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Software project leader vs software architect

The differences between software project leaders and software architects can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a software project leader and a software architect. Additionally, a software architect has an average salary of $114,406, which is higher than the $109,474 average annual salary of a software project leader.

The top three skills for a software project leader include software development, project management and scrum. The most important skills for a software architect are java, architecture, and cloud.

Software project leader vs software architect overview

Software Project LeaderSoftware Architect
Yearly salary$109,474$114,406
Hourly rate$52.63$55.00
Growth rate21%21%
Number of jobs247,780319,594
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age3939
Years of experience44

Software project leader vs software architect salary

Software project leaders and software architects have different pay scales, as shown below.

Software Project LeaderSoftware Architect
Average salary$109,474$114,406
Salary rangeBetween $84,000 And $142,000Between $82,000 And $158,000
Highest paying CityCupertino, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyBoston Consulting GroupAspiration
Best paying industryManufacturingHealth Care

Differences between software project leader and software architect education

There are a few differences between a software project leader and a software architect in terms of educational background:

Software Project LeaderSoftware Architect
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyHarvard University

Software project leader vs software architect demographics

Here are the differences between software project leaders' and software architects' demographics:

Software Project LeaderSoftware Architect
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 75.1% Female, 24.9%Male, 93.8% Female, 6.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.6% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 29.8% White, 52.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.1% Asian, 30.0% White, 52.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between software project leader and software architect duties and responsibilities

Software project leader example responsibilities.

  • Lead daily scrum meetings, organize and chair scrums with cross-functional teams to deliver the product goals and deliverables.
  • Maintain mature java-base web application design to automate highly detail engineering requests for the DoD.
  • Provide guidance and support to scrum team members, remove impediments and assist teams to maximize productivity.
  • Develop excellent debugging, analytical and programming skills.
  • Create the architecture framework for dynamically setting properties and property types for oracle using reflection.
  • Design enterprise software, including requirements analysis, software architecture, user interface, and database schema.
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Software architect example responsibilities.

  • Lead research and implementation of microservices, AngularJS, and other cutting edgetechnologies.
  • Design and implement ASP.NET web site for support to manage and maintain customer and product information.
  • Manage entire QA process from requirements documentation to final release testing.
  • Convert python scripts written by Quants into C++ and c #code base.
  • Support application engineers for various projects; architecture, but also debugging support for complex issues.
  • Work remotely with offshore Motorola H.264 Decoder team to guide their API development and integrate into player architecture.
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Software project leader vs software architect skills

Common software project leader skills
  • Software Development, 15%
  • Project Management, 9%
  • Scrum, 8%
  • C, 6%
  • C++, 6%
  • Java, 6%
Common software architect skills
  • Java, 8%
  • Architecture, 8%
  • Cloud, 7%
  • Software Development, 6%
  • Python, 5%
  • API, 5%

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