility for the planning, operations, and profitability of the company. They direct and control all the functions of businesses. Their jobs cover the advertising, marketing, sales, and promotions of products and services. They are the people behind the tactical and strategic management of every asset of the enterprise through different programs.

What does a general manager do?

A general manager is responsible for handling the overall operations in the business. General managers manage the staff tasks efficiently, monitor the productivity and efficiency of the work environment, implement new strategies to improve the business performance, recognize the team's best efforts, and effective allocation of budget resources. A general manager must have excellent communication, decision-making, and critical-thinking skills to identify areas of improvement in handling customer complaints, connecting with vendors and other lines of businesses that will direct the company towards its successful objectives.

Senior director vs general manager salary

Senior directors and general managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Director	General Manager
Average salary	$152,047	$71,581
Salary range	Between $105,000 And $219,000	Between $40,000 And $126,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Hawaii
Best paying company	Apple	NVIDIA
Best paying industry	Pharmaceutical	Manufacturing

Differences between senior director and general manager education

There are a few differences between a senior director and a general manager in terms of educational background:

	Senior Director	General Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 56%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Georgia	University of Pennsylvania

Senior director vs general manager demographics

Here are the differences between senior directors' and general managers' demographics:

	Senior Director	General Manager
Average age	39	44
Gender ratio	Male, 66.6% Female, 33.4%	Male, 70.7% Female, 29.3%
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, 6.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 6.4% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between senior director and general manager duties and responsibilities

Senior director example responsibilities.

Lead the expansion for support of public sector business in EMEA and APAC.
Create and deliver pitch decks, while being task with managing RFP responses.
Organize scrum certification training, lead departmental reorganization around scrum teams and act as scrum coach.
Lead assessment, design, and implementation of operational governance capabilities for the EMEA & ASIA regions.
Manage ongoing ITIL certification program for UK operations as required by government regulation.
Help project managers understand financial responsibilities and lead them in increase product delivery and ROI.

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General manager example responsibilities.

Generate positive EBITDA and improve cash flow by managing costs and inventory.
Manage all recruiting and training efforts, and develop systems to track ROI comparison results.
Work as a FOH AGM and train to manage all staff functions including training, hiring, food and labor controls.
Develop yearly budget for multiple hotels that include revenue, labor, fix and variable costs to achieve overall EBITDA goal.
Task primarily with building logistics infrastructure, managing operational expenses, and supporting start up strategies.
Train and manage FOH staff and improve overall quality, organization and professionalism of restaurant and bakery.

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Senior director vs general manager skills

Common senior director skills

Healthcare, 6%
Analytics, 6%
Patients, 6%
Portfolio, 5%
Oversight, 5%
Project Management, 5%

Common general manager skills

Customer Service, 20%
Cleanliness, 18%
Food Safety, 7%
Guest Service, 4%
Payroll, 4%
Math, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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