How to hire an agile project manager

How to hire an agile project manager, step by step

Here's a step-by-step agile project manager hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an agile project manager job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new agile project manager
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an agile project manager do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring an agile project manager, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   An agile project manager's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, agile project managers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list shows salaries for various types of agile project managers.

   Type of Agile Project Manager	Description	Hourly rate
   Agile Project Manager		$35-65
   Scrum Master	A scrum master is a job that's rooted in leadership. It is the scrum master's responsibility to ensure a scrum process over the development of a project... Show more	$31-54
   Project Team Lead	A project team lead sets up the expectations for the team members. Project team leads are in charge of setting the direction for the team members... Show more	$38-65

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Agile Project
   • Project Management
   • Jira
   • Agile Project Management
   • Agile Scrum
   • Software Development
   • Kanban
   • Sprint Planning
   • Confluence
   • Continuous Improvement
   • DevOps
   • Project Scope
   • User Stories
   • Infrastructure

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage end-to-end projects as part of establish healthcare insurance company with 21K employees.
   • Build divisional pipelines by identifying potential contract leads utilizing DoD procurement resources which focus on engineering and supply chain management.
   • Create architectural blue prints and database models that unambiguously guide all application development and infrastructure setup activities for the project.
   • Team used JIRA to prioritize, story refinement and track progress during sprints.
   • Ensure that the project meet corporate SDLC standards, compliance and industry best practices.
   • Plan resources, develop budget estimates and drive the project through the entire SDLC.

   More agile project manager duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your agile project manager job description helps attract top candidates to the position. An agile project manager salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for an agile project manager in Nebraska may be lower than in New Jersey, and an entry-level agile project manager usually earns less than a senior-level agile project manager. Additionally, an agile project manager with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average agile project manager salary

   $99,959yearly

   $48.06 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level agile project manager salary

   $73,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 14, 2025

   Average agile project manager salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$124,566	$60
   2	New Jersey	$118,802	$57
   3	Pennsylvania	$111,489	$54
   4	Illinois	$109,589	$53
   5	Connecticut	$108,042	$52
   6	District of Columbia	$107,332	$52
   7	New York	$107,319	$52
   8	Nevada	$102,403	$49
   9	North Carolina	$100,254	$48
   10	Virginia	$97,943	$47
   11	Tennessee	$97,600	$47
   12	Maryland	$97,517	$47
   13	Massachusetts	$97,023	$47
   14	Arizona	$96,934	$47
   15	South Carolina	$94,030	$45
   16	Ohio	$91,786	$44
   17	Texas	$91,391	$44
   18	Georgia	$91,087	$44
   19	Oregon	$89,714	$43
   20	Wisconsin	$89,459	$43

   Average agile project manager salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	AppDynamics	$134,707	$64.76
   2	Citi	$134,557	$64.69	4
   3	Fisher Investments	$131,531	$63.24
   4	Sephora	$128,581	$61.82
   5	SSE plc	$123,865	$59.55
   6	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$123,851	$59.54	119
   7	Morgan Stanley	$123,421	$59.34	6
   8	Cargill	$123,004	$59.14
   9	TEKsystems	$122,638	$58.96	22
   10	Mouser Electronics	$122,438	$58.86	1
   11	Medidata	$120,826	$58.09	2
   12	Merchants Fleet	$119,412	$57.41
   13	Moderna	$119,173	$57.29
   14	Walmart	$118,450	$56.95	45
   15	Nuveen Investments	$118,417	$56.93
   16	Grainger	$118,153	$56.80
   17	Abbott	$117,895	$56.68	24
   18	Publicis Sapient	$117,637	$56.56
   19	DRW	$116,992	$56.25
   20	ABBTECH	$116,273	$55.90	1

4. Writing an agile project manager job description

   A job description for an agile project manager role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's an agile project manager job description:

   Agile project manager job description example

   We are looking for a tech-savvy Sr. Project Manager who will manage the development and execution of large complex projects including scope management, scheduling and team coordination, risk management, project quality and, most importantly, delivery satisfaction. You will ensure our projects are completed efficiently and on-time while meeting the expectations of our primary stakeholders.
   
   You are a driver, a leader, a self-starter, self-motivated, self-directed and self-sufficient, and at the same time, you're strongly team-oriented and collaborative. You have exceptional communication skills, both oral and written, and can cater your communication style and form across all levels of business and technology to ensure all stakeholders are informed and satisfied. You thrive in a fast-paced, high-energy environment, welcome change and are flexible. You are transparent and open with your team, your colleagues and your leaders around successes, challenges and areas of opportunity. You remain calm under pressure, and inspire and motivate your team to do the same. You're a natural problem solver - you gather the facts before making an informed decision, but you're able to solution quickly if the circumstance requires. You conduct yourself confidently and respectfully with colleagues at all levels, and you value building strong relationships across the organization.
   Responsibilities include:
   
   Lead and manage teams in an Agile manner (may include employees, third-party vendors and/or consultants) to plan and drive project execution (on-time, budget, scope).
   
   Manage daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly agile sprint/project ceremonies such as daily scrum standup, status reports, sprint grooming, Project planning, cutover planning and retrospectives to deliver against the sprint objectives.
   
   Provide thorough status updates/reports on your team's sprints and project accomplishments in real-time to other key stakeholders with confidence and clarity, verbally and in writing. Track, manage and publish weekly detailed budget and benefits.
   
   Coach and provide feedback to individual team members and stakeholders on Agile best practices and areas of opportunity. Work with team members to positively impact team productivity.
   
   Coach and lead teams toward stable velocity, successfully meeting commitments/target dates and a healthy team dynamic utilizing available metrics to determine opportunities and drive improvement.
   
   Coordinate with aligned PMs to ensure effective delivery in line with wider portfolio activities.
   
   Monitor and manage budget & schedule of assigned projects
   
   Manage and motivate project team to maximize performance
   
   Participate in the tracking, reporting and on-going optimization of agile processes within the organization including operational KPIs.
   
   Document, coordinate and manage cross-team dependencies to keep projects on track
   
   Collaborate with project team to identify potential project risks and assist with the development of preventative plans. Escalate risks, roadblocks or issues to stakeholders in a timely fashion
   
   Identify and remove roadblocks from the team's path to ensure productivity and timely project execution
   
   Coach and support Product Owners in maintaining a healthy backlog for the team
   
   The capability to manage expectations and influence across all stakeholders

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find agile project managers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your agile project manager job on Zippia to find and attract quality agile project manager candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit agile project managers, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   If your interviews with agile project manager applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new agile project manager

   Once you've selected the best agile project manager candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new agile project manager. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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