How to hire a project manager & leader

How to hire a project manager & leader, step by step

Here's a step-by-step project manager & leader hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a project manager & leader job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new project manager & leader
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a project manager & leader do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the project manager & leader you need to hire. Certain project manager & leader roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A project manager & leader's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, project managers & leader from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   The following list breaks down different types of project managers & leader and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Project Manager & Leader	Description	Hourly rate
   Project Manager & Leader		$35-66
   Information Technology Project Manager	An information technology project manager is responsible for supervising the technology department, ensuring that all tasks are being done by following technological strategies and solutions. Information technology project managers' duties include monitoring the technology team's daily operation, handling team members' concerns, managing customers' inquiries and complaints, helping team members' in achieving their professional growth, creating reports, sharing updates during team and board meetings, and maintaining effectivity of operational procedures... Show more	$36-71
   Business Analyst/Project Manager	A business analyst/project manager is responsible for developing project management procedures, analyzing processes, and ensuring the accuracy and efficiency of project deliverables, following clients' specifications and requirements to meet their highest satisfaction. Business analysts/project managers manage project resources, delegate tasks to project staff, setting deadlines, and coordinating with the clients for regular updates and suggest strategic adjustments as needed... Show more	$34-65

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Project Management
   • Infrastructure
   • Post Implementation
   • Risk Management
   • Project Scope
   • Project Plan
   • Architecture
   • Customer Satisfaction
   • Scrum
   • Client Facing
   • Status Reports
   • Business Process
   • Process Improvement
   • PMO

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Create and manage multiple department Microsoft SharePoint sites, which lead to increase project organization through streamline communication methods.
   • Manage and direct HIPAA training.
   • Lead teams, assignedprojects and control payroll on overseas projects.
   • Manage CMS and Java developers in developing integrate solution.
   • Lead DB2 component of company-wide data replication product design and development.
   • Manage and perform all CRM enhancements from as-is process to require modifications.

   More project manager & leader duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your project manager & leader job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A project manager & leader salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, project managers & leader' average salary in tennessee is 40% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level project managers & leader earn 47% less than senior-level project managers & leader.
   • Certifications. A project manager & leader with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a project manager & leader's salary.

   Average project manager & leader salary

   $102,092yearly

   $49.08 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level project manager & leader salary

   $74,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 20, 2025

   Average project manager & leader salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$138,468	$67
   2	New Jersey	$116,214	$56
   3	New York	$114,866	$55
   4	Virginia	$113,958	$55
   5	Massachusetts	$105,285	$51
   6	Nevada	$104,931	$50
   7	Arizona	$104,925	$50
   8	Illinois	$103,818	$50
   9	Maryland	$101,995	$49
   10	Connecticut	$101,677	$49
   11	North Dakota	$101,493	$49
   12	North Carolina	$100,865	$48
   13	District of Columbia	$100,589	$48
   14	Texas	$94,565	$45
   15	Washington	$94,245	$45
   16	Florida	$94,003	$45
   17	Minnesota	$90,116	$43
   18	Missouri	$89,586	$43
   19	Indiana	$88,867	$43
   20	South Carolina	$88,299	$42

   Average project manager & leader salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Apple	$160,010	$76.93	57
   2	Thoughtworks	$144,728	$69.58
   3	Palo Alto Networks	$141,801	$68.17	37
   4	Citi	$139,136	$66.89	38
   5	Vista Equity Partners	$138,871	$66.76
   6	Aryaka	$135,892	$65.33
   7	BNY Mellon	$134,387	$64.61	6
   8	Koch Industries	$131,813	$63.37	1
   9	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$127,446	$61.27	230
   10	CorePartners	$127,323	$61.21
   11	Riverbed Holdings, Inc.	$123,003	$59.14
   12	The Clorox Company	$121,572	$58.45	4
   13	TD Securities	$119,804	$57.60
   14	Hotwire	$119,799	$57.60
   15	Arkema	$119,682	$57.54
   16	Activision Blizzard	$119,665	$57.53	2
   17	Avanade	$119,399	$57.40
   18	Parsons	$118,260	$56.86	101
   19	TEKsystems	$117,901	$56.68	33
   20	General Electric	$117,541	$56.51	473

4. Writing a project manager & leader job description

   A job description for a project manager & leader role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a project manager & leader job description:

   Project manager & leader job description example

   The Project Management Office is seeking a Lead Project Manager who will be instrumental in evolving our PMO. As the Lead Project Manager you will manage a small team of Project Managers and oversee a portfolio of consumer facing projects within the NBC News Group Digital organization. You will be accountable for the overall planning, execution and success of complex, multi-dimensional projects in an Agile environment. You will operate in a matrix environment, managing cross-functional projects and Agile teams that enable and support business goals.
   
   As the Lead Project Manager, you and your team will be responsible for project results - using Agile best practices to plan, execute, and deliver. You will partner closely with your Product, Engineering and Design counterparts to mature Agile team practices while delivering strategic initiatives with operational excellence. This is a hybrid people and project management role and you will have the opportunity to function as the Project Manager for an Agile team while also managing and coaching a small group of
   Project Managers.
   
   This role requires strong communication and relationship building skills to effectively manage a portfolio of projects with diverse teams, key stakeholders, and senior executives.
   
   JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
   
   Hire strong Project Management talent and provide regular constructive feedback, coaching team for career growth
   
   Coach Agile teams on Agile practices and principles, delivering high quality products and services to our customers
   
   Collaborate with cross functional team members (product, design, engineering) to set goals and vision while aligning on strategy
   
   Advocate and execute against business goals, driving projects and OKR delivery
   
   Coordinate with multiple teams, driving alignment on project delivery across the portfolio
   
   Evoke an appropriate sense of urgency around priorities within and across teams
   
   Partner with your direct reports to manage, assess, communicate, and improve project and team health using qualitative and quantitative measures
   
   Resolve impediments and build consensus when conflicts arise
   
   Ensure transparency through communication and collaboration with all levels of business and technology including
   
   Build effective, highly collaborative relationships with key stakeholders across multiple disciplines
   
   Where needed, facilitate and lead Agile ceremonies - daily standups, iteration planning, retrospectives, sprint reviews
   
   Identify and oversee project timelines, milestones, owners and manage execution against milestones and key targets

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right project manager & leader for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your project manager & leader job on Zippia to find and recruit project manager & leader candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit project managers & leader, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a project manager & leader applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new project manager & leader

   Once you've found the project manager & leader candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new project manager & leader. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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