How to hire a project team lead

Project team lead hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring project team leads in the United States:

The median cost to hire a project team lead is $1,633.
It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
HR departments typically allocate 15% of their budget towards recruitment efforts.
Small businesses spend $1,105 per project team lead on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
It takes approximately 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
There are a total of 8,459 project team leads in the US, and there are currently 125,539 job openings in this field.
Gaithersburg, MD, has the highest demand for project team leads, with 4 job openings.

How to hire a project team lead, step by step

To hire a project team lead, you should create an ideal candidate profile, determine a budget, and post and promote your job. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a project team lead:

Here's a step-by-step project team lead 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 team lead job description
Step 5: Post your job
Step 6: Interview candidates
Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new project team lead
Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a project team lead do?

A project team lead sets up the expectations for the team members. Project team leads are in charge of setting the direction for the team members. They see to it that the members will not stray from the team's goals. They lead and engage in project works. It is their job to maintain the dynamics of the team. It is their aim not to fail in their management and leadership skills. They need to have conflict and resolution skills, communication skills, attention to detail, and patience.

Learn more about the specifics of what a project team lead does

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Identify your hiring needs

Before you start hiring a project team lead, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

Determine employee vs contractor status

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

You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a project team lead to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a project team lead that fits the bill.

Here's a comparison of project team lead salaries for various roles:

Type of Project Team Lead	Description	Hourly rate
Project Team Lead		$38-65
Operations Project Manager	An operations project manager is responsible for monitoring the performance of the project team, ensuring that the operations meet the clients' standards and internal regulations with maximum productivity and efficiency. Operations project managers manage the department's budget and allocate materials and resources accurately, maintaining a record of expenses and costs forecasting... Show more	$31-58
Technical Project Manager	The role of technical project managers is to oversee the planning and management of projects within a company. They are considered as the lead subject matter expert in terms of technology concerns... Show more	$38-68

Create an ideal candidate profile
Common skills:
- Project Management
- R
- Project Scope
- Logistics
- Database
- HVAC
- Project Plan
- Process Improvement
- Retrofit
- SQL Server
- Sigma
- C++
- Management System
- SharePoint
Check all skills
Responsibilities:
- Manage UAT, build test plans, regression testing, compile results, training.
- Lead the program integration effort for a major conversion / upgrade of ERP software for military aircraft production programs.
- Design SharePoint Wiki sites, and manage SharePoint environment.
- Manage RFP large scale network/infrastructure relate expansion, integration, and/or decommissioning projects.
- Lead team that develop an integrate database with a web-base user interface that allow repair crews in locating information and equipment.
- Design and implement SQL data table setup and program financial and payroll system interfaces.
More project team lead duties

Make a budget

Including a salary range in your project team lead job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A project team lead can vary based on:

Location. For example, project team leads' average salary in wisconsin is 38% less than in california.
Seniority. Entry-level project team leads 42% less than senior-level project team leads.
Certifications. A project team lead with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a project team lead's salary.

Average project team lead salary

$105,306yearly

$50.63 hourly rate

Entry-level project team lead salary

$80,000 yearly salary

Updated December 13, 2025

Average project team lead salary by state

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	California	$149,305	$72
2	Arizona	$112,579	$54
3	North Carolina	$108,835	$52
4	District of Columbia	$106,200	$51
5	Massachusetts	$105,971	$51
6	Texas	$105,509	$51
7	Pennsylvania	$102,632	$49
8	Illinois	$102,318	$49
9	Michigan	$100,340	$48
10	Missouri	$98,680	$47
11	Georgia	$96,419	$46
12	South Carolina	$94,975	$46
13	Indiana	$94,584	$45
14	Minnesota	$94,399	$45
15	Colorado	$92,509	$44
16	Oklahoma	$92,326	$44
17	New York	$91,272	$44
18	Ohio	$88,903	$43
19	Wisconsin	$85,667	$41
20	Tennessee	$85,662	$41

Average project team lead salary by company

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
1	Citi	$140,727	$67.66	3
2	Phillips 66	$135,132	$64.97
3	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$134,309	$64.57	115
4	Cargill	$133,835	$64.34	1
5	BRP US Inc	$132,623	$63.76
6	Duke University Health System	$128,510	$61.78	1
7	Access: Supports for Living	$124,984	$60.09	1
8	Medidata	$124,262	$59.74	4
9	Bungie	$123,605	$59.43
10	DuPont	$123,416	$59.33	3
11	Carvana	$114,155	$54.88	9
12	Esurance	$114,095	$54.85
13	Hemlock Semiconductor	$112,550	$54.11
14	Famous Supply	$112,265	$53.97
15	Johnson & Johnson	$112,178	$53.93	12
16	Haynes International	$111,790	$53.75
17	R.M. Schulte & Associates	$111,508	$53.61
18	BankUnited	$111,492	$53.60	1
19	HD Supply	$110,656	$53.20
20	The Chemours Company	$110,635	$53.19

Writing a project team lead job description
A project team lead job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a project team lead job description:
Project team lead job description example
Job DescriptionMore information about this job:Overview:

FM Global is a leading property insurer of the world's largest businesses, providing more than one-third of FORTUNE 1000-size companies with engineering-based risk management and property insurance solutions. FM Global helps clients maintain continuity in their business operations by drawing upon state-of-the-art loss-prevention engineering and research; risk management skills and support services; tailored risk transfer capabilities; and superior financial strength. To do so, we rely on a dynamic, culturally diverse group of employees, working in more than 100 countries, in a variety of challenging roles.

Responsibilities:

Works with the Staff Vice President, Investment Accounting. Ensures that the underlying books and records of the company's investment holdings and cash flow accurately reflect the business results. Helps to ensure that the books and records of the company's pension and post-retirement plans accurately reflect the plan assets and liabilities. Provides technical accounting support to the overall investment accounting function under US GAAP, STAT and IFRS accounting standards. Works with the investments department, other FM Global departments and internal and external auditors as necessary. Leads projects to update/upgrade the investment accounting system.

Qualifications:
- 4 Year/Bachelors Degree, accounting preferred. Professional certification (CPA, CMA, CIA, CISA, etc.) or master's degree preferred.
- 5 + Years experience in investment accounting. Experience with derivatives strongly preferred.
We offer our employees a wide range of benefits including career long learning opportunities, tuition reimbursement, 401 (k), pension, flexible schedules, rich health and well-being programs, generous time off allowances, volunteer days and so much more!

FM Global is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to attracting, developing and retaining a diverse workforce.

Please note that all FM Global visitors, including external candidates interviewing for open positions will be required to be vaccinated and should be prepared to provide proof of vaccination.

#LI-MY1

#resilienceisachoice
Post your job
There are various strategies that you can use to find the right project team lead 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 team lead job on Zippia to find and recruit project team lead 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.
Interview candidates
Recruiting project team leads requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.
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 team lead 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.
Send a job offer and onboard your new project team lead
Once you've found the project team lead 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 team lead. 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.
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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How much does it cost to hire a project team lead?

Before you start to hire project team leads, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire project team leads pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

You can expect to pay around $105,306 per year for a project team lead, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for project team leads in the US typically range between $38 and $65 an hour.

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Updated December 13, 2025

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How to hire a project team lead