The Development Program Manager is responsible for supervising the creation of a final product. He is also responsible for maintaining the end-users interest while the product is in development.
The job involves meeting with the product design and product development team to develop systems that simplify the product without reducing features. It's a complicated job title, and it doesn't exist in many organizations. Instead, responsibility is taken by the product manager or design manager.
A day in a Development Program Manager's life may involve reviewing current design proposals, meeting with teams, and testing the product. He may also conduct surveys to learn how users interact with the product.
Development Program Managers come from a variety of backgrounds. They may have prior experience in product design, customer relations, UX design, or a combination of all these. To become a Development Program Manager, you need a degree in product design or related fields, as well as several years of experience.
Development & Program Manager Overview
Working as a Development & Program Manager
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a development & program manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $41.26 an hour? That's $85,812 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 21,800 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Development & Program Manager Do
There are certain skills that many development & program managers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed creativity, interpersonal skills and analytical skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a development & program manager, we found that a lot of resumes listed 18.2% of development & program managers included professional development, while 15.9% of resumes included project management, and 14.8% of resumes included workforce. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the development & program manager job title. But what industry to start with? Most development & program managers actually find jobs in the technology and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Development & Program Manager
If you're interested in becoming a development & program manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 42.4% of development & program managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 38.9% of development & program managers have master's degrees. Even though most development & program managers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a development & program manager. When we researched the most common majors for a development & program manager, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on development & program manager resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a development & program manager. In fact, many development & program manager jobs require experience in a role such as program manager. Meanwhile, many development & program managers also have previous career experience in roles such as project manager or senior project manager.
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Development & Program Manager Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of senior project manager you might progress to a role such as senior product manager eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title director, product marketing.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Development & Program Manager
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
University of Colorado Program Manager of Organizational Development Program Manager of Organizational Development | University of Colorado University of Colorado | 01/21/2021 01/21/2021 | $65,00001/21/2021 $65,000 |
Prosidian Consulting, LLC Soldier Development Program Manager (PM)-Troop School [1009I009Y1] Soldier Development Program Manager (PM)-Troop School [1009I009Y1] | Prosidian Consulting, LLC Prosidian Consulting, LLC | 12/20/2020 12/20/2020 | $60,00012/20/2020 $60,000 |
Randstad Learning & Development Program Manager Learning & Development Program Manager | Randstad Randstad | 12/15/2020 12/15/2020 | $166,96012/15/2020 $166,960 |
Bellevue Community College Workforce Development Program Manager, R20086 Workforce Development Program Manager, R20086 | Bellevue Community College Bellevue Community College | 12/12/2020 12/12/2020 | $57,28512/12/2020 $57,285 |
City of Stockton, Ca Program Manager I-Economic Development-Extended Application Deadline Program Manager I-Economic Development-Extended Application Deadline | City of Stockton, Ca City of Stockton, Ca | 12/03/2020 12/03/2020 | $78,07912/03/2020 $78,079 |
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Development & Program Manager Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Development & Program Manager. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Development & Program Manager Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Development & Program Manager resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Development & Program Managers
1. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Public
2. University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI • Public
3. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Public
4. Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN • Public
5. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
6. Ohio State University
Columbus, OH • Public
7. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Public
8. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
9. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
10. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Public
Top Skills For a Development & Program Manager
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.2% of development & program managers listed professional development on their resume, but soft skills such as creativity and interpersonal skills are important as well.
- Professional Development, 18.2%
- Project Management, 15.9%
- Workforce, 14.8%
- Business Development, 3.5%
- HR, 2.7%
- Other Skills, 44.9% See All Development & Program Manager Skills
Best States For a Development & Program Manager
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a development & program manager. The best states for people in this position are West Virginia, California, Virginia, and Delaware. Development & program managers make the most in West Virginia with an average salary of $109,700. Whereas in California and Virginia, they would average $96,801 and $96,451, respectively. While development & program managers would only make an average of $92,190 in Delaware, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$104,117
Avg. Salary
2. Virginia
$96,452
Avg. Salary
3. California
$96,802
Avg. Salary
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