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Senior project specialist vs project manager

The differences between senior project specialists and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project manager has an average salary of $91,578, 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 manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.

Senior project specialist vs project manager overview

Senior Project SpecialistProject Manager
Yearly salary$87,213$91,578
Hourly rate$41.93$44.03
Growth rate11%8%
Number of jobs111,859167,116
Job satisfaction-4.17
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age4447
Years of experience6-

What does a senior project specialist do?

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.

What does a project manager do?

Project managers oversee a specific project related to the organization's business. They manage the whole project from inception to evaluation. They initiate planning with involved departments, follow-through on the plans, ensure smooth execution of the plans, and evaluate the project for further improvements should these be needed. In line with this, project managers also ensure that the project is cost-efficient and well within the budget. They also manage the different work teams involved in the project and ensure that things are running smoothly on this aspect as well.

Senior project specialist vs project manager salary

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

Senior Project SpecialistProject Manager
Average salary$87,213$91,578
Salary rangeBetween $67,000 And $112,000Between $64,000 And $129,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateIdahoCalifornia
Best paying companyAmazonThe Citadel
Best paying industryInsuranceTechnology

Differences between senior project specialist and project manager education

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

Senior Project SpecialistProject Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeStanford UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Senior project specialist vs project manager demographics

Here are the differences between senior project specialists' and project managers' demographics:

Senior Project SpecialistProject Manager
Average age4447
Gender ratioMale, 50.0% Female, 50.0%Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1%
Race ratioBlack 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, 7.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage11%10%

Differences between senior project specialist and project manager duties and responsibilities

Senior project specialist example responsibilities.

  • Lead team that develop an integrate database with a web-base user interface that allow repair crews in locating information and equipment.
  • Create, document and maintain work instructions prior to any new PMO process implementation.
  • Work on sharepoint as a data repository to upload the documents for different projects and sort it by phase.
  • Develop and maintain project SharePoint site.
  • Coordinate project team and/or customer meetings including logistics and materials require.
  • Skil in operation management, planning, logistics and resource optimization.
  • Show more

Project manager example responsibilities.

  • Schedule and manage the GCP audit process.
  • Define, develop and manage metrics and KPIs systems for new product business group.
  • Manage the application process for the FDA medical device, minority and small business certifications.
  • Manage multiple projects and resources simultaneously while mentoring, coaching and implementing best practices, SOX and HIPAA compliance standards.
  • Lead teams using the Informatica ETL tool for the design and development of multiple financial and risk enterprise data warehouses.
  • Administer and manage Salesforce requirements.
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Senior project specialist vs project manager skills

Common senior project specialist skills
  • Project Management, 33%
  • PowerPoint, 6%
  • Status Reports, 5%
  • Program Management, 4%
  • Digital Marketing, 4%
  • Project Scope, 3%
Common project manager skills
  • Project Management, 23%
  • Project Scope, 6%
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Infrastructure, 5%
  • Status Reports, 4%
  • Risk Management, 3%

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