Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior front end developers and lead developers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a senior front end developer and a lead developer. Additionally, a lead developer has an average salary of $116,340, which is higher than the $110,224 average annual salary of a senior front end developer.
The top three skills for a senior front end developer include front end, javascript and html css. The most important skills for a lead developer are java, javascript, and architecture.
| Senior Front End Developer | Lead Developer | |
| Yearly salary | $110,224 | $116,340 |
| Hourly rate | $52.99 | $55.93 |
| Growth rate | 13% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 215,831 | 274,208 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 37 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Senior front end developers play an important role within a business. They are responsible for overseeing the work of junior front end developers and working closely with back-end developers. They are tasked to implement the user interface and develop patterns and abstractions, emphasizing the efficiency of software products. Other duties include evaluating new technologies, building prototype systems that meet the requirements and quality standards, and interacting and engaging with end-users. They also have to collaborate with the user experience team in designing and implementing software experience.
A lead developer is responsible for creating software programs and applications, following the client and the business's software quality standards and design specifications. Lead developers assist a team of developers in implementing strategic procedures, managing system codes, debugging applications, running diagnostic tests, and troubleshooting defects to ensure its smooth performance. They also respond to clients' inquiries and concerns, performing feature adjustments as needed. A lead developer must have strong knowledge of the technology industry and command on programming languages and software design processes.
Senior front end developers and lead developers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Front End Developer | Lead Developer | |
| Average salary | $110,224 | $116,340 |
| Salary range | Between $85,000 And $142,000 | Between $83,000 And $161,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | Mayo Clinic |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Retail |
There are a few differences between a senior front end developer and a lead developer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Front End Developer | Lead Developer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between senior front end developers' and lead developers' demographics:
| Senior Front End Developer | Lead Developer | |
| Average age | 37 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 78.1% Female, 21.9% | Male, 76.4% Female, 23.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 6.5% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 15.9% White, 58.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 29.9% White, 52.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 8% |