Senior manager, program management vs manager, project management

The differences between senior managers, program management and managers, project management can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a senior manager, program management has an average salary of $132,993, which is higher than the $102,925 average annual salary of a manager, project management.

The top three skills for a senior manager, program management include program management, project management and continuous improvement. The most important skills for a manager, project management are project management, risk management, and portfolio.

Senior manager, program management vs manager, project management overview

	Senior Manager, Program Management	Manager, Project Management
Yearly salary	$132,993	$102,925
Hourly rate	$63.94	$49.48
Growth rate	16%	16%
Number of jobs	263,686	263,655
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	8	-

What does a senior manager, program management do?

A senior manager of product management is responsible for overseeing the product development procedures and techniques from conceptualization to final outputs, including budget limitations and deliverables within the required timeframes. Senior managers of product management implement quality control processes to identify potential inconsistencies and glitches, adjusting initial projected plans as needed. They coordinate with suppliers and third-party vendors to support the production, ensuring high-quality providers to avoid delays and complications on product management. A senior manager of product management also reports progress updates with the clients and manage product release to the target market.

What does a manager, project management do?

The role of a project management manager involves the planning, execution, monitoring, control, and closure of projects. Project managers oversee the scope of the entire project, the team, success or failure, and its resources. They facilitate productivity and commitment, remove obstacles, and motivate their team members. Their skills should include leadership, critical thinking, communication, negotiating, and risk management. They should also know about cost management, scheduling, and task management.

Senior manager, program management vs manager, project management salary

Senior managers, program management and managers, project management have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Manager, Program Management	Manager, Project Management
Average salary	$132,993	$102,925
Salary range	Between $97,000 And $182,000	Between $73,000 And $144,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Roku	Ropes & Gray
Best paying industry	Internet	Pharmaceutical

Differences between senior manager, program management and manager, project management education

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

	Senior Manager, Program Management	Manager, Project Management
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 69%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	University of Pennsylvania

Senior manager, program management vs manager, project management demographics

Here are the differences between senior managers, program management' and managers, project management' demographics:

	Senior Manager, Program Management	Manager, Project Management
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 73.1% Female, 26.9%	Male, 61.9% Female, 38.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.8% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 10.2% Asian, 14.8% White, 62.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	11%	10%

Differences between senior manager, program management and manager, project management duties and responsibilities

Senior manager, program management example responsibilities.

Manage Americas fitness reimbursement and tuition reimbursement plans.
Manage projects leveraging both agile and waterfall methodologies throughout SDLC.
Manage full SDLC application development projects using agile development methodology.
Handle intake process, obtain insurance authorizations, supervise utilization and management of Medicaid behavioral health manage care services.
Demonstrate use of PMI methodology practices and tools.
Implement PMI standards and methodology, IEEE system engineering standards, and project recovery techniques.

Manager, project management example responsibilities.

Manage budgets and resources of various project groups to successfully implement ERP & CRM application.
Counsele application team leads in maximizing available migration windows for defect resolution.
Facilitate efforts on prioritizing bugs find during QA testing and manage remediation efforts.
Manage and monitor compliance with FDA validate system requirements, documentation creation and SDLC methodologies.
Manage services portfolio releases and delivery enablement process for major cloud and big data professional services offerings.
Lead digital initiative developments that integrate with current infrastructure, delivering timely market penetration to enhance organizational competitiveness.

Senior manager, program management vs manager, project management skills

Common senior manager, program management skills

Program Management, 16%
Project Management, 12%
Continuous Improvement, 5%
Risk Management, 4%
Infrastructure, 4%
Sigma, 3%

Common manager, project management skills

Project Management, 20%
Risk Management, 7%
Portfolio, 5%
Customer Service, 3%
Process Improvement, 3%
On-Time Delivery, 3%

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Senior Manager, Program Management
Senior Manager, Program Management vs Manager, Project Management

Updated January 8, 2025

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