Post job

Senior director, product management vs product manager

The differences between senior directors, product management and 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 director, product management and a product manager. Additionally, a senior director, product management has an average salary of $169,685, which is higher than the $111,729 average annual salary of a product manager.

The top three skills for a senior director, product management include product management, SR and product strategy. The most important skills for a product manager are product management, QA, and product strategy.

Senior director, product management vs product manager overview

Senior Director, Product ManagementProduct Manager
Yearly salary$169,685$111,729
Hourly rate$81.58$53.72
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs173,327125,678
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

What does a senior director, product management do?

A senior director of product management's role is to direct and oversee the product development operations in an organization, ensuring that all procedures adhere to the vision, mission, and goals of the company. Their responsibilities revolve around creating roadmaps and guidelines, coordinating with different departments to gather relevant data, setting budgets and objectives, devising strategies and finding new opportunities, and monitoring sales while putting customer feedback into consideration. Furthermore, as a senior director, it is essential to lead and encourage team members, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

What does a product manager do?

A product manager is responsible for ensuring product development, providing the best marketing strategies, and effectively handling the sales and marketing team. Product managers' duties include monitoring the market trends and conditions, identifying business opportunities and plan initiatives, and collaborating the product launch process with the appropriate departments. A product manager is also responsible for generating ideas on improving product features, determining timetables and reasonable pricing, and analyzing product sales. A product manager must have excellent strategic and decision-making skills to contribute to its growth and profitability.

Senior director, product management vs product manager salary

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

Senior Director, Product ManagementProduct Manager
Average salary$169,685$111,729
Salary rangeBetween $123,000 And $233,000Between $81,000 And $152,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateWashingtonCalifornia
Best paying companyeBayMeta
Best paying industryMediaRetail

Differences between senior director, product management and product manager education

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

Senior Director, Product ManagementProduct Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia

Senior director, product management vs product manager demographics

Here are the differences between senior directors, product management' and product managers' demographics:

Senior Director, Product ManagementProduct Manager
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 80.5% Female, 19.5%Male, 65.3% Female, 34.7%
Race ratioBlack 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 Percentage10%10%

Differences between senior director, product management and product manager duties and responsibilities

Senior director, product management example responsibilities.

  • Lead redesign on the UI and navigation.
  • Develop and manage client email campaigns, PPC management, SEO, and affiliate marketing.
  • Create and lead internal education program with goal of reducing time spend on development and QA testing.
  • Conduct integration, technology and programmer partner contract negotiations, manage both internal and external resources for product UI development.
  • Define vision for next generation cloud and SaaS platform to capitalize on market opportunity and provide platform to re-invent existing product.
  • Implement initiatives tracking, reporting and monitoring KPIs.
  • Show more

Product manager example responsibilities.

  • Lead collaborative efforts within the PMO, vendors, customers, and internal stakeholders.
  • Manage developers accountable for coding, database development, UI implementation, and system architecture.
  • Manage inventory service levels / overstocks /defective inventory and supplier buy-in opportunities to maximize ROI.
  • Lead customization of the company's administrative SaaS software solution by defining features and functionality for internal/external stakeholder teams.
  • Lead weekly meetings between engineering, sales/marketing, and QA departments to facilitate communication, collaboration and resolution of product issues.
  • Handle design and specification of administration system requirements to efficiently manage, operate, and support client API configurations and sessions.
  • Show more

Senior director, product management vs product manager skills

Common senior director, product management skills
  • Product Management, 12%
  • SR, 7%
  • Product Strategy, 6%
  • Market Research, 6%
  • Analytics, 6%
  • ROI, 5%
Common product manager skills
  • Product Management, 11%
  • QA, 5%
  • Product Strategy, 5%
  • Project Management, 4%
  • Market Research, 4%
  • User Stories, 4%

Browse executive management jobs