Senior production planner vs senior product manager

The differences between senior production planners and senior product managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a senior production planner, becoming a senior product manager takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a senior product manager has an average salary of $133,868, which is higher than the $81,198 average annual salary of a senior production planner.

The top three skills for a senior production planner include production planning, ERP and logistics. The most important skills for a senior product manager are product management, cloud, and product strategy.

Senior production planner vs senior product manager overview

	Senior Production Planner	Senior Product Manager
Yearly salary	$81,198	$133,868
Hourly rate	$39.04	$64.36
Growth rate	-3%	10%
Number of jobs	67,432	119,025
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age	45	39
Years of experience	2	10

What does a senior production planner do?

Senior production planners decide on items to be manufactured and their quantities based on carefully researched consumer demand forecasts. The production planners analyze data to revise staff schedules to reach the agreed quota in the manufacturing process. They find solutions for internal material concerns like quality checking and transfer issues. Also, they make sure that the products at the end of the manufacturing phase pass their quality standards.

What does a senior product manager do?

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.

Senior production planner vs senior product manager salary

Senior production planners and senior product managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Production Planner	Senior Product Manager
Average salary	$81,198	$133,868
Salary range	Between $64,000 And $102,000	Between $98,000 And $182,000
Highest paying City	Fremont, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Idaho	California
Best paying company	Intuitive Surgical	Roku
Best paying industry	Health Care	Start-up

Differences between senior production planner and senior product manager education

There are a few differences between a senior production planner and a senior product manager in terms of educational background:

	Senior Production Planner	Senior Product Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 63%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	University of Georgia

Senior production planner vs senior product manager demographics

Here are the differences between senior production planners' and senior product managers' demographics:

	Senior Production Planner	Senior Product Manager
Average age	45	39
Gender ratio	Male, 66.9% Female, 33.1%	Male, 68.5% Female, 31.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 7.2% White, 60.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	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	11%	10%

Differences between senior production planner and senior product manager duties and responsibilities

Senior production planner example responsibilities.

Manage forecast product as required by customer needs, including VMI and KANBAN programs.
Manage cost effective inventory levels for purchase & manufacture assemblies through ERP maintenance of WIP, safety stock & lead-time settings.
Set up reverse logistics supply chain to manage customer returns enabling timely replacement or repair to customers satisfying contractual agreements.
Manage customer requirements including factory schedules/production, planning and order integrity by directing manufacturing and logistics to optimize supply chain availability.
Reconcile inventory and make sure the allocated inventory is flushed out against work orders in process (WIP).
Perform key tasks, including BOM accuracy and shipment of materials that enable successful transfer of tools to volume manufacturing.

Senior product manager example responsibilities.

Manage and lead pipeline visualization project team to successful presentation at annual customer event.
Research reimbursement and payment/coding policies with manage care plans and Medicare for new services.
Manage customer CRM implementations, upgrades and customer relationships (at all client levels) with sales team as SME.
Manage the PLM and PDM product quality data metrics to review process successes and deficiencies enhancing existing product delivery work cycles.
Lead SaaS application visibility and performance monitoring in hybrid enterprise to accelerate adoption of cloud.
Manage requirements capture, engineering and QA schedules, feature stability and iterative feature revisions.

Senior production planner vs senior product manager skills

Common senior production planner skills

Production Planning, 5%
ERP, 5%
Logistics, 4%
Lean Manufacturing, 4%
Capacity Constraints, 4%
Purchase Orders, 4%

Common senior product manager skills

Product Management, 11%
Cloud, 6%
Product Strategy, 4%
User Stories, 4%
Product Vision, 4%
Product Roadmap, 4%

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Senior Production Planner vs Senior Product Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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