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Business Management and Operations

Business Management and Operations | Director of Program Management

Director of Program Management

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Director of Program Management directs ongoing program activity, or a group of program managers, for a company or organization. May be responsible for strategic direction.

Job Outlook

There were 477 Director of Program Management job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 16417 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Program Manager industry, which includes the Director of Program Management career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Director of Program Management jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $173,801.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $179,098.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Director of Program Management postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $127,589.

Education and Experience

Posted Director of Program Management jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree71.11%
Master's Degree43.29%
Doctoral Degree4.32%
Other2.25%

Posted Director of Program Management jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years8.41%
3 to 5 years26.7%
6 to 8 years24.56%
9+ years40.34%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Director of Program Management positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Program Management (74.87%)
  • Leadership (72.44%)
  • Communication (66.11%)
  • Management (61%)
  • Operations (45.06%)
  • Planning (42.4%)
  • Problem Solving (33.12%)
  • Influencing Skills (28.19%)
  • Innovation (21.29%)
  • Coordinating (21.19%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Project Management (61.75%)
  • Change Management (22.25%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Project Delivery (4.8%)
  • Effective Communication (10.1%)
  • Mitigation (12.87%)
  • Process Improvement (16.56%)
  • Stakeholder Engagement (5.89%)
  • Stakeholder Management (12.33%)
  • Business Strategies (11.17%)
  • Resource Allocation (8.97%)
  • Resource Management (4.84%)
  • Portfolio Management (7.33%)
  • Product Management (9.06%)
  • Scrum (Software Development) (9.3%)
  • New Product Development (10.6%)
  • Milestones (Project Management) (18.41%)
  • Risk Management (19.41%)
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (16.38%)
  • Marketing (14.13%)
  • Financial Services (3.31%)
  • Financial Management (12.22%)
  • Finance (18.76%)
  • Procurement (6.94%)
  • Computer Science (12.58%)
  • Continuous Improvement Process (20.35%)
  • Data Analysis (8.36%)
  • JIRA (9.42%)
  • Agile Methodology (24.38%)
  • Risk Mitigation (7.09%)
  • Supply Chain (8.36%)
  • Stakeholder Communications (8.41%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

  • Project Management (100%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Director of Program Management skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Program Director
  • Program Manager
  • Technical Program Manager
  • Principal Program Manager
  • Associate Director/Program Manager
  • Enterprise Program Manager
  • Project Manager
  • Technology Program Manager
  • Sales Effectiveness Director

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Director of Program Management jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • Sevita (476)
  • Lumen Technologies (400)
  • Walmart (390)
  • Capital One (365)
  • Raytheon Technologies (201)
  • Prime Therapeutics (190)
  • GovCIO (183)
  • Northrop Grumman (164)
  • Elevance Health (162)
  • Citigroup (162)

North Carolina

  • Thermo Fisher Scientific (17)
  • USAA (12)
  • Royal Bank of Canada (12)
  • Honeywell International (8)
  • Lumen Technologies (8)
  • Elevance Health (8)
  • First Citizens Bank (7)
  • V-Soft Consulting Group (5)
  • Pyramid Consulting (5)
  • Brightspeed (4)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!