The project manager is a pivotal role within an organization. This is a position of responsibility, which organizes, monitors and manages the different phases of a project . 

There are project managers in all business sectors, each with their own specificities.

Although the business areas are different, the project management practices and techniques are common.

Here are the different types of project managers most commonly encountered.

The 13 Most Common Project Manager Positions

IT Project Manager

The IT project manager, or IS project manager, is responsible for setting up a specific IT solution, or designing new IT software with his project team. 

His tasks and missions are very broad, since he can intervene from the preliminary project to help clarify the client’s needs. He then intervenes on all the phases of the project, until the final reception of the deliverables. He then ensures the maintenance of the solution, once it has gone into production.

This position is now essential for any company, since the slightest business project has a technical IT component, now too specific to be managed by someone who does not know this particular business area thoroughly.

I have personally been an IT project manager for more than 12 years, and I can assure you that it is a demanding position.

When we integrate a new IT solution, we integrate it into an existing ecosystem, so we must particularly anticipate the impacts of our actions and decisions, and control risk management.

The IT project manager is required to work with many project management methodologies, including agile methods such as Scrum .

Digital Project Manager

The digital project manager, or web project manager, is in charge of all digital and web projects. This can range from the implementation of a new digital strategy to the implementation of new software in SaaS, through the creation of websites or mobile applications.

This position is very similar to the position of IT project manager: same tools, same technical constraints, etc. With one difference: the digital project manager must be more creative. Indeed, the design, marketing and web content writing aspects are preponderant in its missions.

We generally find digital project managers in the Marketing, Communication, and Web Marketing departments of organizations, or within communication agencies.

Just like IT project managers, digital project managers are required to manage agile projects. 

Marketing Project Manager

The marketing project manager acts as a product manager: he thus follows the entire life cycle of a product, digital or physical, from design to manufacturing, then to sale. 

He studies the adequacy of the product in relation to the needs of the market, and to the products of the competition, and ensures that the product, once on the market, will find its target.

The marketing project manager then works hand in hand with the R&D teams and the production teams to release the first prototypes before moving to large-scale production.

He is then in contact with suppliers and resellers in order to distribute the product and sell it.

Communication Project Manager

The communication project manager is generally in charge of a communication strategy, or an advertising strategy. He can also sometimes take on tasks and missions that are normally assigned to a digital project manager.

He therefore accompanies the teams, both internal and external, coordinates the tasks in order to execute the imagined communication strategy, and defines and then implements the short, medium and long-term communication plan.

HR Project Manager

The HR project manager is in charge of cross-functional organizational transformation projects. It generally acts on the following themes: quality of life at work policy, recruitment policy, employee experience, employer brand, managerial culture, etc.

He is in charge of managing the company’s cross-functional HR projects, as well as defining policies for well-being at work, recruitment and even CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).

One of the most recurrent tasks currently in this position is the design of an HRIS project, in order to set up an internal information system for human resources management.

Organization Project Manager

The organization project manager coordinates organizational change projects with the aim of optimizing the company’s performance. As such, he acts on the managerial and organizational processes in order to eliminate the superfluous and improve the efficiency of all the teams.

It thus acts in cross-functional mode, and works hand in hand with all the business departments and all the company’s departments.

The organization project manager must therefore be knowledgeable about cross-functional management and change management. He must also master the specificities of the different businesses, the strategy, and fully understand the current organization of the company.

Industrial Project Manager

The industrial project manager is in charge of setting up or reorganizing a production system, for example a production line, a packaging line or even a control laboratory.

He is in charge of the technical, administrative and financial management of this production system.

It brings together all the necessary information, and brings together the project team in order to implement this new production system, in compliance with industrial standards and specific trades, and in compliance with the various existing processes within the company. .

The industrial project manager generally has skills in the field of construction, the supply chain, organization and processes, and risk and quality management.

Construction Project Manager

The construction project manager is responsible for the construction of a structure or a construction site. The work can refer to the construction of a detached house, a building, a road, a bridge, etc.

He ensures the coordination between the various trades as well as the many companies that will intervene on the site.

He also has sufficient administrative and legal knowledge to manage the administrative procedures related to the construction of the structure, and generally understands the operation of public contracts better than other project managers.

There are many professions grouped under the name of construction site manager. For instance :

• The infrastructure project manager: He works on large structures such as railways, highways, bridges, etc.
• The program manager: It brings out a complete real estate program of several tens or even hundreds of housing units. For example, the construction of a residence.
• Urban planning project manager: He takes care of the planning of roads and constructions, and ensures that the development plan of the city is viable and coherent.

Event Project Manager

The event project manager is in charge of the design, planning and organization of an event: weddings, concerts, festivals, fairs, conventions, seminars.

Its tasks do not stop at the purely organizational and planning aspect of the event. Indeed, the event project manager has many strings to his bow:

• Budget aspect: He is responsible for managing the budget and negotiating with the various partners.
• Logistic aspect: He takes care of the layout of spaces, transportation, purchase or rental and installation of equipment, catering for technicians, volunteers and participants.
• Communication aspect: He is responsible for the communication media for the event (flyers, website, invitations, programs, etc.) as well as its promotion.
• HR aspect: He manages all the organizational and HR aspects of the event, and manages the service providers, technicians, partners, suppliers and volunteers.
• Welcoming aspects of participants: It also provides hotel reservations for participants, car rental, parking arrangements, and reception of participants.

R&D Project Manager

The R&D project manager, or innovation project manager, is in charge of the design and development of new physical or digital products, as well as new services to be marketed in order to develop new market shares. 

He is often a scientist or a researcher with in-depth knowledge in his field.

The particularity of R&D projects is their uncertainty. Unlike other projects, we don’t know in advance what the final product will be. It’s also unclear if this one will sell well. Even if we make projections. Even if we test the target clientele.

An R&D project is in a way a bet on the future. The R&D project manager must therefore give pride of place to creativity and innovation.

Supply Chain Project Manager

The supply-chain project manager, or logistics project manager, is in charge of the management, improvement and performance of logistics flows.

He is thus in daily contact with suppliers, customers as well as the various departments of the organization, and intervenes both on the functional and organizational levels.

Its missions are to constantly improve the performance of the supply chain, and therefore to improve its efficiency. As such, he can completely reorganize the supply chain, if he judges that this will improve his efficiency.

Tourism Project Manager

The tourism project manager is in charge of creating stays and tourist circuits, and can also organize personalized, tailor-made holidays for his clients, in the destination of their choice.

This job requires understanding what the customer experience is, innovating daily and always trying to think outside the box to offer routes that competitors have not thought of.

Among recent developments, we note the increasingly predominant place of ecotourism, the sustainable development of slow-tourism and ethical tourism.

This requires tourism project managers to completely reinvent their profession and their way of creating attractive stays for customers.

Training Project Manager

The training project manager, or the e-training project manager, is in charge of designing and implementing a training program, whether it is a training program for a school , a university or professionals.

For this, he must have serious skills in pedagogical engineering, and also understand the specificities of the thematic profession of the training program.

Internally, the training project manager draws up the specifications and calls for tenders in order to select external service providers to provide the internal teams with the desired training.

What Qualities are Needed to be a Project Manager?

A project manager must have many qualities to succeed in his mission, such as being adaptable and flexible, having a team spirit, knowing how to communicate, listening, knowing how to organize and be rigorous, and also be lucid and pragmatic.

The project manager is in a way a real conductor who has to deal with various constraints on a daily basis (budget, schedule, deadlines, project team, unforeseen events, business constraints, etc.) in order to carry out his project.

To go further : I have detailed in this article the 25 qualities necessary for any good self-respecting project manager. I urge you to consult it.

What is the Difference Between MOA project manager & MOE Project Manager?

The contracting authority (MOA), or contracting authority, designates the person sponsoring the project, for whom the project is carried out. He is therefore in charge of drafting the specifications and expressing the needs. This is usually the customer. We also sometimes speak of principal.

The project management (MOE), or project manager, analyzes the specifications and determines the human and technical resources necessary to implement the project. He is therefore in charge of the implementation and monitoring of the project. This is usually the project manager.

What are the Career Prospects of a Project Manager?

Depending on his experience, a project manager can progress to positions with greater responsibilities, such as program manager, project director or even PMO (Project Management Officer).

A Program Manager typically has 5+ years of project management experience, while a Project Director or PMO typically has 10+ years of project management experience behind them.

Can we switch from one type of Project Manager to another?

The short answer? Yes.

Regardless of the business areas, a project manager remains a project manager. It uses the same project management techniques, practices and methodologies as the others.

Mastering a project repository such as Prince2 can precisely help to switch from one position to another.

However, there is one point to check on your side: do you think you have sufficient business knowledge to apply?

For example, if you are an IT project manager and you want to become a construction project manager, have you inquired about the business skills that this requires? 

So of course, the specificities of the trades are learned over time. But it’s a point to keep in the back of your mind.