Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior engineering managers and technical managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes More than 10 years to become a senior engineering manager, becoming a technical manager takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior engineering manager has an average salary of $155,753, which is higher than the $116,619 average annual salary of a technical manager.
The top three skills for a senior engineering manager include java, architecture and cloud. The most important skills for a technical manager are project management, infrastructure, and architecture.
| Senior Engineering Manager | Technical Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $155,753 | $116,619 |
| Hourly rate | $74.88 | $56.07 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 70,918 | 116,732 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 48 | 40 |
| Years of experience | - | 2 |
Senior engineering managers are the leaders who oversee and supervise a team of engineers. These executives are the ones who develop, modify, create, and test solutions to technical-related problems. They direct and coordinate the production, quality assurance, maintenance, operations, or testing in industrial plants. It is part of their job to handle the research and development of new procedures and products. They are also involved in improving the advance scientific research and manufacturing processes of the company.
A technical manager is responsible for maintaining the company's information systems database and analyzing technology system matters to ensure its efficiency and accuracy in supporting business operations. Technical managers perform network checks regularly to assess any possible malfunctions that might compromise the company's cybersecurity. They carefully analyze business and clients' specifications on working with systems integration, responding to end-users' concerns and inquiries. A technical manager must have excellent knowledge of the information technology systems industry, as well as a strong command on network codes to conduct adjustments and manage network infrastructure.
Senior engineering managers and technical managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Engineering Manager | Technical Manager | |
| Average salary | $155,753 | $116,619 |
| Salary range | Between $110,000 And $218,000 | Between $84,000 And $161,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | California |
| Best paying company | Airbnb | A.T. Kearney |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a senior engineering manager and a technical manager in terms of educational background:
| Senior Engineering Manager | Technical Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor | Carnegie Mellon University |
Here are the differences between senior engineering managers' and technical managers' demographics:
| Senior Engineering Manager | Technical Manager | |
| Average age | 48 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.9% Female, 10.1% | Male, 83.7% Female, 16.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 2.9% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 17.6% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 6.4% White, 65.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 14% |