Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between technical product managers and product line managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a technical product manager and a product line manager. Additionally, a technical product manager has an average salary of $120,052, which is higher than the $97,237 average annual salary of a product line manager.
The top three skills for a technical product manager include technical product, product management and cloud. The most important skills for a product line manager are product management, customer service, and PLM.
| Technical Product Manager | Product Line Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $120,052 | $97,237 |
| Hourly rate | $57.72 | $46.75 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 185,305 | 158,908 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 10 | 10 |
A technical product manager's responsibilities revolve around performing research and analysis to identify consumers' needs, utilizing new technologies to develop strategies and products, coordinating with different teams, and monitoring the entire progress of production. There are also instances when a technical product manager must perform clerical tasks such as producing reports, preparing presentations, responding to issues and concerns promptly, and managing schedules. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage staff to meet goals while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
A product line manager is an individual who provides product and market intelligence by increasing the market share of a company. Product line managers must create competitive analysis and interpret market trends so that they can provide recommendations and guidance to the company. They are required to identify target markets and should come up with strategies for market penetration. Product line managers must also monitor the creation and development of new products as well as to measure the success of the products in the market.
Technical product managers and product line managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Product Manager | Product Line Manager | |
| Average salary | $120,052 | $97,237 |
| Salary range | Between $89,000 And $161,000 | Between $52,000 And $178,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | ON Semiconductor |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Energy |
There are a few differences between a technical product manager and a product line manager in terms of educational background:
| Technical Product Manager | Product Line Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 72% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between technical product managers' and product line managers' demographics:
| Technical Product Manager | Product Line Manager | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.8% Female, 24.2% | Male, 78.8% Female, 21.2% |
| Race ratio | 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% | 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 Percentage | 10% | 10% |