Project Manager Salary Guide 2018
What’s a typical project manager salary and how much should digital project managers earn? And while we’re asking, what are average salaries for a senior project manager, project co-ordinator and project director too? These are the questions our project manager salary survey addresses. We’re taking a global view to get insights on project manager salary information around the world.
It’s important because as organizations around the world further embrace the power of digital products/services, the digital project management field continues to grow. With more talent joining this career path, the questions of earning potential and career trajectory is inevitable. For individuals currently in this field, the question becomes, “am I being paid what I’m worth?’ and for the ambitious ones, looking ahead in their project management career — “How can I expect my salary to change as I progress?”
Our digital project manager salary survey aims to give you a better idea of what the landscape looks like for digital project managers and how compensation changes as you become increasingly senior. Tools like Payscale, Salary.com, Glass Door and Monster can provide a lot of general salary information for digital project managers, but you’ll find the estimates for salaries that they provide to be wildly different, so this article is intended as a more informed summary of salary information specifically for digital project managers.
We’ve been doing this survey since 2016 and the results of each year you can find compiled in our original article, so you can see and compare how the field is changing.
Digital Project Manager Salary Survey Considerations
As with any salary survey, it’s difficult to provide accurate summaries because there are so many variables. So before we dive into the digital project manager salary survey results, here are a few things to think about.
Contract vs. Permanent PM’s
There are pros and cons of being a contractor versus a full-time employee. The major advantage of contracting being that you will likely get paid more. The disadvantage is that you may be thrown onto projects that are temporary and may provide very little growth to your professional development. In addition, sure you may have a neat list of agencies that you’ve worked for here and there, but the projects need to be substantial enough to bring you to your next career move.
Generalist vs. Specialist project managers
If you have gathered significant experience under a certain skillset (e.g. understanding a particular CMS really well), this can set you apart from other digital project managers. With this under your belt, it may allow you to work on more projects pertaining to your skill set and potentially drawing a more premium salary within your industry. However, this is subject to supply and demand, so be sure to evaluate whether the skillset you have will continue to be in-demand!
Industry — IT and banking PM’s are always on the money
A big part of determining a digital project manager’s salary is the industry in which they work. A large bank or software company would provide a much higher salary compared to a non-profit organization or a smaller local company. Of course, at the end of the day, it’s about understanding your needs and what is the best fit.
Location — city slickers get the big bucks
The location factor will always be a salary influencer. Based on our past salary results, major cities that are bigger economic markets have been known to offer higher salaries. This, of course, comes with higher expectations and slightly more pressure in performance. Spoiler alert: this year’s salary survey results are no different.
2018 Digital Project Manager Salary Survey Results
We gathered information from around 190 respondents and matched with reliable 3rd party sources, including data from many different countries such as USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and Ukraine.
Here is a breakdown of our survey participants with digital project managers contributing their salary information from various countries:
As you can see, we received input from all around the globe, with most responses coming from USA, United Kingdom, and Canada. Therefore, we will focus our analysis on those three countries due to a more relevant and reliable sample size.
What best describes your digital project management related job title?
Similarly to 2017 results, this year we had most professionals identifying themselves as Project Managers, followed by Senior Project Managers. Project Coordinators, Project Directors, and other job titles were also present in the 2018 digital project manager salary survey. In addition to that, the large majority of the respondents (88%) work in a permanent contract.
Salary highlights from USA digital project managers
We received 83 responses from digital project managers in the USA spanning 46 cities. The DPM salaries collected for full-time positions ranged from $30,000 to $150,000, with the highest average salary coming from Palo Alto, California.
The average freelance digital project manager contractor rate presented a small increase compared to last year’s results, varying from $150 to $800 a day. It is important to remember that those rates are highly dependent on other variables such as experience, industry, and location.
To help you visualize the project management career trajectory (in a financial perspective), we created a graphic that summarizes the average salaries for different roles in the USA:
Compared to 2017 results, this year’s survey results demonstrate salary increases for some of digital project manager positions. The average salary for Project Managers increased from roughly $70,000 to $72,568 whereas Senior Project Managers saw their salaries increase from $87,000 to $93,765.
However, the 2018 survey pointed to a salary decrease for Project Coordinators, going from an average of $49,671 to $44,041. Many factors may be related to this result such as an increase in competition or saturation in the market for this entry-level position.
Salary highlights from UK digital project managers
We received 49 responses from digital project managers in the United Kingdom spanning 17 cities. The digital project manager salaries collected ranged from £26,000 to £85,000. The survey results show that London accounts for the highest salaries in UK, followed by Windsor, Oxford, Manchester, and Birmingham.
The average freelance digital project manager contractor rate varied from £275 to £500 a day.
Below you can see overall average salaries according to each job title in the United Kingdom.
The salaries for the majority of PMO roles keep sustainably increasing in the UK. For instance, the average salary increased from £34,456 to £35,260 and from £74,799 to £77,400 for Digital Project Managers and Head of Project Managers respectively (when compared to the 2017 survey). In addition to that, there was a salary increase for Project Directors (from £64,869 to £65,217, when compared with the previous period), demonstrating a higher stability and better prospect for top-tier positions.
Salary highlights from Canadian digital project managers
We received 17 responses from digital project managers in Canada across 4 provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia). The digital project manager salaries collected ranged from $42,000 to $128,000. Repeating the 2017 survey, Toronto (ON) was the city with the highest salary registered. The data also includes salaries from cities such as Vancouver, Montréal, Calgary, Burlington, Victoria, and Edmonton.
Career projection and overall average salaries for various digital project management roles in Canada are shown below:
Apart from Project Coordinator salary that decreased when compared with the last year’s results (from CAD49,406 to CAD47,218), the 2018 survey results for Canada presented a consistent and optimistic outlook all across the PMO roles. The highest salary increase (6%) came from the Project Manager role, going from CAD61,824 in 2017 to CAD65,581 in 2018. Project Directors also saw a significant increase in their salaries this year (4.5%).
As it can be seen, the project management career in Canada seems promising, with significant increases all across the board, especially in the most experienced roles. An extra motivation for you keeping investing in the career.
Digital Project Manager Salary Survey Sources
We are collecting data to update the results for 2019. If you want to receive the latest results, go to our original article, fill out our survey and we’ll send you them as soon as they’re in. Thanks!
Originally published at thedigitalprojectmanager.com on February 6, 2018.
