Project Management Specialists

US occupation · SOC 13-1082

Job titles people report: Fiber Project Manager, Implementation Project Manager, Project Management Consultant

Median annual wage, May 2025: $102,320; Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn: $78,440 – $133,100; 25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025: 1,066,670; Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35: +6.7%; At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
Openings a year (projected): 76,500; New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree; BLS

All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Analyze and coordinate the schedule, timeline, procurement, staffing, and budget of a product or service on a per project basis. Lead and guide the work of technical staff. May serve as a point of contact for the client or customer.

Main tasks

Communicate with key stakeholders to determine project requirements and objectives.
Identify project needs such as resources, staff, or finances by reviewing project objectives and schedules.
Submit project deliverables to clients, ensuring adherence to quality standards.
Confer with project personnel to identify and resolve problems.
Plan, schedule, or coordinate project activities to meet deadlines.
Request and review project updates to ensure deadlines are met.
Monitor project milestones and deliverables.
Assign duties or responsibilities to project personnel.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS): Bachelor's degree
O*NET Job Zone 4: Considerable preparation; Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

Enterprising: leading, persuading and making business decisions
Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
Social: helping, teaching and caring for people

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 6 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Business

Business/Commerce, General
Business Administration and Management, General
Project Management
Science/Technology Management
Construction Project Management

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Business at the Major step.

Where many students take business

Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchester, NH · 35% of degrees · 163,164 undergraduates
Western Governors UniversitySalt Lake City, UT · 28% of degrees · 155,088 undergraduates
Arizona State University Campus ImmersionTempe, AZ · 26% of degrees · 64,674 undergraduates
Grand Canyon UniversityPhoenix, AZ · 22% of degrees · 73,371 undergraduates
University of Maryland Global CampusAdelphi, MD · 25% of degrees · 49,664 undergraduates
University of the PeoplePasadena, CA · 53% of degrees · 22,688 undergraduates

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Computer Science

Information Technology Project Management

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Computer Science at the Major step.

Where many students take computer science

Western Governors UniversitySalt Lake City, UT · 23% of degrees · 155,088 undergraduates
Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchester, NH · 14% of degrees · 163,164 undergraduates
University of Maryland Global CampusAdelphi, MD · 25% of degrees · 49,664 undergraduates
University of Maryland-College ParkCollege Park, MD · 25% of degrees · 30,760 undergraduates
University of the PeoplePasadena, CA · 33% of degrees · 22,688 undergraduates
University of California-BerkeleyBerkeley, CA · 19% of degrees · 33,068 undergraduates

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

Management Analysts
$101,860 median · +10.1% projected
Computer and Information Systems Managers
$175,140 median · +15.8% projected
Logisticians
$82,320 median · +17.6% projected
Administrative Services Managers
$114,130 median · +5.2% projected
General and Operations Managers
$105,770 median · +5% projected
Training and Development Managers
$133,000 median · +6.4% projected

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk