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Business Management and Operations

Business Management and Operations | Director of Project Management

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 185 Director of Project Management job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 5835 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 2015:

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 $141,848.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $139,270.

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 $112,264.

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 LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree0%
Bachelor's Degree72.77%
Master's Degree30.08%
Doctoral Degree5.29%
Other2.17%

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 ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years3.87%
3 to 5 years25.76%
6 to 8 years28.72%
9+ years41.66%

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 (63.27%)
  • Management (59.33%)
  • Communication (58.07%)
  • Planning (40.46%)
  • Operations (36.18%)
  • Problem Solving (25.51%)
  • Coordinating (24.23%)
  • Influencing Skills (20.62%)
  • Presentations (20.57%)
  • Budgeting (20.37%)

Defining Skills

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

  • Project Management (91.53%)

Necessary Skills

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

  • Project Schedules (8.43%)
  • Project Controls (5.79%)
  • Project Scoping (9.03%)
  • Project Implementation (12.5%)
  • Agile Methodology (10.93%)
  • Continuous Improvement Process (18.61%)
  • Business Process (7.18%)
  • Auditing (6.43%)
  • Change Management (15.98%)
  • Business Development (13.08%)
  • Dashboard (4.26%)
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (14.89%)
  • Construction (16.65%)
  • Contract Management (5.98%)
  • Project Planning (12.41%)
  • Finance (14.15%)
  • Risk Management (16.8%)
  • Milestones (Project Management) (13.89%)
  • Procurement (16.26%)
  • Portfolio Management (7.03%)
  • Marketing (11.47%)
  • Construction Management (10.17%)
  • Project Management Office (PMO) (13.6%)
  • Resource Allocation (9.77%)
  • Project Portfolio Management (8.75%)
  • Project Risk Management (11.01%)
  • Resource Management (7.59%)
  • Microsoft Project (10.35%)
  • Process Improvement (16.15%)
  • Mitigation (9.23%)
  • Pharmaceuticals (12.13%)
  • Systems Development Life Cycle (7.19%)
  • Templates (6.05%)
  • Effective Communication (8.35%)
  • Stakeholder Management (5.68%)

Alternative Job Titles

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

  • Associate Director of Project Management
  • Project Management Manager
  • Capital Project Manager
  • Director of Project Management Office
  • Construction Project Management Director
  • Global Project Leader
  • PMO Director
  • Program Manager
  • Data Center 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 Director of Project Management jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • CBRE (207)
  • Johnson & Johnson (129)
  • Stoneridge (86)
  • The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) (74)
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb (55)
  • Merck KGaA Darmstadt Germany (53)
  • GlaxoSmithKline (49)
  • Public Partnerships (47)
  • IQVIA (46)
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific (44)

North Carolina

  • Thermo Fisher Scientific (13)
  • CBRE (10)
  • IQVIA (5)
  • GlaxoSmithKline (4)
  • Honeywell International (3)
  • Jacobs Engineering Group (3)
  • First Citizens Bank (3)
  • Novasyte (3)
  • Worldwide Clinical Trials (3)
  • MetLife (3)

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!