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The differences between senior project specialists and project leaders 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 a project leader. Additionally, a project leader has an average salary of $98,559, 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 a project leader are project management, work ethic, and C++.
| Senior Project Specialist | Project Leader | |
| Yearly salary | $87,213 | $98,559 |
| Hourly rate | $41.93 | $47.38 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 111,859 | 221,165 |
| 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.
A project leader is responsible for supervising the team and managing the distribution of tasks to ensure the project's success with the highest efficiency and accuracy. Duties of a project leader include motivating the team, managing the team's needs and concerns, providing effective strategies to improve the team's performance, creating reports, monitoring the team's progress, and maintaining the coordination between team members. A project leader should have exceptional leadership skills to handle the team's operation and identify areas of improvement to deliver excellent results.
Senior project specialists and project leaders have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Project Specialist | Project Leader | |
| Average salary | $87,213 | $98,559 |
| Salary range | Between $67,000 And $112,000 | Between $70,000 And $138,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Idaho | California |
| Best paying company | Amazon | Boston Consulting Group |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Professional |
There are a few differences between a senior project specialist and a project leader in terms of educational background:
| Senior Project Specialist | Project Leader | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between senior project specialists' and project leaders' demographics:
| Senior Project Specialist | Project Leader | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.0% Female, 50.0% | Male, 69.0% Female, 31.0% |
| 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, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |