Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between subject matter experts and team leaders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a subject matter expert, becoming a team leader takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a subject matter expert has an average salary of $103,749, which is higher than the $68,817 average annual salary of a team leader.
The top three skills for a subject matter expert include SME, project management and DOD. The most important skills for a team leader are customer service, ladders, and patients.
| Subject Matter Expert | Team Leader | |
| Yearly salary | $103,749 | $68,817 |
| Hourly rate | $49.88 | $33.09 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 58,235 | 197,336 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Average age | 44 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A subject matter expert is someone who has special knowledge and expertise about a specific process or service, providing advice to other team members or directly assisting customers with their inquiries and concerns. Subject matter experts coordinate on planning strategic procedures to improve the work processes and ensure customer satisfaction. They are also active in participating in learning programs and training sessions to share their knowledge and best practices for their specialization. Subject matter experts identify potential business opportunities to generate more revenues for the business and achieve its profitability goals.
Team leaders are responsible for managing a team for a specific project or work component. They primarily guide the team members and ensure that they are still working towards the set goals. Team leaders create strategies to reach goals, cascade the goals and strategies to team members, assign tasks, conduct periodic check-ups on the roadmap towards the goals, foster an engaging work environment, motivate and coach team members, monitor team performance, evaluate the strategies and come up with mitigating plans as needed. They are also responsible for reporting the team's progress to higher management.
Subject matter experts and team leaders have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Subject Matter Expert | Team Leader | |
| Average salary | $103,749 | $68,817 |
| Salary range | Between $73,000 And $146,000 | Between $37,000 And $126,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Apple | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Energy | - |
There are a few differences between a subject matter expert and a team leader in terms of educational background:
| Subject Matter Expert | Team Leader | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | SUNY College of Technology at Delhi |
Here are the differences between subject matter experts' and team leaders' demographics:
| Subject Matter Expert | Team Leader | |
| Average age | 44 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2% | Male, 55.0% Female, 45.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 12.1% White, 66.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 7.2% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 9% |