Business and Financial Operations · Holland code ECS

Project Management Specialists

Analyze and coordinate the schedule, timeline, procurement, staffing, and budget of a product or service on a per project basis. Lead and guide the work of technical staff. May serve as a point of contact for the client or customer.

Also called: Fiber Project Manager, Implementation Project Manager, Project Management Consultant.

O*NET 13-1082.00

At a glance

US median annual pay: $102,320; Middle half earn $78,440 to $133,100. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Preparation needed: Job Zone 4 of 5; Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034: +6% · Faster than average; 1,046,300 jobs in 2024, projected 1,105,000. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Project management specialists".

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

Communicate with key stakeholders to determine project requirements and objectives.
Identify project needs such as resources, staff, or finances by reviewing project objectives and schedules.
Submit project deliverables to clients, ensuring adherence to quality standards.
Confer with project personnel to identify and resolve problems.
Plan, schedule, or coordinate project activities to meet deadlines.
Request and review project updates to ensure deadlines are met.
Monitor project milestones and deliverables.
Assign duties or responsibilities to project personnel.

Skills and knowledge it leans on

Skills

Active Listening3.8 / 5
Critical Thinking3.8 / 5
Writing3.6 / 5
Monitoring3.6 / 5
Reading Comprehension3.5 / 5
Speaking3.5 / 5

Knowledge areas

English Language4.0 / 5
Administration and Management3.8 / 5
Administrative3.6 / 5
Customer and Personal Service3.5 / 5
Computers and Electronics3.1 / 5
Personnel and Human Resources2.9 / 5

Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

Realistic8
Investigative29
Artistic10
Social39
Enterprising88
Conventional76

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

programme manager · DE Programmmanager/Programmmanagerin · FR directeur de projets/directrice de projets
project manager · DE Projektmanager/Projektmanagerin · FR chef de projet
research and development manager · DE Forschungs- und Entwicklungsleiter/Forschungs- und Entwicklungsleiterin · FR directeur de recherche-développement en industrie/directrice de recherche-développement en industrie
ICT project manager · DE IT-Projektmanager/IT-Projektmanagerin · FR gestionnaire de projet informatique
manufacturing engineer · DE Fertigungsingenieur/Fertigungsingenieurin · FR ingénieur de fabrication/ingénieure de fabrication
business analyst · DE Unternehmensanalyst/Unternehmensanalystin · FR analyste de gestion

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

Management consultants and business analysts (2431)245,700 employed
Information technology directors (1137)197,000 employed
Research and development (R&D) managers (2161)86,200 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
Country	Median pay
Belgium	€61,714
Germany	€59,529
Ireland	€56,877
Austria	€55,374
Netherlands	€53,595
Sweden	€43,567
France	€41,515
Spain	€35,735
Italy	€33,649
Portugal	€26,072
Poland	€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test