Written by Preethiga Narasimman : May 2023
Almost all businesses across the globe are constantly looking out for the latest and most efficient options to manage their projects cost-effectively. The project management sector has become a diverse and exciting field to pursue. Project management is significantly becoming a valuable tool for helping the execution of ingenious ideas. How it is used in the material production or manufacturing sector might differ from the implementation of project management in the service sector. But project management is now being increasingly implemented in private and public sectors worldwide, bringing noticeable improvement in the productivity and efficiencies of businesses. In this article, we’ll check out the top project management industries, the merit of project management in these industries, and more.
Project Management Industry: Overview
The 7 sectors contributing the most to project management industry growth seeking workforce as per the PMI report are:
- Construction
- Manufacturing
- Finance and Insurance
- Management and Professional Services
- Utilities
- Oil and Gas
- Information Services and Publishing
Just by focusing on any one of these sectors and taking the relevant Project Management training courses earlier on, you can sharpen your skills to harness the huge industry demand well and stay far ahead of the rest.
Top 10 Industries with High Demand for Project Managers
Almost all sectors need project managers with seemingly diverse job profiles and daily activities, but they all share the common need for ingenuity, phenomenal productivity, and performance. A list of ten top industries for project management with a towering requirement for project managers are:
1. Construction
Soaring prices, regulations, and other concerns make it very tough for project management in the construction industry to profit even under excellent demands. Here is where the value of project managers is felt the most. They must effectively coordinate with numerous stakeholders and resources like architects, engineers, city planners, public works employees, and construction crews for various projects like residential buildings, commercial properties, or industrial facilities.
Their involvement keeps the construction industry on track, from budget formulation to schedule development and managing daily activities throughout the project lifecycle. Besides quality management, contract administration and risk management play a heavy role in their job profile.
The average annual salary of the construction project manager is $71,726 per annum.
2. Engineering
The various engineering project fields include Mechanical, Civil, Industrial, Aerospace, Chemical, Biomedical, Electrical, Nuclear, Agricultural, and Marine, where project managers are required. They need a degree (sometimes even a Master’s degree) in the specific engineering field of interest coupled with project management knowledge and skills. Though the salary range varies depending on the sector, demand and other factors, the average base salary is around $150,124 per annum.
3. Information Technology (IT)
In its entirety, IT covers industries of software, hardware, semiconductors, and internet service providers, as well as projects often relating to the creation of software applications, technological upgrades, computer and network infrastructures, equipment installation or cybersecurity. With such an array of varieties, project managers in the IT sector must possess both technical knowledge and business acumen to understand project planning, costing, and feasibility. The project managers in this sector are highly paid, with an average base salary of $89,299 per annum.
4. Finance, Insurance Services
Just when finance percolates through all aspects of project management in any sector, the finance sector itself requires efficient finance project managers to maximize productivity and reduce costs. However, their approach is a little narrower than their counterparts in other sectors, focusing on priorities like cash flow projections and earned value management, developing metrics, estimates, and operation plans. They supervise a company’s investments and planning and require skills like financial analysis, budgeting, and forecasting.
While they handle cash flow involving payroll and project-related expenditures, many also develop revenue enhancement strategies. Working closely with high-level or top executives and other influential people, financial reporting is key to their job.
Large insurance companies also hire project managers or consultants for initiatives of high stakes requiring technical considerations as well along with a thorough understanding of risk management imperative for success in this role. The average base salary for finance project managers is around $71,330 per annum.
5. Healthcare
While compliance and cost are the two obligations of the healthcare industry, both can be addressed with the help of efficient project managers. Hospitals and large clinics need healthcare project managers, but medical equipment manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies also need project managers’ involvement.
Some of the potential projects that healthcare project managers handle could be:
- Development of web apps or web portals.
- Facilitation of construction of new buildings/departments at a hospital or inclusion of emergency medical services or improved systems.
To fulfill such needs, therefore, specialized field knowledge is required, and hence often, a degree in health management, public health, or any related studies is helpful. Project manager salary in Healthcare / Pharma Companies is around $73,547 per annum on average.
6. Marketing
Overseeing marketing campaigns related to any brand, aiming to create a brand identity, spread, and increase brand value is the chief role of the marketing project managers. Without a project manager’s involvement, marketing campaigns risk becoming ineffective, hyped, unorganized, delayed and focus less.
They work in collaboration with designers, copy and content writers, digital and social media specialists, advertisers, and ad agencies. For this, they need a bachelor’s or master’s degree in marketing, communication, PR, and business administration, along with knowledge and skills in project management. The average base salary of a marketing project manager is $75,178 per annum.
7. Manufacturing
In the manufacturing sector needs, the skills of budget management are required as the project managers need to provide estimates on labor and productivity while looking for new clients. Vendor accounts management, vendor and relationship management streamlining production processes keeping in mind the risks, hazards, and safety issues, are other skills that manufacturing project managers bring in. The average base salary of a manufacturing project manager is $65,871 per annum.
8. Law
Legal project managers oversee processes relating to legal services like budget, timing, and resources required for a litigation team. While a law degree is essential, although not a compulsion, certification in project management will help improve candidacy and advancing salary as well, which is $86,565 per annum in India in mid-career on average.
9. Consulting
Consulting project managers are highly skilled ‘for-hire professionals’ employed or contracted by agencies. Their function is to identify the areas needing improvement in any project and offer actionable insight to help the clients manage their projects. This calls for very high experience at their end, which they have, and they keep expanding with every agency they work with. Usually, they hold an advanced post-graduation degree in management coupled with project management skills , knowledge, and certifications. The average base salary of a manufacturing project manager is $120,500 per annum.
10. Energy and Utility Services Industry
Utility and energy management is observing growth, with hundreds of jobs forecasted to open up due to social, environmental and political pressure. The urgency for exploring environmental-friendly fuel and energy sources is creating new avenues of employment.
Particularly oil and gas sectors are open to innovation and newer ways to conserve or create fuel. The insistence in home countries to find newer opportunities to generate household fuel supply create room for innovation in oil and gas, making these sectors ideal for project managers wishing to create an impactful future.
Apart from experience in Agile project management, coordinating research and effectively communicating goals and vision are the skills required for such project managers of energy production and management.
Large-scale risk management is also required as potential outages due to disaster, delay, or other unforeseen situations could affect an entire community, state or country. The average base salary of utility services project managers $90,337 per annum.
If you are interested in learning how TimeLinx can help you or your company with project or service business needs, please click here
