A director of strategic initiatives is responsible for a company's long-term growth by leading projects that focus on the big picture of a company's operations. The director of strategic initiatives is responsible for developing the projects in the first place by conducting research and identifying opportunities for growth. They organize the logistics needed to execute a strategic initiative, such as hiring new workers or developing a budget. Although most of their job focuses on the big picture, a director of strategic initiatives must also be ready to take on detailed tasks that help an initiative succeed, for example by supervising diversity hiring processes or executing better SEO strategies.
A director of strategic initiatives can work in many industries, from finance to nonprofits. Their average salary across industries is $122,061 a year.
Regardless of their industry, most directors of strategic initiatives need many years of qualifications to earn this position. Most have an advanced degree such as a master's in business. They also need several years of management experience, for example by working as a program manager.
Director, Strategic Initiatives Overview
Director, Strategic Initiatives Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a director, strategic initiatives. For example, did you know that they make an average of $59.68 an hour? That's $124,136 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 Director, Strategic Initiatives Do
There are certain skills that many directors, strategic initiatives 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 analytical skills, communication skills and creativity.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a director, strategic initiatives, we found that a lot of resumes listed 23.4% of directors, strategic initiatives included strategic initiatives, while 8.4% of resumes included project management, and 6.3% of resumes included key stakeholders. 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 director, strategic initiatives job title. But what industry to start with? Most directors, strategic initiatives actually find jobs in the health care and finance industries.
How To Become a Director, Strategic Initiatives
If you're interested in becoming a director, strategic initiatives, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 28.0% of directors, strategic initiatives have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 53.6% of directors, strategic initiatives have master's degrees. Even though most directors, strategic initiatives have a college degree, it's impossible 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 director, strategic initiatives. When we researched the most common majors for a director, strategic initiatives, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on director, strategic initiatives resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a director, strategic initiatives. In fact, many director, strategic initiatives jobs require experience in a role such as director. Meanwhile, many directors, strategic initiatives also have previous career experience in roles such as consultant or manager.
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Director, Strategic Initiatives 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 executive director you might progress to a role such as executive vice president eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title executive vice president.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Director, Strategic Initiatives
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Unitedhealth Group Inc. Senior Director, Payer Engagement and Strategic Initiatives-Telecommute Senior Director, Payer Engagement and Strategic Initiatives-Telecommute | Unitedhealth Group Inc. Unitedhealth Group Inc. | 03/28/2021 03/28/2021 | $110,20003/28/2021 $110,200 |
University of Virginia Director HIT Initiatives and Portfolio Director HIT Initiatives and Portfolio | University of Virginia University of Virginia | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $102,83501/28/2021 $102,835 |
City of Baltimore, Md Assistant Director, Chief of Strategic Initiatives-Moed Assistant Director, Chief of Strategic Initiatives-Moed | City of Baltimore, Md City of Baltimore, Md | 01/20/2021 01/20/2021 | $89,74101/20/2021 $89,741 |
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia SR Assoc DIR Campaign & Strategic Initiatives SR Assoc DIR Campaign & Strategic Initiatives | Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Children's Hospital of Philadelphia | 01/14/2021 01/14/2021 | $100,00001/14/2021 $100,000 |
University of South Carolina DIR of Diversity Initiatives DIR of Diversity Initiatives | University of South Carolina University of South Carolina | 01/08/2021 01/08/2021 | $35,56801/08/2021 $35,568 |
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Top Colleges for Director, Strategic Initiativess
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 Director, Strategic Initiatives
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, 23.4% of directors, strategic initiatives listed strategic initiatives on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.
- Strategic Initiatives, 23.4%
- Project Management, 8.4%
- Key Stakeholders, 6.3%
- Diversity, 5.1%
- Business Development, 5.0%
- Other Skills, 51.8% See All Director, Strategic Initiatives Skills
Best States For a Director, Strategic Initiatives
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a director, strategic initiatives. The best states for people in this position are New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Directors, strategic initiatives make the most in New York with an average salary of $156,483. Whereas in Rhode Island and New Jersey, they would average $154,369 and $149,950, respectively. While directors, strategic initiatives would only make an average of $141,729 in Connecticut, 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. New York
$156,483
Avg. Salary
2. Rhode Island
$154,369
Avg. Salary
3. New Jersey
$149,950
Avg. Salary
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