In my experience: 1.) As a manager I was working tactically to facilitate the day-to-day plans of my leaders. I also functioned as a buffer between those leade

In my experience: 1.) As a manager I was working tactically to facilitate the day-to-day plans of my leaders. I also functioned as a buffer between those leaders and my direct reports. I typically made a decent bit LESS than my direct reports as I was management, not development. 2.) As a director (I was responsible for an entire main product) I developed, negotiated, and implemented a long term (1 - 5 years) strategic plan for a product. I primarily interacted with team/focus managers and the directors of the company (Prez, VPs, etc.) to further those goals. I made considerably more than my direct reports and had options as part of total comp. 3.) As a (junior) VP I primarily did coordination between product line directors and the operational heads (EVP, Prez). Focused on long term corporate strategy which tended to be much more about finance than about product. Dealt a lot with VC/investor relations, corporate partnerships and market positioning.