What does a Consultant/Project Manager do?
Consultants/project managers act as planners, leaders, and advisors in business enterprises. These professionals facilitate meetings and establish positive relationships with vendors, management, and clients. They make customer visits, maintain industry knowledge, procure third-party software and hardware, and deliver projects. It is also part of their duty to manage complex initiatives in an individual business unit or organization. Their skills include analytical, time and cost management, problem-solving, interpersonal skills, and proficiency in project management software.
Consultant/project manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real consultant/project manager resumes:
- Lead and manage team of business analysts responsible for defining detail functional specifications for large-scale CRM implementation.
- Project manage software development initiatives according to company SDLC.
- Manage quality/regulatory control and clinical personnel, to deliver on time data-migration project using SDLC.
- Develop training programs for ERP implementations, and manage development of custom performance support and knowledge management software solutions.
- Implement a repeatable process methodology base on the PMI PMBOK defining a systematic approach to delivering solutions and achieving customer objectives.
- Draft system documentation and create business process flows using Visio.
- Coordinate day-day activities with matrix groups including business analysts, architects, developers, testers, configuration management and infrastructure support.
- Conduct daily stand-ups, sprint retrospectives, sprint planning, and scrum of scrums to ensure project are on target.
- Develop site plan including technical requirements including diagrams create using Visio.
- Identify resources need and assign individual responsibilities to developers and QA engineers.
- Co-Manage conversion of data warehouse code from series to parallel processing using scrum methodology.
- Develop CRM databases to assist sales representatives, service representatives and account executives in tracking prospects and customers.
- Develop product functional specifications and documentation for QA testing, department review, and approval of product functionality.
- Evaluate current capital processing and reporting processes to provide recommendations for improvement within usage of ERP system capabilities.
- Plan and execute the migration to a new high-availability cluster infrastructure including production, disaster recovery, development and test environments.
Consultant/project manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Consultant/Project Managers are proficient in Project Management, Project Scope, and Business Development. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Problem-solving skills, and Time-management skills.
We break down the percentage of Consultant/Project Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Project Management, 19%
Experienced in software project management including feasibility study, requirement analysis, planning, scheduling, coordinating, supervising and tracking.
- Project Scope, 11%
Project scope included the analysis of business processes, communication interactions, organizational design, and technologies currently in place.
- Business Development, 10%
Developed financial models to determine relationship profitability and support strategic pricing and business development decisions for managers in 23 states.
- Executive Management, 6%
Worked closely with executive management teams to develop and implement programs that improve critical business processes programs to achieve strategic goals.
- Customer Satisfaction, 6%
Negotiated changes in contract scope in an ever-changing environment, maintaining an effective balance between customer satisfaction and company profitability.
- Manage Project Scope, 6%
Manage project scope, project charter, cost and risk management, communication management including stakeholder analysis and strategic reporting.
Common skills that a consultant/project manager uses to do their job include "project management," "project scope," and "business development." You can find details on the most important consultant/project manager responsibilities below.
Interpersonal skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a consultant/project manager to have is interpersonal skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "management analysts work with managers and other employees of the organizations for which they provide consulting services." Consultant/project managers often use interpersonal skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "possess excellent interpersonal and communications skills, with the ability to relate well at all levels. "
Problem-solving skills. Many consultant/project manager duties rely on problem-solving skills. "management analysts must be able to think creatively to solve clients’ problems," so a consultant/project manager will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways consultant/project manager responsibilities rely on problem-solving skills: "build a sharepoint solution to replace legacy substitute reservation application. "
Time-management skills. This is an important skill for consultant/project managers to perform their duties. For an example of how consultant/project manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "management analysts often work under tight deadlines and must use their time efficiently to complete projects on schedule." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a consultant/project manager: "upgrade to ms sql server 2000 completed on time/ on budget. ".
Analytical skills. For certain consultant/project manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "analytical skills." The day-to-day duties of a consultant/project manager rely on this skill, as "management analysts must be able to interpret information and use their findings to make proposals." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what consultant/project managers do: "authored loan review training tools and developed a validation process to ensure accuracy of submissions into sharepoint database. "
Communication skills. Another crucial skill for a consultant/project manager to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what consultant/project managers relies on this skill, since "management analysts must be able to convey information clearly in both writing and speaking." How this skill relates to consultant/project manager duties can be seen in an example from a consultant/project manager resume snippet: "establish and maintain sharepoint sites as a tool for communication and transference throughout each project. "
The three companies that hire the most consultant/project managers are:
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Consultant/project manager vs. Manager and consultant
Managers and Consultants are employees who are considered industry experts. They contribute to the company by providing valuable insights regarding the industry. They are often individual contributors tapped to give guidance on a specific project or undertaking of the company. These projects are related to their field of expertise or an extensive role in the past. They provide insights into the feasibility of such undertakings. Since they are given both a manager and a consultant's dual role, they also lead the team in the project. They oversee the team's progress, provide guidance, and ultimately lead the project team to success.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between consultant/project managers and manager and consultant. For instance, consultant/project manager responsibilities require skills such as "customer satisfaction," "manage project scope," "cash flow," and "scrum." Whereas a manager and consultant is skilled in "architecture," "develop team," "performance management," and "pre sales." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Managers and consultant earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $114,179. On the other hand, consultant/project managers are paid more in the technology industry with an average salary of $107,463.The education levels that managers and consultant earn slightly differ from consultant/project managers. In particular, managers and consultant are 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a consultant/project manager. Additionally, they're 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Consultant/project manager vs. Lead program manager
A lead program manager is responsible for coordinating departmental projects and ensuring that the programs adhere to the business guidelines and functions to achieve long-term goals and objectives. Lead program managers strategize techniques in developing business plans and managing budget allocation across departments. They also coordinate with clients for progress updates and modify program plans as needed. A lead program manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills to finalize program outputs and assist the team in resolving project issues and delays.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, consultant/project manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "project scope," "manage project scope," "cash flow," and "crm." Meanwhile, a lead program manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "program management," "portfolio," "lifecycle management," and "continuous improvement." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Lead program managers earn a higher average salary than consultant/project managers. But lead program managers earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $125,537. Additionally, consultant/project managers earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $107,463 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Lead program managers tend to reach similar levels of education than consultant/project managers. In fact, they're 2.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Consultant/project manager vs. Program manager
A program manager is responsible for monitoring the project's progress, improving and developing new strategies, and coordinate various projects across the organization to ensure the success of the business objective. Program managers also manage the program's expenses, ensuring that the projects adhere to the budget goals without compromising the quality and accuracy of the result. A program manager should regularly connect with the different teams of every project under the program to keep track of the processes and procedures for the timely delivery of the product.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, consultant/project managers are more likely to have skills like "cash flow," "crm," "strong analytical," and "business analysts." But a program manager is more likely to have skills like "program management," "oversight," "customer service," and "excellent organizational."
Program managers earn the best pay in the technology industry, where they command an average salary of $115,112. Consultant/project managers earn the highest pay from the technology industry, with an average salary of $107,463.When it comes to education, program managers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to consultant/project managers. In fact, they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Consultant/project manager vs. Project manager/scrum master
Project Managers or scrum masters are experienced employees who lead an agile team. They are in charge of managing a specific project in terms of the agile model. They lead the team throughout the planning session, the designing of the project parameters, the development of the processes, the implementation of the project, and the evaluation. They represent the team in meetings with stakeholders. They ensure that the working relationship among all the departments involved is harmonious. They also guide their team members throughout the project.
Types of consultant/project manager
Updated January 8, 2025
