Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior product managers and product development 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 product manager and a product development manager. Additionally, a senior product manager has an average salary of $133,868, which is higher than the $113,437 average annual salary of a product development manager.
The top three skills for a senior product manager include product management, cloud and product strategy. The most important skills for a product development manager are product development, project management, and lifecycle management.
| Senior Product Manager | Product Development Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $133,868 | $113,437 |
| Hourly rate | $64.36 | $54.54 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 119,025 | 166,871 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 10 |
A senior product manager oversees the workflow and workforce involved in product and service development, ensuring a high return for its investments. They are primarily responsible for assessing and providing recommendations, producing review and reference documents, and obtaining feedback from consumers and high-ranking company personnel. Furthermore, as a senior product manager, they must lead a group of product managers, motivating and supervising them in their joint effort to accomplish goals according to the company's standards and policies.
A product development manager spearheads the development of new products within a company. Most of the time, their responsibilities revolve around conducting marketing research and analysis to determine consumers' needs, coordinating with the product development team to come up with new ideas, proposing business plans to the executives, and creating prototypes. A product development manager must also present a cost analysis, produce progress reports, and address inquiries and concerns. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the staff, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.
Senior product managers and product development managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Product Manager | Product Development Manager | |
| Average salary | $133,868 | $113,437 |
| Salary range | Between $98,000 And $182,000 | Between $84,000 And $152,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Nevada |
| Best paying company | Roku | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Start-up | Retail |
There are a few differences between a senior product manager and a product development manager in terms of educational background:
| Senior Product Manager | Product Development Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between senior product managers' and product development managers' demographics:
| Senior Product Manager | Product Development Manager | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 68.5% Female, 31.5% | Male, 62.2% Female, 37.8% |
| 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, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |