Project Manager Job Description
Position Overview:
The purpose of a Project Manager is to lead the logistics of completing a project from start to finish. This position serves from a birds eye view level and monitors all stages of a project. Working more from a strategy perspective rather than tactical, a Project Manager has eyes into each function of a project making sure all aspects moving along as they should to ultimately complete the project.
Similar Job Titles:
- Program Manager
- Project Coordinator
- Team Lead
- Project Management Specialist
- Project Procurement Manager
- Project Quality Manager
Primary Responsibilities:
The primary responsibility of a project manager is to serve as a go-between for the client and the project team, while making sure the project gets successfully completed. For example, if a Supply Chain Consulting company is implementing a new Warehouse Management System (WMS) for 10 warehouses across the state of Oregon for Nike, the project manager is going to be the point of contact between Nike and his team of consultants that will be implementing this new technology.
Other important responsibilities include
- Monitoring project progress and ensuring deadlines are met
- Researching and understanding the scope of the project
- Creating an integrated business plan
- Estimate duration of each project interval and plan accordingly
- Manage the financial plan and consistently evaluate the project budget
- Manage project staff and delegate tasks & roles
- Make crucial decisions when presented with multiple options for how to progress with a project
- Communicating with senior level executives to provide transparency into the project and its status
- Act as liaison between upper management and the project development team.
Required and Desired Skills:
Soft:
- Leadership
- Communication
- Multi-Tasking
- Time Management
- Organization
- Conflict Management
Hard:
- Project Planning
- Budget Management
- Timeline Calculation
- Forecasting
- Risk Management
- Documentation Development
- Task Management
Required and Desired Education and Qualifications:
You can typically count on most project managers obtaining a 4 year business degree. At certain universities, there are specific project management programs that are offered which allow for a Bachelors’ Degree in Project Management.
Project Managers find that obtaining a professional certification helps advance their career. A certification that they commonly pursue is the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. The prerequisites for pursuing a PMP certification are: a four-year degree; 36 months leading projects; and 35 hours of project management education/training or CAPM Certification. Another certification that is common for supply chain project managers is ASCM’s Certified Supply Chain Professional Certification (CSCP).
A Day in the Life:
Some of the best project managers have a direct correlation with superb communication. They can expect to be aligning with their team and reaching out to stay on top of the clients needs on a daily basis. This being sad, project managers also serve as the main line of communication to the executives in the company and the project. They will be regularly presenting project updates, data findings, and research to these executives.
Oftentimes, project managers are dealing with a new and complex process and new teams that don’t fully understand the process. This requires a certain level of managing and delegation on the front end to ensure projects move forward are ultimately completed.
Project managers multitask essentially all day. Their time and work will regularly be interrupted by emails, check-ins, meetings, complaints, help requests, and calls, as well as ongoing status updates with the clients and management teams.
Every day as a project manager is very different. You are wearing many hats to make sure all team members are operating effectively together. There is a lot of assisting and making sure your team is working together effectively.
Technology:
There are a lot of different types of software available and many are very effective. It depends upon the project manager themselves of which type of platform they would like to use. It depends on which ones work better for different project scopes.
Other Project Management Systems include:
- Monday
- AirTable
- Clickup
- Notion –
- Confluence
- Asana
- Trello
Typical Working Conditions:
A project manager’s work location and space can fluctuate. They are typically bouncing around job sites or project locations while also visiting different team members. A project manager will commonly work from behind a desk and have the ability to be in contact quickly with any stakeholders or staff members assigned to the project.
Project managers are typically full-time employees that are assigned on a project contract basis. In fact, it is coming for project managers to be assigned to numerous projects at a time, depending on the size and scope of a project.
Salary Range and Benefits:
Typical average base salary for a Project Manager in the United States is $135,000. However it is common for salary ranges to vary widely. Some entry level project managers start at around $70,000. Meanwhile more experienced professionals can earn around $190,000.
Benefits will be contingent on plans chosen by employers, but typically include:
- Dental
- Vision
- 401K
- Sick Leave
- Paid Time Off
- Remote and Flexible work environments