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The differences between senior technical directors and technical managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a senior technical director and a technical manager. Additionally, a senior technical director has an average salary of $148,603, which is higher than the $116,619 average annual salary of a technical manager.
The top three skills for a senior technical director include cloud, project management and product development. The most important skills for a technical manager are project management, infrastructure, and architecture.
| Senior Technical Director | Technical Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $148,603 | $116,619 |
| Hourly rate | $71.44 | $56.07 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 83,169 | 116,732 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Senior technical directors are professionals who are responsible for providing technical direction within a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company, or television studio. These directors are required to manage staff members and are responsible for developing, testing, and validating new products for manufacturing engineering projects. They must develop strategic direction for engineering projects to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction and exceed aggressive financial targets. In theatre management, these senior technicians must also provide technical services that include advanced audio and visual production.
A technical manager is responsible for maintaining the company's information systems database and analyzing technology system matters to ensure its efficiency and accuracy in supporting business operations. Technical managers perform network checks regularly to assess any possible malfunctions that might compromise the company's cybersecurity. They carefully analyze business and clients' specifications on working with systems integration, responding to end-users' concerns and inquiries. A technical manager must have excellent knowledge of the information technology systems industry, as well as a strong command on network codes to conduct adjustments and manage network infrastructure.
Senior technical directors and technical managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Technical Director | Technical Manager | |
| Average salary | $148,603 | $116,619 |
| Salary range | Between $103,000 And $214,000 | Between $84,000 And $161,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | A.T. Kearney |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a senior technical director and a technical manager in terms of educational background:
| Senior Technical Director | Technical Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Carnegie Mellon University |
Here are the differences between senior technical directors' and technical managers' demographics:
| Senior Technical Director | Technical Manager | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.7% Female, 16.3% | Male, 83.7% Female, 16.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 6.4% White, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 6.4% White, 65.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 14% | 14% |