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System development manager vs director of software development

The differences between system development managers and directors of software development can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a system development manager and a director of software development. Additionally, a director of software development has an average salary of $158,853, which is higher than the $122,528 average annual salary of a system development manager.

The top three skills for a system development manager include infrastructure, systems development and architecture. The most important skills for a director of software development are java, software development, and cloud.

System development manager vs director of software development overview

System Development ManagerDirector Of Software Development
Yearly salary$122,528$158,853
Hourly rate$58.91$76.37
Growth rate16%16%
Number of jobs191,514136,310
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age4747
Years of experience88

System development manager vs director of software development salary

System development managers and directors of software development have different pay scales, as shown below.

System Development ManagerDirector Of Software Development
Average salary$122,528$158,853
Salary rangeBetween $96,000 And $156,000Between $110,000 And $228,000
Highest paying CitySeattle, WASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateWashingtonCalifornia
Best paying companyAppleeBay
Best paying industryTechnologyTechnology

Differences between system development manager and director of software development education

There are a few differences between a system development manager and a director of software development in terms of educational background:

System Development ManagerDirector Of Software Development
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 74%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University

System development manager vs director of software development demographics

Here are the differences between system development managers' and directors of software development' demographics:

System Development ManagerDirector Of Software Development
Average age4747
Gender ratioMale, 78.2% Female, 21.8%Male, 88.6% Female, 11.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 10.1% Asian, 12.6% White, 65.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 15.1% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between system development manager and director of software development duties and responsibilities

System development manager example responsibilities.

  • Lead design of POS replenishment process and software design/implementation to significantly increase retail sales.
  • Collaborate with QA to maintain test environment and conduct different level of software testing.
  • Perform QA analysis on all aspects of vendor's original code and custom modifications.
  • Develop operational procedures and train corporate staff for support of ERP and HRIS systems.
  • Serve as a member of the team to port the company's in-house ERP from FoxPro to SQL.
  • Create and maintain disaster recovery database for customer installations creating revenue stream and minimizing customer impact of system failure.
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Director of software development example responsibilities.

  • Manage metadata system deploy to AWS.
  • Manage software communications for EDI and HTML distribution orders.
  • Manage engineering org of 3 teams , 40+ engineers including DevOps, architects and managers.
  • Manage continuous build integration through Jenkins and provide training and maintenance of git, repo and gerrit repositories.
  • Manage consultants, staff and set objectives in accordance with IEEE standards, ISO 9000 and PMI methodology.
  • Manage and mentore software development team in developing efficient coding practices using ColdFusion, MySQL JavaScript, and PHP.
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System development manager vs director of software development skills

Common system development manager skills
  • Infrastructure, 11%
  • Systems Development, 9%
  • Architecture, 7%
  • Software Development, 7%
  • Java, 7%
  • Project Management, 7%
Common director of software development skills
  • Java, 19%
  • Software Development, 8%
  • Cloud, 7%
  • Software Engineering, 5%
  • C++, 4%
  • Python, 4%

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