How To Become A Survey Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a survey manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Survey managers are in charge of planning, coordinating, and directing the daily activities of the survey field crews, office surveyors, and CAD technicians. They ensure staff and resources are used to meet the business requirements. They prepare survey scope, fees, and schedules as requested by the client. Besides that, they provide technical guidance, training, and support to their team. Also, they evaluate, verify, and endorse survey computations for technical accuracy and quality control. Additionally, they identify survey market opportunities and sought for clients.

This role requires at least a bachelor's degree in surveying and a minimum of five years of experience in surveying. Applicants must possess leadership, communication, planning, teamwork, decision-making, judgment, and problem-solving skills. You must be experienced with GPS collection and terrestrial high-definition scanning.

Also, you must be familiar with Trimble field equipment and Trimble office software. Survey managers make an average income of $91,730 per year which ranges from $60,000 to $141,000.

ScoreSurvey ManagerUS Average

Salary

4.0

Avg. Salary $50,706

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.8

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.52%

Asian 4.98%

Black or African American 3.34%

Hispanic or Latino 10.85%

Unknown 4.84%

White 75.47%

Gender

female 11.87%

male 88.13%

Age - 42

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 - 42

Stress level

7.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.3

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a survey manager

Explore survey manager education requirements

Most common survey manager degrees

Bachelor's

53.9 %

Associate

27.0 %

Master's

9.9 %

Start to develop specific survey manager skills

Skills	Percentages
GPS	10.42%
Civil 3D	6.78%
Data Collection	6.47%
CAD	5.73%
Survey Data	5.32%

Complete relevant survey manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New survey managers 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 survey manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real survey manager resumes.

Research survey manager duties and responsibilities

Manage a group of 8 surveyors and 2 GIS technicians who are working on commercial development and public infrastructure projects
Prepare documents for zoning, easement vacations, and right-of-way acquisitions.
Hire and train new employees with entry level, instrument operator and to operate the GPS system.
Perform quality control and quality assurance reviews on exhibit documents submit to RMP for the right-of-way acquisition process.

Prepare your survey manager resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable survey manager resume templates

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