The project management profession can be confusing and one of the main reasons is that the job of Project Manager can be and is called many different things. Unlike other professions where titles are more streamlined like Accounting (Financial,  Management, Forensic Accountants etc), Project Management has become unnecessarily complicated and organisations do take liberties with the titles of roles and the job tasks associated with it. 

The immaturity of the profession can explain some of this and a misunderstanding by organisations of what project managers do and don’t do hinders this too. Below are 15 titles for project managers commonly seen on jobs boards and what I believe the roles entail. 

• Project Manager – most commonly used & generic title which in theory should signify the management of the project life cycle and different methodologies within.

• Senior Project Manager – as per above but a project manager with many years experience. However what is classed as experienced differs with every role.

• Junior Project Manager – as per the two above but an entry level position for someone who is quite ‘Green’ in the profession & lacking experience.

• Project Delivery Manager – just another commonly used term for a project manager, personally I don’t like the term delivery as delivery is only one element of project management.

• Implementation Manager – same as above, possibly used to sound more prestigious than a project manager but this title as I have found out can let companies take liberties with set tasks and job remit.

• Implementation Project Manager – just a variation on the title above but the same meaning.

• IT Project Manager – possibly the most common title used bar project manager itself. Most project managers deliver software of some type or are involved in infrastructure projects, whether embedded systems, operating systems, networks, security etc

• Technical Project Manager – traditionally the role of a project manager is a non technical role whereby a project manager can be flexible and work in multiple industries. Most roles are 80% non technical & 20% technical, this can vary. This new variant of project manager, the ‘technical’ project manager tends to be the reverse and is non traditional in approach. It suits someone who is technical in a specific domain or someone from an engineering/ development background where project management skills are secondary to the technical knowledge. It’s a dangerous approach to take as technical knowledge should grow organically in any role or be added to from previous experience, but core project management skills should be primary.

• Program Manager – probably the most misunderstood role in all of the project management profession & unfortunately some program manager roles are project manager roles and vice versa. Until companies grasp the meaning of the role of a program manager the job title will be used incorrectly and get meshed with genuine project manager roles.

• Construction Project Manager – this title is specific to the construction industry and for the management of big industrial and commercial builds, completely different to software or other traditional projects. 

• Mechanical Project Manager – similar in part to the technical project whereby the role dictates that a mechanical engineer leads projects.

• Digital Project Manager – very similar to IT project managers with the slight difference being the management of digital platforms such as websites, mobile applications etc but the primary skill needed is still the management of the project life cycle and all that this entails.

• Finance Project Manager – as the title suggests a background in finance can help here and more often than not a company will prefer a project manager to be qualified in a particular area of finance before their project management skills are even considered, so qualified accountant, qualified financial advisor, qualified tax consultant etc. Project management skills can be secondary here.

• Transformation Project Manager – can involve business and/ or technology deliveries. This role can be and often is a program manager role and companies either intentionally or unwittingly advertise as a project role, either to save on salary or to underestimate the scale and size of role.

• Business Project Manager – can get confused with change management and client service manager roles. When this type of role is advertised you need to be careful to ascertain if it is actually a project manager role in the traditional sense. My experience has told me these roles can be BAU management of implemented software, customer support or/and management of internal business units in the adaption and transition to new infrastructure, essentially change management.

Hope this was interesting 👍