What Is a Technical Project Manager? How to Become One, Salary, Skills.

A technical project manager leverages their unique skill set to adapt resources and solutions to work on complex products and services. Here’s what to know about a technical project manager’s salary, needed skills and how to become one.

What Is a Technical Project Manager?

A technical project manager is a type of project manager who has cultivated skills and expertise specific to working on projects involving high-tech product development. They understand the product life cycle, which helps them distribute the workload among team members and foresee what resources they’ll need to get the project done.

What Do Technical Project Managers Do?

A technical project manager performs all the usual duties of a project manager, such as setting project deadlines and managing budgets, applying them to technical projects in fields like IT and software development.

Technical Project Manager Responsibilities

• Delegating tasks to team members.
• Tracking project progress.
• Allocating resources as needed.
• Managing project budgets.
• Setting project timelines and deadlines.
• Communicating with stakeholders about project status.
• Interviewing, hiring and training new team members.
• Addressing technical issues that arise throughout the course of a project.

Technical Project Managers Within a Company

Technical project managers  may report to a senior project manager or director of project management. In addition to collaborating with employees in technical roles like software developers, technical project managers often work with project coordinators and product managers.

Importance of Technical Project Managers

Companies often depend on technical project managers to lead projects involving software systems, engineering tasks and other advanced topics because of their combination of technical expertise and business acumen.

What Skills Are Needed to Be a Technical Project Manager?

Qualifications to Be a Technical Project Manager

• Experience managing project budgets and timelines.
• Relevant technical knowledge such as coding languages and software development.
• Understanding of how to efficiently distribute workloads and allocate resources.
• Familiarity with hiring and training best practices.
• Experience working with project management tools and software.

Technical Project Manager Prerequisites

• A bachelor’s degree in a relevant field like business, communications or computer science.
• Coding bootcamps and other online courses can help to sharpen technical skills.
• Many technical project managers also have master’s degrees, though they are not always necessary.

Technical Project Manager Hard Skills

• Tracking project metrics.
• Relevant technical expertise.
• Using project management software.

Technical Project Manager Soft Skills

• Strong leadership and communication skills.
• Meeting deadlines.
• Balancing multiple tasks.

Tools and Programs Technical Project Managers Use

• Project management software like Asana, monday.com, Jira, Trello, Wrike or Basecamp.
• Collaboration tools like Zoom, Slack and Google Workspace.

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How to Become a Technical Project Manager

Technical Project Manager Education and Experience

A technical project manager usually holds at least a bachelor’s degree, but many also pursue higher level degrees, such as a master’s in business administration. Professionals must gain a minimum of four years of relevant work experience before they’re ready to become technical project managers.

Technical Project Manager Certificates and Courses

• The 21 Best Coding Bootcamps
• IT Project Management: Delivering successful IT projects
• Project Management Professional
• PMI Professional in Business Analysis
• Google Project Management: Professional Certificate

Technical Project Manager Career Path

Entry-level positions like IT support specialist hone the foundational knowledge and skills to prepare professionals for technical project manager roles. Employees can then move into project coordinator and project manager jobs, acquiring skills specific to project management and product strategy. This breadth of experience is ideal for aspiring technical project managers, who can eventually move up the ladder to becoming a senior project manager or director of project management.

Technical Project Manager Salary and Job Outlook

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects there will be more than 70,000 yearly job openings for project management specialists between 2021 and 2031.

The full compensation package for a technical project manager depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s experience and geographic location. See below for detailed information on the average technical project manager salary.