Director of Project Management
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Director of Project Management provides strategic direction for projects within a business or large organization. May oversee the work of project managers or manage organization-wide projects. Oversees and coordinates the resources needed for projects with a defined scope, start and completion point.
Job Outlook
There were 262 Director of Project Management job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 6332 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Project Manager industry, which includes the Director of Project Management career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Director of Project 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 $167,468.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $169,684.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Director of Project Management postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $136,711.
Education and Experience
Posted Director of Project 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 Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 74.65% |
| Master's Degree | 36.04% |
| Doctoral Degree | 3.76% |
| Other | 1.66% |
Posted Director of Project 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 Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 1.26% |
| 3 to 5 years | 18.19% |
| 6 to 8 years | 25.36% |
| 9+ years | 55.19% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Director of Project 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.
- Leadership (78.1%)
- Management (69.28%)
- Communication (67.42%)
- Planning (45.12%)
- Problem Solving (35.44%)
- Operations (34.82%)
- Mentorship (26.88%)
- Timelines (26.3%)
- Budgeting (26.01%)
- Coordinating (23.07%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Project Delivery (20.52%)
- Risk Management (23.86%)
- Project Management (97.89%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (24.59%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Strategic Objectives (8.24%)
- Effective Communication (8.59%)
- Mitigation (12.42%)
- Resourcing (6.1%)
- Process Improvement (15.68%)
- Subcontracting (7.86%)
- Stakeholder Engagement (5.75%)
- Stakeholder Management (11.61%)
- Business Strategies (14.42%)
- Resource Allocation (14.79%)
- Resource Management (9.07%)
- Quality Management (6.91%)
- Portfolio Management (11.99%)
- Project Portfolio Management (13.92%)
- Project Management Office (PMO) (18.08%)
- Systems Development Life Cycle (11.42%)
- Project Management Institute (PMI) Methodology (7.24%)
- Project Risk Management (16.39%)
- Pharmaceuticals (11.68%)
- Microsoft Project (14.14%)
- Milestones (Project Management) (17.66%)
- Project Management Software (12.66%)
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (15.89%)
- Marketing (11.99%)
- Financial Management (7.18%)
- Performance Appraisal (9.79%)
- Performance Management (5.67%)
- Finance (15.71%)
- Project Planning (13.85%)
- Procurement (16.87%)
- Construction Management (15.2%)
- Change Management (18.84%)
- Construction (18.44%)
- Business Development (12.52%)
- JIRA (8.36%)
- Auditing (7.02%)
- Agile Methodology (16.54%)
- Risk Mitigation (11.83%)
- Project Performance (10.85%)
- Project Implementation (20.1%)
- Workflow Management (8.96%)
- Waterfall Methodology (7.91%)
- Project Controls (3.88%)
- Project Scoping (10.58%)
- Project Documentation (7.58%)
- Project Schedules (10.01%)
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 Delivery (20.82%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (24.94%)
- Project Management (99.29%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Director of Project Management skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Project Executive
- Director of Project Management Office
- Associate Director of Project Management
- Director of IT PMO
- Program Manager
- Construction Project Management Director
- PMO Manager
- Project Manager
- Director of Strategic Planning
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.
- Project Manager (General)
- IT Project Manager (General)
- Director of Program Management
- Engineering Project Manager
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Director of Project Management jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- CBRE (341)
- Merck & Co. (174)
- Johnson & Johnson (93)
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (81)
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (70)
- PricewaterhouseCoopers (61)
- IQVIA (56)
- The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) (54)
- Shi International Ltd (53)
- Res Agency (52)
North Carolina
- Thermo Fisher Scientific (31)
- CBRE (12)
- Merck & Co. (8)
- Johnson & Johnson (7)
- Worldwide Clinical Trials (7)
- GPAC (6)
- Honeywell International (5)
- Life Technologies (5)
- IQVIA (5)
- Sparks (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!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.