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The differences between senior project specialists and operations project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a senior project specialist and an operations project manager. Additionally, an operations project manager has an average salary of $90,352, which is higher than the $87,213 average annual salary of a senior project specialist.
The top three skills for a senior project specialist include project management, powerpoint and status reports. The most important skills for an operations project manager are project management, business operations, and risk management.
| Senior Project Specialist | Operations Project Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $87,213 | $90,352 |
| Hourly rate | $41.93 | $43.44 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 111,859 | 210,582 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
The job of a senior project specialist is to manage a portfolio of projects and ensure that these projects achieve quality development outcomes. You will perform a variety of duties that include providing day-to-day support to teams, preparing and reviewing requests for project-related activities, and overseeing the project's financial aspects by reviewing monthly invoices. In addition, you will monitor monthly costs and track contract expenditures against total obligated funds and budget. As a senior project specialist, it is also your responsibility to recruit short- and long-term personnel.
An operations project manager is responsible for monitoring the performance of the project team, ensuring that the operations meet the clients' standards and internal regulations with maximum productivity and efficiency. Operations project managers manage the department's budget and allocate materials and resources accurately, maintaining a record of expenses and costs forecasting. They coordinate with the clients, discussing project adjustments or additional tasks as needed, and lead project execution and deliverables by determining the team's needs and concerns, and enforcing strategic procedures.
Senior project specialists and operations project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Project Specialist | Operations Project Manager | |
| Average salary | $87,213 | $90,352 |
| Salary range | Between $67,000 And $112,000 | Between $66,000 And $122,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Idaho | Connecticut |
| Best paying company | Amazon | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a senior project specialist and an operations project manager in terms of educational background:
| Senior Project Specialist | Operations Project Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between senior project specialists' and operations project managers' demographics:
| Senior Project Specialist | Operations Project Manager | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.0% Female, 50.0% | Male, 68.7% Female, 31.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 6.4% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 10% |