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Project management career path, levels and ladder
Updated
5 levels, from Project Coordinator to Head of PMO. Each one is rated on the same 36 skills — what changes between the rungs is how good you have to be at each. A delivery ladder from project coordinator to head of PMO, covering planning, scheduling, budget, risk, governance and portfolio.
- Level 1 of 5
Project Coordinator job description
Keeps plans, logs and meetings current on projects run by others.
Read the job description - Level 2 of 5
Project Manager job description
Runs a project end to end against agreed scope, time and budget.
Read the job description - Level 3 of 5
Senior Project Manager job description
Runs large or high-risk projects and coaches other project managers.
Read the job description - Level 4 of 5
Program Manager job description
Coordinates related projects toward shared benefits and outcomes.
Read the job description - Level 5 of 5
Head of PMO job description
Sets delivery standards and governance across the whole portfolio.
Read the job description
Project management levels and job titles
Project, program and delivery manager titles overlap. This table maps each level on this ladder to the titles you will commonly see elsewhere. For how these titles line up across departments, see the job title hierarchy.
| Level on this ladder | Common job titles |
|---|---|
| Project Coordinator | Project Coordinator, Associate Delivery Manager, Junior Project Manager |
| Project Manager | Project Manager, Project Manager I, Delivery Manager |
| Senior Project Manager | Senior Project Manager, Senior Delivery Manager, Senior Professional Services Project Manager |
| Program Manager | Program Manager, Programme Manager, Technical Program Manager |
| Head of PMO | Head of PMO, PMO Director, Head of Delivery Management |
Skills matrix
36 skills and 1 certification across 5 levels.
| Skill/Certification 37 | Project Coordinator | Project Manager | Senior Project Manager | Program Manager | Head of PMO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Planning5 | |||||
| NoviceYou can record what a sponsor says the project must deliver in the scope template, and list the questions you could not get answered. | ProficientYou can agree scope and requirements for a project whose stakeholders want different things, and write the exclusions and assumptions so they cannot be read two ways. | AdvancedYou can spot a scope statement that will not survive delivery, because it hides an open decision or an unfunded deliverable, and get it rewritten before the plan is baselined. | AdvancedYou can spot a scope statement that will not survive delivery, because it hides an open decision or an unfunded deliverable, and get it rewritten before the plan is baselined. | AdvancedYou can spot a scope statement that will not survive delivery, because it hides an open decision or an unfunded deliverable, and get it rewritten before the plan is baselined. | |
| BasicYou can break a small project's scope into deliverables and work packages yourself, each with a named owner and a clear definition of done. | ProficientYou can build the breakdown for a large project so that nothing in scope is missing and nothing outside it has crept in, and use it as the basis for the schedule. | AdvancedYou can review another project manager's breakdown, point to the gaps, overlaps and packages too large to track, and show them how to restructure it. | AdvancedYou can review another project manager's breakdown, point to the gaps, overlaps and packages too large to track, and show them how to restructure it. | AdvancedYou can review another project manager's breakdown, point to the gaps, overlaps and packages too large to track, and show them how to restructure it. | |
| BasicYou can build a schedule for a small project with its dependencies, and name the tasks on the critical path that set the finish date. | ProficientYou can schedule a complex project with external dependencies and constrained resources, and show a sponsor exactly which delay moves the end date and by how much. | AdvancedYou can recover a slipped schedule by re-sequencing, overlapping work or cutting scope, and present each option with its cost and risk before one is chosen. | AdvancedYou can recover a slipped schedule by re-sequencing, overlapping work or cutting scope, and present each option with its cost and risk before one is chosen. | AdvancedYou can recover a slipped schedule by re-sequencing, overlapping work or cutting scope, and present each option with its cost and risk before one is chosen. | |
| NoviceYou can keep the project's resource list current, noting who is assigned to what and when they are away. | ProficientYou can resolve over-allocation on your project by moving work, changing sequence or negotiating with line managers, before it causes a slip. | ProficientYou can resolve over-allocation on your project by moving work, changing sequence or negotiating with line managers, before it causes a slip. | AdvancedYou can balance shared specialists across several projects, and make the trade-off visible to sponsors when two projects need the same person at the same time. | ExpertYou can set how the organization plans people across projects, and use it to tell leadership which projects cannot be staffed as planned. | |
| NoviceYou can record project costs against the budget lines they belong to, and query a charge that looks misplaced. | BasicYou can track actual spend against a small project's budget and report the variance each month with the reason for it. | ProficientYou can build a project budget from the plan, including contingency, and forecast the final cost early enough for the sponsor to act on an overrun. | AdvancedYou can control the budget of a program of related projects, move funds between them within your authority, and explain every forecast change to finance. | ExpertYou can set how project costs are estimated, approved and controlled across the organization, and stop funding a project whose forecast no longer justifies it. | |
| Delivery Control6 | |||||
| BasicYou can write your project's status report from a comparison with the baseline, naming milestones at risk, a RAG rating and the decisions you need. | ProficientYou can measure progress by finished work rather than effort spent, and report a project going red early, with its cause and the recovery options. | AdvancedYou can roll status from related projects into one steering report that shows where one slip moves another's date, and challenge a green rating the evidence does not support. | AdvancedYou can roll status from related projects into one steering report that shows where one slip moves another's date, and challenge a green rating the evidence does not support. | AdvancedYou can roll status from related projects into one steering report that shows where one slip moves another's date, and challenge a green rating the evidence does not support. | |
| NoviceYou can log a change request with its requester and description, and route it to whoever assesses it. | BasicYou can assess a change request's effect on time, cost and scope for your project, and take it to the right person for a decision. | ProficientYou can run a change process that keeps unapproved work out of the project, while still saying yes quickly to small changes that are clearly worth it. | AdvancedYou can manage changes that cut across several projects or contracts, and negotiate the trade-off when a sponsor wants more without more time or money. | ExpertYou can set change control policy and approval limits for the organization, and step in when a baseline has changed so often it no longer means anything. | |
| NoviceYou can describe the delivery approach your project uses, and follow its routines and documents correctly. | BasicYou can run a project under either a predictive or an iterative approach when the method has been chosen for you. | ProficientYou can choose between a predictive, agile or hybrid approach for your project, and explain the choice from its risks, requirements and constraints. | AdvancedYou can tailor the approach mid-project when conditions change, such as moving part of the work to iterative delivery, without losing control of scope and budget. | ExpertYou can set the approaches the organization offers and the rules for tailoring them, and step in when a method is applied where its conditions do not hold. | |
| BasicYou can chair your project's regular meetings so they finish on time with decisions made and actions assigned. | ProficientYou can run a kick-off or planning workshop with people from several teams, and leave with an agreed plan even when they arrived disagreeing. | AdvancedYou can facilitate a difficult session, such as a re-plan after a major slip, and keep it on decisions rather than blame. | AdvancedYou can facilitate a difficult session, such as a re-plan after a major slip, and keep it on decisions rather than blame. | AdvancedYou can facilitate a difficult session, such as a re-plan after a major slip, and keep it on decisions rather than blame. | |
| NoviceYou can work through the closure checklist, archive the project documents, and record the lessons people raise. | BasicYou can close your project formally, with handover to operations, acceptance confirmed and people released on time. | ProficientYou can run a lessons-learned review that names what actually went wrong and what to change, rather than a list of generalities. | AdvancedYou can close a project early when it no longer makes sense, and make sure its lessons change how the next project is planned. | AdvancedYou can close a project early when it no longer makes sense, and make sure its lessons change how the next project is planned. | |
| BasicYou can chase each blocked item on your team board to its owner, with guidance from your delivery lead, and note the agreed date. | ProficientYou can agree a weekly workload with your team that it has met for several weeks running. | AdvancedYou can clear a blocker that sits with another team, and show the drop in waiting time. | AdvancedYou can clear a blocker that sits with another team, and show the drop in waiting time. | AdvancedYou can clear a blocker that sits with another team, and show the drop in waiting time. | |
| Risk & Governance5 | |||||
| NoviceYou can record risks and issues in the project log with a description and an owner, and update them when told of a change. | BasicYou can keep a live risk and issue log for your project, with a response and a review date for every item. | ProficientYou can spot risks nobody has raised, size them by likelihood and impact, and escalate the ones that exceed the project's tolerance. | AdvancedYou can manage risks that span several projects or suppliers, and make sure contingency is held where the risk actually sits. | ExpertYou can set the risk approach and risk appetite for projects across the organization, and tell leadership which portfolio risks they are carrying. | |
| NoviceYou can list the inputs your project receives from other teams, with the date each one is needed. | BasicYou can map the dependencies between your project and others, and agree a date and an owner with the other side for each. | ProficientYou can track dependencies in both directions and raise the alarm as soon as a delivery your project relies on starts to slip. | AdvancedYou can map dependencies across a program, find the ones that could stall several projects at once, and change the plan to reduce them. | ExpertYou can set how dependencies are recorded and managed across the portfolio, and use them to decide the order in which projects start. | |
| NoviceYou can prepare the documents a stage gate requires and make sure they reach the approvers on time. | BasicYou can take your project through the organization's stage gates, presenting the evidence each gate asks for. | ProficientYou can set up governance for a project, including decision points, approval limits and tolerances, and escalate as soon as a tolerance is forecast to be breached. | AdvancedYou can design governance for a program that is proportionate to its risk, including an independent assurance review before major gates. | ExpertYou can set the governance framework for all projects in the organization, and keep it light enough that teams follow it instead of working around it. | |
| NoviceYou can track what a supplier has delivered against the dates in their contract, and report a late delivery. | BasicYou can manage a supplier's day-to-day delivery on your project, checking progress and quality against the agreed deliverables. | ProficientYou can hold a supplier to their contract when delivery slips, using the agreed remedies, while keeping the working relationship intact. | AdvancedYou can manage several suppliers whose work depends on each other, and settle disputes about who is responsible for a delay. | AdvancedYou can manage several suppliers whose work depends on each other, and settle disputes about who is responsible for a delay. | |
| BasicYou can agree acceptance criteria for a deliverable before work starts, and get sign-off against them once it is done. | ProficientYou can handle a disputed acceptance by separating a real defect from a new requirement, and get the decision recorded. | ProficientYou can handle a disputed acceptance by separating a real defect from a new requirement, and get the decision recorded. | AdvancedYou can set up acceptance for deliverables with several approvers or an external customer, so sign-off is not held hostage to unrelated issues. | AdvancedYou can set up acceptance for deliverables with several approvers or an external customer, so sign-off is not held hostage to unrelated issues. | |
| Stakeholders & Teams3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can prepare papers for steering meetings, and record the decisions and actions they produce. | BasicYou can brief your sponsor regularly and bring them the decisions only they can make, each with a recommendation. | ProficientYou can run a steering committee for your project so decisions are made in the meeting rather than deferred. | AdvancedYou can work with a sponsor group whose members disagree, and still get a decision the project can act on. | ExpertYou can set how sponsors and steering committees work across the organization, and coach senior sponsors who are not playing their role. | |
| NoviceYou can set up the practical side of a new project team, such as access, tools, contact lists and meeting invitations. | BasicYou can agree roles, responsibilities and ways of working with a small project team at the start, and write them down. | ProficientYou can mobilize a team drawn from several departments or suppliers so each person can say who decides what. | AdvancedYou can mobilize several teams for a program at once, and re-form one that lost its shape after a major change or split over a dispute. | ExpertYou can set how the organization stands up new projects, so each one starts with the people, roles and tools it needs. | |
| NoviceYou can help deliver training and communications to users at go-live, following a plan someone else wrote. | NoviceYou can help deliver training and communications to users at go-live, following a plan someone else wrote. | ProficientYou can plan the training, communication and support that get users to adopt what the project delivers, and track whether they actually do. | AdvancedYou can plan adoption for a change that affects several departments, and adjust the plan when resistance or low uptake shows up. | ExpertYou can set how the organization plans for business change on projects, and refuse to call a project a success when nobody uses its output. | |
| Portfolio & PMO3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can state the benefits your project is meant to deliver, as written in its business case. | NoviceYou can state the benefits your project is meant to deliver, as written in its business case. | BasicYou can record the measures and baselines for your project's benefits, and hand them to the owner who will track them after delivery. | AdvancedYou can track benefits across a program after delivery, and report honestly when they are not arriving. | ExpertYou can set how business cases weigh options and benefits across the portfolio, and use the evidence to change which projects get funded next. | |
| NoviceYou can keep the list of active and proposed projects current, with each one's status and sponsor. | NoviceYou can keep the list of active and proposed projects current, with each one's status and sponsor. | BasicYou can supply the data a prioritization decision needs for your project, such as cost, benefit, risk and the people it will take. | AdvancedYou can balance a program's work against available capacity, and recommend pausing or stopping a project to protect the others. | ExpertYou can run portfolio prioritization for the organization, tie it to strategy and capacity, and hold the line when a stopped project's sponsor pushes back. | |
| NoviceYou can use the organization's project templates and tools correctly, and point out where one gets in the way. | BasicYou can set up a new project in the standard tools and templates with its documents filed in the agreed location, and help colleagues use them. | ProficientYou can improve a template or tool from how projects actually use it, and get other project managers to adopt the change. | AdvancedYou can design the standards and tooling for a program or department, including who owns and versions each project record, and keep them light enough that teams use them. | ExpertYou can set the methods, templates and tools the whole organization uses, and retire standards that add paperwork without improving delivery. | |
| Certifications1 | |||||
| Not required | Not required | Required | Required | Required | |
| Delivery4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can keep your own tasks and deadlines in a current to-do list, and tell your manager as soon as work you own will be late. | BasicYou can organize a small piece of work into steps, put them in a sensible order, and finish it by the date you agreed, raising problems before they cause a delay. | ProficientYou can coordinate a small team's work on a shared goal: who does what by when, what has to wait for what, and a revised plan when things change. | AdvancedYou can keep several people's work in step across teams, agree priorities and hand-offs with them, and keep one shared task list that all of them actually use. | ExpertYou can set the everyday habits for how work is organized and followed up across the organization, and teams you do not lead adopt the routines you introduce. | |
| NoviceYou can estimate how long a task will take once the approach is clear, and you say promptly when the estimate turns out to be wrong. | BasicYou can estimate your own work with reasonable accuracy and keep a steady enough pace that other people can plan around you. | ProficientYou can estimate a whole project including its risks and unknowns, split it into stages, and defend the estimate when it is challenged. | AdvancedYou can estimate work that spans several teams, name the assumptions behind each figure, and rework the plan when those assumptions break. | ExpertYou can forecast work and staffing quarters ahead, and set the estimating method other teams use. | |
| BasicYou can stay responsible after you hand work over: you check it did what it was meant to, fix your own mistakes, and give updates before anyone asks. | ProficientYou can pick up a problem that has no obvious owner and make yourself accountable for it, including the parts nobody enjoys. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | ExpertYou can report the organization's most exposed outcomes to its leaders as they stand, including bad news, and answer for them. | |
| BasicYou can choose checks that suit the task in front of you, catch your own mistakes before anyone else sees them, and confirm the result works once people start using it. | ProficientYou can define what good enough means for a project, put checks in place to show it has been met, and hold work back when it falls short. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | ExpertYou can raise the quality bar across the organization by building the tools and habits that make the careful way the easy way. | |
| Craft3 | |||||
| BasicYou can work out what is wrong in work you did not create, and you fix the underlying cause instead of working around the symptom. | ProficientYou can break a large, ambiguous problem into pieces and weigh the options for each against the evidence. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | ExpertYou can crack problems the organization has repeatedly failed to solve, and your approach becomes how others tackle that whole kind of problem. | |
| NoviceYou can apply the basics of your field to the work you are given, and ask an expert when a task goes beyond what you have learned. | BasicYou can work confidently with the tools and methods your team uses daily, and you can explain how your work serves the team's goals. | ProficientYou can advise the team on your area and apply new developments in the field where they pay off. | AdvancedYou can bring in good practice from outside the organization and make it work here, and your judgment clearly improves the work you touch. | ExpertYou can influence how the field is practiced beyond this organization, and your expertise settles questions that have stood open for years. | |
| ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | ExpertYou can set what the organization invests its learning time in, and the material and practice you create outlive your involvement. | |
| Communication4 | |||||
| BasicYou can explain your work so your team can act on it, and play a request back in your own words before you act on it. | ProficientYou can explain a complex topic to people with very different backgrounds, adjusting the detail to the audience without talking down to them. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | ExpertYou can set how the organization communicates by creating the forums and norms that teams use to share information. | |
| BasicYou can work well with people in other roles, share context and credit, and take criticism of your work without defending territory. | ProficientYou can build working relationships beyond your own team and get things done through people who do not report to you. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | ExpertYou can remove the barriers that stop teams working together by putting in place routines and forums they use across the organization. | |
| BasicYou can document your own work well enough for a colleague to follow it unaided, such as a how-to guide or a handover, and keep it current as things change. | ProficientYou can write for a defined audience, whether a proposal, a policy, a report, or a decision record, and make the reasoning as clear as the conclusion. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | ExpertYou can set the writing standard the organization works to, and documents you wrote are still in use long after you have moved on. | |
| NoviceYou can keep your manager and immediate team informed of your progress, and you raise an issue before someone else discovers it. | BasicYou can identify who is affected by your work and keep them updated at a level of detail and a frequency that suits them. | ProficientYou can win support for a proposal, reset expectations when the plan changes, and turn down a request with a reason the other side accepts. | AdvancedYou can hold senior and external relationships, negotiate between competing demands, and deliver unwelcome news without losing trust. | ExpertYou can represent the organization in its most important relationships and set how it engages with everyone who depends on it. | |
| Leadership3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can act on direction well, seek feedback on how you work, and be open about what you need help with. | BasicYou can spot a problem and propose a way forward unprompted, and you take a small leading role such as running a working group. | ProficientYou can lead one piece of work shared by several people, on your own team and beyond, and make calls that they act on. | AdvancedYou can lead across team boundaries, build the credibility that makes people follow you by choice, and create room for others to lead. | ExpertYou can set direction for the whole organization, make hard calls under real uncertainty, and carry the decisions nobody else wants to own. | |
| NoviceYou can share what you have just learned with your peers and help a newer colleague find their way around. | BasicYou can help someone new settle into your team's work, answer their questions patiently, and give feedback specific enough to act on. | ProficientYou can mentor someone over months, tell them the uncomfortable thing they need to hear, and adapt how you teach to how they learn. | AdvancedYou can develop other mentors, coach people through career decisions rather than tasks, and lift the capability of a whole team. | ExpertYou can shape how the organization grows its people, and those you developed are themselves named by others as strong in their field. | |
| NoviceYou can explain why the work you were given matters and who it is for. | BasicYou can connect your team's work to its goals and question a task that does not appear to serve them. | ProficientYou can look a year ahead in your area, name what will matter by then, and turn that into work people can pick up now. | AdvancedYou can set direction for an area, choose deliberately what not to do, and defend that choice when it is challenged. | ExpertYou can shape the organization's strategy, and the bets you argued for are visible in where it ended up. | |
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For managers and HR teams: create a free account, then add project management from Departments → Add from template in one click: all 36 skills, with the mastery expected at each of your 5 career levels.