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Business Management and Operations | Project Manager (General)

Project Manager (General)

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Project Manager manages work on projects with a defined scope, start and completion point. Leads project teams, manages project budgets and schedules; manages contractors and communications with stakeholders. May manage projects in construction, information technology or in other industries.

Job Outlook

There were 9991 Project Manager (General) job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 267111 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Project Manager industry, which includes the Project Manager (General) career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Project Manager (General) 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 $111,291.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $108,935.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Project Manager (General) postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $93,424.

Education and Experience

Posted Project Manager (General) 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 Degree65.4%
Master's Degree15.17%
Doctoral Degree1.32%
Other6.59%

Posted Project Manager (General) 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 years11.63%
3 to 5 years49.87%
6 to 8 years19.01%
9+ years19.49%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Project Manager (General) 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.

  • Communication (56.8%)
  • Management (49.78%)
  • Leadership (40.42%)
  • Planning (33.34%)
  • Coordinating (25.04%)
  • Problem Solving (23.8%)
  • Operations (21.62%)
  • Customer Service (21.15%)
  • Microsoft Office (19.72%)
  • Detail Oriented (16.93%)

Defining Skills

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

  • Project Documentation (7.99%)
  • Project Schedules (15.39%)
  • Change Orders (11.8%)
  • Project Scoping (12.28%)
  • Project Implementation (9.7%)
  • Project Planning (15.09%)
  • Systems Development Life Cycle (8.1%)
  • Construction Management (16.1%)
  • Microsoft Project (9.67%)
  • Project Management (96.44%)
  • Milestones (Project Management) (11.36%)
  • Subcontracting (17.12%)

Necessary Skills

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

  • Agile Methodology (9.47%)
  • Change Management (10.31%)
  • Procurement (11.4%)
  • Continuous Improvement Process (6.56%)
  • Marketing (9.26%)
  • Risk Management (8.76%)
  • Invoicing (8.11%)
  • Construction (24.04%)
  • Business Development (7.66%)
  • Finance (7.58%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Organizational Change Management (1.87%)
  • Waterfall Methodology (3.53%)
  • Project Controls (2.69%)
  • Project Performance (4.36%)
  • Project Management Life Cycle (2.72%)
  • Project Management Institute (PMI) Methodology (5%)
  • Project Coordination (5.92%)
  • Submittals (Construction) (5.65%)
  • Stakeholder Management (3.46%)
  • Mitigation (4.52%)
  • Expectation Management (3.32%)
  • Project Management Software (8.47%)
  • Resource Allocation (4.67%)
  • Project Stakeholders (4.54%)
  • Project Risk Management (6.92%)
  • Resourcing (1.29%)
  • Project Closure (4.06%)
  • Scope Management (3.52%)

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 Controls (9.64%)
  • Construction Management (57.8%)
  • Project Management Software (30.4%)
  • Submittals (Construction) (20.29%)
  • Project Closure (14.56%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Project Manager (General) skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Project Manager
  • Environmental Project Manager
  • Associate Project Manager
  • Commercial Project Manager
  • Director of Projects
  • Infrastructure Project Manager
  • Commercial Drywall Project Manager
  • Electrical Project Manager
  • Lead Project Manager
  • Architectural Project Manager

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 Project Manager (General) jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • GPAC (14199)
  • CyberCoders (2685)
  • Actalent (2633)
  • CDM Smith (1958)
  • Deloitte (1689)
  • Lumen Technologies (1602)
  • Insight Global (1577)
  • CBRE (1458)
  • Black & Veatch (1405)
  • Jacobs Solutions (1318)

North Carolina

  • GPAC (685)
  • CyberCoders (118)
  • Actalent (103)
  • Black & Veatch (101)
  • Randstad (100)
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific (94)
  • CDM Smith (94)
  • Siemens (90)
  • University of North Carolina (76)
  • Allegis Group (74)

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!