How To Become A Project Management Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a project management specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Bethany Swindell

Designing action plans to ensure productivity, keeping projects on schedule, and managing project costs are all responsibilities of a project management specialist. For effective work, you are expected to develop a professional relationship with customers to ensure their satisfaction. You are in charge of overseeing assigned projects that are correctly managed and planned during execution and ensuring baseline projects procedures are maintained and available to all necessary parties. Apart from project management, you are also expected to control and monitor the financial status of a project, report technical issues, resources, financial and customer satisfaction.

Part of your responsibility is to identify risks related to the project, collaborate with sales to ensure project proposals are supported, and develop an overall project plan for consistent specific project objectives and cross-organizational projects. You will give out tasks to individuals and ensure the execution of each task assigned. As a project management specialist, some skills are essential, which include time management skills, excellent communication skills, ability to multitask, and interpersonal skills. The average salary of a project management specialist yearly is $74,000. A bachelor's degree in Business, Project Management, or other related fields will suffice for the role.

What general advice would you give to a Project Management Specialist?

Bethany Swindell

Visiting Instructor, Arkansas Tech University

Your biggest asset is your network. Treat everyone with humanity and integrity and remember that every moment is an opportunity to learn and grow.

ScoreProject Management SpecialistUS Average

Salary

6.3

Avg. Salary $81,204

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.8

Growth Rate 11%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 11.75%

Black or African American 8.13%

Hispanic or Latino 8.94%

Unknown 4.50%

White 66.51%

Gender

female 47.62%

male 52.38%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress Level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

2.2

Work Life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a project management specialist

Explore project management specialist education requirements

Most common project management specialist degrees

Bachelor's

67.5 %

Master's

19.3 %

Associate

9.1 %

Start to develop specific project management specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
PMP	9.22%
PowerPoint	7.37%
Status Reports	6.88%
Program Management	5.82%
Customer Service	5.57%

Complete relevant project management specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New project management specialists 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 project management specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real project management specialist resumes.

Research project management specialist duties and responsibilities

Plan and manage all development and production activities for the company s new cardiac rhythmic management (CRM) extrusion line.
Manage user authorization in SharePoint.
Manage change management activation and stabilization activities for ERP project within all sites.
Manage a team responsible for designing service-orient application architecture, standards and best practices guidelines, security and data access frameworks.

Prepare your project management specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your project management specialist 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 project management specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Project Management Specialist Resume templates

Build a professional Project Management Specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Project Management Specialist resume.

Apply for project management specialist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a project management specialist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average project management specialist salary

The average Project Management Specialist salary in the United States is $81,204 per year or $39 per hour. Project management specialist salaries range between $58,000 and $112,000 per year.

Average Project Management Specialist Salary

$81,204 Yearly

$39.04 hourly

How do project management specialists rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Project Management Specialist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2023

Cons

Strict deadlines, and stakeholders. Feeling undervalued or underappreciated.

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Pros

I enjoy problem-solving and identifying a path to completing a complex project. I like to ensure that moving parts come together smoothly and communicating successes and celebrating with the team.

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2020