How To Become A Material Project Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a material project manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

A material project manager serves as the leader for various projects of a company. Specifically, they ensure that all materials required for the project are procured and delivered on time. In this way, the project stays on schedule, and the team's efficiency is maximized, which makes the role of a material project manager vital to any company.

Apart from these primary roles, a material project manager is also responsible for monitoring the project, making status reports, supervising employees on the project team, and monitoring inventory levels of materials. They are also responsible for finding the best suppliers and negotiating contracts to get the ideal prices for required materials.

If you want to pursue the role of a material project manager, you must have a bachelor's degree in business, logistics, or any other relevant field. Since this is a managerial role, prior experience is also a general requirement, but it does not necessarily need to be in leadership. Furthermore, you must exhibit strong skills in communication, problem-solving, decision-making, and leadership to become an attractive applicant.

When you attain this role, you can expect a yearly salary of $94,000, on average, which is generally fair compensation given the high level of experience and expertise that this position entails.

ScoreMaterial Project ManagerUS Average

Salary

6.8

Avg. Salary $86,465

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.30%

Asian 7.41%

Black or African American 9.02%

Hispanic or Latino 12.21%

Unknown 3.82%

White 67.24%

Gender

female 26.60%

male 73.40%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a material project manager

Explore material project manager education requirements

Most common material project manager degrees

Bachelor's

66.0 %

Associate

16.5 %

Master's

12.3 %

Start to develop specific material project manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Asphalt	15.76%
Project Management	12.17%
Construction Materials	11.27%
ASTM	8.60%
Continuous Improvement	5.44%

Complete relevant material project manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New material project managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a material project manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real material project manager resumes.

Research material project manager duties and responsibilities

Lead business process re-engineering efforts as well as a comprehensive re-implementation of the ERP system with responsibility for training and implementation.
Develop and negotiate $30 million third-party logistics service contract to support lean manufacturing operations.
Submit RFI s as needed.
Design RFP bidding template for internal and external clients.

Prepare your material project manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your material project manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a material project manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable material project manager resume templates

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