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How to hire a senior project manager/development manager

Senior project manager/development manager hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring senior project manager/development managers in the United States:

  • HR departments typically spend 15% of their expenses on recruitment.
  • It usually takes about 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
  • It typically takes 36-42 days to fill a job opening.
  • The median cost to hire a senior project manager/development manager is $1,633.
  • Small businesses spend an average of $1,105 per senior project manager/development manager on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
  • There are currently 69,240 senior project manager/development managers in the US and 180,017 job openings.
  • Juno Beach, FL, has the highest demand for senior project manager/development managers, with 7 job openings.
  • New York, NY has the highest concentration of senior project manager/development managers.

How to hire a senior project manager/development manager, step by step

To hire a senior project manager/development manager, you should clearly understand the skills and experience you are looking for in a candidate, and allocate a budget for the position. You will also need to post and promote the job opening to reach potential candidates. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a senior project manager/development manager:

Here's a step-by-step senior project manager/development manager hiring guide:

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

What does a senior project manager/development manager do?

Senior Project Managers or Development Managers are responsible for leading the operations of a project from inception to completion. Their duties include preparing client agreements, managing project compliance plans, assisting in labor allocations, addressing project variances, and facilitating team meetings. They are responsible for facilitating procedures of internal control, producing meeting minutes, leading marketing initiatives, organizing project schedules, and monitoring project performance. Senior Project Managers also ensure contract compliance and contribute to project risk management efforts.

Learn more about the specifics of what a senior project manager/development manager does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    Before you post your senior project manager/development manager job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a senior project manager/development manager for hire on a part-time basis or as a 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 senior project manager/development manager 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 senior project manager/development manager that fits the bill.

    The following list breaks down different types of senior project manager/development managers and their corresponding salaries.

    Type of Senior Project Manager/Development ManagerDescriptionHourly rate
    Senior Project Manager/Development Manager$35-71
    Project LeaderA project leader is responsible for supervising the team and managing the distribution of tasks to ensure the project's success with the highest efficiency and accuracy. Duties of a project leader include motivating the team, managing the team's needs and concerns, providing effective strategies to improve the team's performance, creating reports, monitoring the team's progress, and maintaining the coordination between team members... Show more$33-66
    Consultant/Project ManagerConsultants/project managers act as planners, leaders, and advisors in business enterprises. These professionals facilitate meetings and establish positive relationships with vendors, management, and clients... Show more$35-65
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common skills:
    • Project Management
    • Business Development
    • C++
    • Real Estate
    • Infrastructure
    • Project Development
    • Construction Management
    • Project Scope
    • Project Delivery
    • Software Development
    • Cost Estimates
    • Project Budget
    • SharePoint
    • Development Life
    Check all skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Manage definition and a vendor selection process that help implement the PMO
    • Implement a repeatable process methodology base on the PMI PMBOK defining a systematic approach to delivering solutions and achieving customer objectives.
    • Serve as primary point of contact regarding SDLC, systems upgrades, deployment, and troubleshooting.
    • Used a lightweight, incremental methodology, interacting closely with client and stakeholders throughout many iterations of SDLC.
    • Serve as the primary interface between technology infrastructure and specific business and functional areas.
    • Maintain relational database (develop in-house) that allow selections from database by many users.
    More senior project manager/development manager duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in your senior project manager/development manager job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A senior project manager/development manager salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

    For example, the average salary for a senior project manager/development manager in Montana may be lower than in Rhode Island, and an entry-level senior project manager/development manager usually earns less than a senior-level senior project manager/development manager. Additionally, a senior project manager/development manager with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

    Average senior project manager/development manager salary

    $104,936yearly

    $50.45 hourly rate

    Entry-level senior project manager/development manager salary
    $74,000 yearly salary
    Updated December 17, 2025

    Average senior project manager/development manager salary by state

    RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
    1California$125,610$60
    2New Jersey$120,679$58
    3Pennsylvania$112,569$54
    4District of Columbia$111,241$53
    5Virginia$110,335$53
    6New York$105,713$51
    7Arizona$102,292$49
    8Maryland$100,831$48
    9Illinois$96,963$47
    10Ohio$96,839$47
    11North Carolina$96,345$46
    12Texas$94,325$45
    13Wisconsin$93,528$45
    14Georgia$90,611$44
    15Florida$89,378$43
    16Washington$85,617$41
    17Utah$82,833$40
    18Alabama$82,489$40
    19Colorado$72,092$35
    20Puerto Rico$60,845$29

    Average senior project manager/development manager salary by company

    RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rateJob openings
    1American Tower$139,724$67.17
    2SADA$138,063$66.38
    3Amazon$133,407$64.14526
    4JPMorgan Chase & Co.$131,193$63.07187
    5Sam$130,534$62.76
    6Populus Group$122,385$58.84
    7Plug Power$120,865$58.11
    8Instructure$120,293$57.83
    9Sound Transit$116,424$55.974
    10Shionogi$115,978$55.76
    11Florida Power and Light $115,865$55.7021
    12Lendlease$114,712$55.15
    13Ricoh$112,141$53.914
    14The AES$112,063$53.8810
    15Cushman & Wakefield$111,563$53.64298
    16Pharmaceutical Product Development$108,778$52.30
    17Siemens$108,004$51.9230
    18Stanley Black & Decker$107,597$51.738
    19WGI$105,289$50.628
    20Highwoods Properties$104,594$50.29
  4. Writing a senior project manager/development manager job description

    A job description for a senior project manager/development manager 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 senior project manager/development manager job description:

    Senior project manager/development manager job description example

    NextEra Energy Resources is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun, and a world leader in battery storage. We provide energy-related products and services that grow our economy, protect the environment, support our communities and help customers meet their energy needs. We are leading the decarbonization of the U.S. economy with our goal to reach Real Zero carbon emissions from our operations by 2045 while improving customer affordability and reliability. Are you interested in creating a cleaner environment for future generations? Join our world-class, innovative team today.

    At NextEra Energy, our employees are committed to providing clean and low-cost energy, and are optimistic for North America's energy future. In this role you would directly impact our goal of aggressively growing our renewable asset production. In this position you will lead Development projects in the West region, specifically in Arizona and New Mexico, from beginning to end, including overseeing cross functional teams across the NextEra Energy Resources organization. You will be working with leadership within Development, in order to drive origination and business development efforts directly impacting NextEra Energy's bottom line. Beyond the requirements below, you will also be responsible for presenting your projects and updates to Development leadership, and providing your input and expertise on a daily basis to Subject Matter Experts as the project leader of a collaborative and dynamic team. You will travel across our sites to gain expertise in the regional energy market, the project itself, and the local community. You will be given the chance to dive into the process and progression of new and existing projects. We truly have the best team in the business and are looking for hard working, detail oriented and intelligent leaders to join our team.
    Preferred qualifications are:

    * Experience in leading cross-functional teams
    * Experience with implementing project management principles and process design
    * Experience & proficiency with corporate finance principles
    * Experience & proficiency in Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and Word
    * Comfortability in community engagement

    Candidates that have prior energy experience, MBA, or relevant graduate degree are highly preferred. We have the best team in the business; apply today to be a part of it!

    Job Overview
  5. Post your job

    There are a few common ways to find senior project manager/development managers for your business:

    • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
    • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
    • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
    • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your senior project manager/development manager job on Zippia to find and recruit senior project manager/development manager 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

    Your first interview with senior project manager/development manager candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of 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.

    Sometimes, it's not enough to interview senior project manager/development manager candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

    • 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 senior project manager/development manager

    Once you've selected the best senior project manager/development manager candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

    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 senior project manager/development manager. 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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How much does it cost to hire a senior project manager/development manager?

Hiring a senior project manager/development manager comes with both the one-time cost per hire and ongoing costs. The cost of recruiting senior project manager/development managers involves promoting the job and spending time conducting interviews. Ongoing costs include employee salary, training, benefits, insurance, and equipment. It is essential to consider the cost of senior project manager/development manager recruiting as well the ongoing costs of maintaining the new employee.

You can expect to pay around $104,936 per year for a senior project manager/development manager, 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 senior project manager/development managers in the US typically range between $35 and $71 an hour.

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