What is a Program/Project Manager?

A program manager coordinates several projects, making sure their timing and goals align and benefit the overall enterprise. Project managers usually oversee the daily operations of a single project but depending on the individual structure of a business, a project manager might take on the role of a program manager as well.

Program managers focus on the bigger picture and are entrusted with developing long term goals for the future development of the organization. Managing budgets, planning, and writing proposals for funding applications are some of their many duties.

To be considered for the position of a program and project manager, you need a degree in business management or a related field. You will be meeting and consulting stakeholders, so communication skills are a must, and as you will work supervising various teams, leadership abilities will take you a long way.

What Does a Program/Project Manager Do

There are certain skills that many program/project 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 analytical skills, business skills and organizational skills.

Learn more about what a Program/Project Manager does

How To Become a Program/Project Manager

If you're interested in becoming a program/project manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 66.5% of program/project managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 20.8% of program/project managers have master's degrees. Even though most program/project managers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Program/Project Manager
Top Program/Project Manager Jobs Near You

Program/Project Manager Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a program/project manager can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as senior project manager, progress to a title such as contractor-senior project manager and then eventually end up with the title contractor-senior project manager.

Program/Project Manager

Average Salary for a Program/Project Manager

Program/Project Managers in America make an average salary of $101,850 per year or $49 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $138,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $74,000 per year.
Average Program/Project Manager Salary
$101,850 Yearly
$48.97 hourly
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Roles and Types of Program/Project Manager

The role of a program/project manager includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general program/project manager responsibilities:

  • Own the weekly, quarterly, and annual global forecast aggregation from geography leads. Work directly with manager on data interpretation
  • Based on business growth, iconectiv requires additional support to manage the ramp up of a large managed service project centered around a high transaction central database system
  • Adapts existing methods and procedures to create alternative solutions to moderately complex problems. Understands the strategic direction set by senior management as it relates to team goals. Uses own judgment to determines optimal solution to recommend. Primary upward interaction is with direct supervisor or teams leads. Generally interacts with peers

There are several types of program/project manager, including:

Project Manager

Role:

Project managers are essential to, well, projects. They take on roles that plan and oversee each project to ensure the work is completed on time and within a certain budget. That said, the job is so much more than just that.

A project manager is also responsible for finding project resources, making sure the budget has been prepared and keeping stakeholders up-to-date throughout the entire project. Project managers definitely have a hand in a little bit of everything when it comes to a project.

In a normal week, project managers can expect to work regular full-time hours, but when it comes down to the project deadline, they typically work longer hours during the week and may even pick up a few weekend shifts.

  • Average Salary: $91,578
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Program Manager

Role:

A program manager is someone who is able to clearly articulate the program's strategy. In addition, they're constantly evaluating projects that are needed to reach the program's goals.

A super important skill for you to have in this position is definitely communication. If you can't communicate to other people than forget it. Or work on it. Which you'll be able to do while you're in college because program managers need a bachelor's degree.

  • Average Salary: $96,084
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Information Technology Project Manager

Role:

The job of an information technology project manager isn't an entry-level position. You're going to want a few years of experience under your belt before tackling the career. In fact, you may even need some experience leading people.

As an information technology project manager, it's your job to manage the staff and lead them in the right direction so they can accomplish goals and produce results. Sometimes that means you'll have to be the "bad guy" by having a tough talk.

Being an information technology project manager can have it's stressful moments from time-to-time, but for the most part, it's a great job. Plus, you'll be able to take pride in the fact that all of your hard work paid off so that you could manage your own team, rather than the other way around.

  • Average Salary: $106,981
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Program/Project Manager Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active program/project manager jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where program/project managers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Program/Project Manager Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California9,535$121,049
2Texas5,341$103,244
3New York4,189$102,336
4Washington3,768$100,492
5Florida3,547$92,509
6Virginia3,271$95,290
7Illinois3,120$92,737
8Massachusetts2,826$101,375
9Pennsylvania2,824$108,090
10Georgia2,805$103,743
11Ohio2,635$100,462
12North Carolina2,487$102,881
13New Jersey2,361$110,890
14Minnesota2,001$96,009
15Michigan1,976$99,574
16Maryland1,882$93,839
17Arizona1,610$94,361
18Colorado1,610$92,414
19Oregon1,537$97,826
20Wisconsin1,485$112,695
21Tennessee1,386$83,136
22Indiana1,375$84,132
23Missouri1,294$97,272
24Utah1,046$88,973
25Connecticut980$105,799
26South Carolina930$87,739
27Alabama889$90,642
28Iowa754$83,427
29Kentucky712$85,617
30Kansas682$97,240
31Nebraska619$85,796
32Arkansas618$82,486
33Nevada580$90,538
34Oklahoma579$84,776
35Louisiana563$90,541
36New Mexico558$115,842
37New Hampshire518$88,405
38Idaho475$88,472
39Rhode Island420$97,471
40Mississippi383$83,747
41Delaware365$101,093
42Montana346$112,366
43Maine337$106,257
44North Dakota335$82,218
45West Virginia298$92,296
46Hawaii268$92,769
47South Dakota229$90,225
48Vermont169$96,507
49Alaska167$93,405
50Wyoming121$84,625

Program/Project Manager Education

Program/Project Manager Majors

Business
28.2 %
Computer Science
10.8 %
Electrical Engineering
7.1 %

Program/Project Manager Degrees

Bachelors

66.5 %

Masters

20.8 %

Associate

9.1 %

Top Colleges for Program/Project Managers

1. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

2. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

4. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

5. Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$18,454

Enrollment

40,108

6. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

7. University of Washington

Seattle, WA • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,207

Enrollment

30,905

8. University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,610

Enrollment

40,329

9. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

10. University of Maryland - College Park

College Park, MD • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,595

Enrollment

30,184

Top Skills For a Program/Project 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, 18.0% of program/project managers listed project management on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and business skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Program/Project Manager Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Program/Project Manager templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Program/Project Manager resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Program/Project Manager Resume

Program/Project Manager diversity

Program/Project Manager Gender Distribution

Male
Male
62%
Female
Female
38%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among program/project managers, 38.0% of them are women, while 62.0% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among program/project managers is White, which makes up 65.6% of all program/project managers.

  • The most common foreign language among program/project managers is Spanish at 34.8%.

Online Courses For Program/Project Manager That You May Like

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Best States For a Program/Project Manager

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a program/project manager. The best states for people in this position are California, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Montana. Program/project managers make the most in California with an average salary of $121,049. Whereas in New Mexico and Wisconsin, they would average $115,842 and $112,695, respectively. While program/project managers would only make an average of $112,366 in Montana, 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. California

Total Program/Project Manager Jobs: 9,535
Highest 10% Earn:
$169,000
Location Quotient:
1.17

$121,049

Avg. Salary

View 9,535 Program/Project Manager Jobs In CA

2. Montana

Total Program/Project Manager Jobs: 346
Highest 10% Earn:
$152,000
Location Quotient:
1.07

$112,366

Avg. Salary

View 346 Program/Project Manager Jobs In MT

3. New Mexico

Total Program/Project Manager Jobs: 558
Highest 10% Earn:
$159,000
Location Quotient:
1.02

$115,842

Avg. Salary

View 558 Program/Project Manager Jobs In NM
Full List Of Best States For Program/Project Managers

How Do Program/Project Managers Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Program/Project Manager Employers

Most Common Employers For Program/Project Manager

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Accenture$139,092$66.87184
2Apple$127,472$61.2831
3IBM$126,972$61.04143
4Dell$115,081$55.3352
5HP$112,729$54.2039
6Microsoft$111,506$53.6154
7Intel$110,550$53.1553
8Cisco$109,913$52.8481
9Citi$107,210$51.5430
10T-Mobile$105,604$50.77331
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Program/Project Manager Videos

A Day in the Life of a Project Manager
IT Project Manager, Career Video from drkit.org
Career Advice on becoming a Project Manager by Michael G (Full Version)

Program/Project Manager Related Careers

Program/Project Manager Related Jobs

What Similar Roles Do

Resume For Related Jobs

Updated April 6, 2023