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Service delivery manager vs product owner

The differences between service delivery managers and product owners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-8 years to become a service delivery manager, becoming a product owner takes usually requires 8-10 years. Additionally, a service delivery manager has an average salary of $102,213, which is higher than the $97,070 average annual salary of a product owner.

The top three skills for a service delivery manager include service delivery, project management and cloud. The most important skills for a product owner are user stories, acceptance criteria, and product backlog.

Service delivery manager vs product owner overview

Service Delivery ManagerProduct Owner
Yearly salary$102,213$97,070
Hourly rate$49.14$46.67
Growth rate16%10%
Number of jobs71,475129,990
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4739
Years of experience810

What does a service delivery manager do?

A service delivery manager is primarily responsible for overseeing department operations, ensuring everything is running smoothly and that all customers receive optimal services. They are also responsible for performing technical tasks such as addressing issues and concerns, troubleshooting, spearheading system repairs and maintenance, and performing corrective measures. They also have clerical duties such as producing progress reports and presentations, maintaining data and records, managing budgets and expenditures, setting goals, assessing workforce performance, and adhering to deadlines. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the team, all while prioritizing customer satisfaction.

What does a product owner do?

Product owners are at the forefront of an organization's development cycle. They have various duties and responsibilities, which include ensuring that the value of products created by the development team is maximized, creating a vision and defining the goals for development projects, and working closely with all stakeholders. As the product owner, you are responsible for ensuring that the development team maintains a consistent vision and overseeing the product backlog. You are also expected to supervise the actual product development stages and anticipate the needs of clients.

Service delivery manager vs product owner salary

Service delivery managers and product owners have different pay scales, as shown below.

Service Delivery ManagerProduct Owner
Average salary$102,213$97,070
Salary rangeBetween $74,000 And $140,000Between $71,000 And $130,000
Highest paying CityStamford, CTSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateConnecticutCalifornia
Best paying companyMcKinsey & Company IncORIX USA
Best paying industryFinanceManufacturing

Differences between service delivery manager and product owner education

There are a few differences between a service delivery manager and a product owner in terms of educational background:

Service Delivery ManagerProduct Owner
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityUniversity of Georgia

Service delivery manager vs product owner demographics

Here are the differences between service delivery managers' and product owners' demographics:

Service Delivery ManagerProduct Owner
Average age4739
Gender ratioMale, 72.3% Female, 27.7%Male, 64.3% Female, 35.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 12.7% White, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%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 Percentage11%10%

Differences between service delivery manager and product owner duties and responsibilities

Service delivery manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage and maintain VCE Vblock, Cisco networking, EMC storage, and VMware server / desktop infrastructure.
  • Manage internal global IPVPN network services, comprise of approximately 1.6K routers / switches / Wi-Fi access points.
  • Manage the back office PBX for VoIP customers which includes porting of phones and ordering new hardware from 3rd party vendors.
  • Leverage the SDLC incremental release model to manage the design and implementation of a new integrate billing and check processing system.
  • Manage and execute ERP implementation and optimization work.
  • Manage virtualization of two data centers and 72 disparate satellite locations.
  • Show more

Product owner example responsibilities.

  • Manage remote teams to port core and legacy components into AWS.
  • Manage a global team to create Java base EDI / XML / XSL mapping suite.
  • Gather and define requirements for the BSS require to operate and manage the SaaS offerings.
  • Serve as technical contact for affiliate partners during API integration and create and manage API documentation.
  • Manage the team to redesign the Java base desktop trading community management product to a web base portal.
  • Used Microsoft TFS to manage project phases, sprints and burn down chart of various stages of SDLC.
  • Show more

Service delivery manager vs product owner skills

Common service delivery manager skills
  • Service Delivery, 16%
  • Project Management, 7%
  • Cloud, 6%
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 5%
  • Client Facing, 4%
Common product owner skills
  • User Stories, 10%
  • Acceptance Criteria, 7%
  • Product Backlog, 5%
  • Analytics, 5%
  • Product Management, 4%
  • EPICS, 4%

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