What Salary Do Project Managers Get Across Frontiers?

Money issues often lack transparency, especially when it concerns salaries. It’s not a secret that one’s income depends on many factors, such as work experience, the level of theoretical knowledge and skills, job title, duties, and of course location. Salary rates range depending on the country, and they vary even within the same country. So, let’s analyze how much project managers make today all over the world in terms of their qualification level. 

We have collected average data about PM salaries for all industries in the following countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, The United Arab Emirates, The United States of America, Turkey, Russia, and United Kingdom. 

Junior Project Manager’s Average Salary

A project manager is an employee responsible for supervising one or several projects until they’re successfully accomplished. It’s about any PM regardless of their qualification level. 

As a rule, junior PM’s working experience doesn’t exceed 2 years. Their skillset usually involves basic knowledge of Agile and Waterfall methodologies, Scrum and Kanban, risk management, minimum B2 level of English, as well as knowledge and experience in project scope management. They should also have good communication skills to explain clients’ requirements to the team. Experience of using Jira, messaging tools and google instruments is a must for junior PMs.

Below you can see average salaries of junior project managers per month depending on a country:

Let’s calculate how much junior project managers make per year, going from the highest income to the lowest one: 

• In Switzerland, a junior project manager makes $72,000 a year, which is the biggest salary in our list of countries.
• Junior PMs get bigger income in the United States, the Netherlands, and Australia as compared to other countries. Their yearly earnings comprise $60,000. 
• German junior project managers earn $42,000 every year.
• $36,00 is the income of junior PMs living in Ireland and Canada.
• In Italy, you can have $30,000 as a junior project manager.
• $24,000 is the annual salary of junior PMs working in United Kindom.
• In Israel, Greece, Spain, The United Arab Emirates, and Turkey an average salary of a junior project manager is $18,000 per year.  
• The lowest salary range for a junior project manager has been found in Poland, Russia, and India, where these specialists get $12,00, $7,200 and $8,400 a year, correspondingly. 

How Much Does a Middle Project Manager Make?

A middle project manager is a specialist who works in the field of project management for about 3-5 years whose professional knowledge is more profound as compared to their junior colleagues. A PM of this qualification level must have experience in risk and client relations management, the experience of leading teams according to Agile principles. This expert should have excellent planning and leadership skills to be able to run their teams and projects successfully. Besides, their knowledge base should also include awareness of PRINCE2 and PMBOK methodologies, and preferably corresponding certifications. 

Below you can see middle project managers’ average monthly salaries depending on a country:

Below you can find statistics with the yearly income according to the countries:

• Switzerland heads the list again. Swiss middle PMs’ monthly check is $114,000 a year.
• In Australia, a middle PM makes $78,000 a year. 
• A little lower but still high salaries are paid in the United States, Israel, and the Netherlands. There, specialists of this level get $72,000. 
• German middle project managers earn $66,000 per year.
• In Ireland, The United Arab Emirates, and Italy, middle PM’s annual income comprises $60,000.
• The identical amount of money is paid to middle project managers in Italy, Greece, and United Kingdom – they make $42,000 every year.
• Spanish people having this position get $36,000 yearly.
• Turkish middle project managers earn $30,000 per year.
• The smallest amount of money middle PMs make in Poland, Russia, and India, where their yearly income doesn’t exceed $24,00, $24,000, and $18,000, correspondingly. 

Senior PM’s Monthly and Annual Earning Statistics

A senior project manager is an expert who is in charge of planning, scheduling, estimating, managing multiple projects and the teams working on them including all risks and problematic situations. These specialists are often engaged in project management for 6+ years and have excellent analytical, planning, leadership, and communication skills. The experience of successful completion (on time and within the budget) of multiple projects is a must. For a senior PM technical competency is also a demand. They should have profound knowledge of and experience in working with various software solutions as well as the ability to successfully interact with both technical and non-technical employees. 

Below you can consider how much senior project managers make per month in different countries:

Let’s have a look at the yearly income of senior PMs in different countries:

• The greatest income senior project managers get in Switzerland. Swiss senior project managers’ salary is $144,000.
• In the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates, a senior project manager makes $120,000 a year, which is more than good. 
• Not far off there is Australia and Israel, where senior PMs earn $108,000. 
• American and German senior project managers’ annual income is $102,000.
• In Ireland, experts having this job earn $90,000 per year.
• Canadian salary of a senior project manager is on average $84,000.
• Italian and British senior project managers get an identical amount of money for their job. Their annual income amounts to $66,000.
• In Greece, they earn $60,000 at the position of a senior PM.
• In Spain and Turkey, the salary of a senior project manager is $48,000 a year.
• Polish and Russian citizens earn $42,000 every year at the position of a senior project manager.
• The worst state of things regarding salary can be noticed in India. Indian citizens engaged in project management and having skills that go in line with the senior level make $30,000. 

How to Get a Higher Salary: Tips for Junior, Middle, and Senior PMs

If you hold a position of a junior project manager and dream about moving up the career ladder, it’s up to you to learn basic requirements for the desired position and the steps you should take to get better in your professional field. The salary depends on your qualification level. According to statistics, a PM having a certification earns 16% more than their opposite number without the certification. Here you can find a list of relevant certifications for project managers and requirements put forward by world-renowned companies for PMs.

There are some tips for you to be guided by in your professional journey:

Improve your soft skills

You must advance your communication, decision-making, leadership, risk and people management skills (including remote teams management). You should be able to cope with stress successfully not to let it deteriorate your performance. There are also motivating and team player skills among other requirements.

Boost your hard skills

It’s a great plus for you to know how to use the most popular project management tools, such as Jira, Primavera, MS Project. It might be also useful for you to have knowledge and skills of utilizing instruments for orchestrating multiple projects, such as Epicflow. Besides, you must be familiar with the following tools to be considered as a PM expert deserving bigger income: UX/UI tools, BI instruments, GSuite, LMS, Phyton, and many more. The more you know and can operate the better for your salary.

Test your PM skills by trying Epicflow PM Challenge Game.

Deepen your professional knowledge

Self-development and lifelong education are a must for anyone. And if you want to be a highly-qualified expert who can get the desired position anywhere in the world, you should be great at: 

• English (C2/Advanced level) and any other European language (basic knowledge)
• Certification on Agile/SCRUM/Prince2/Risk Management/Program Management/Portfolio Management
• Business intelligence skills
• Knowledge of budgeting issues

Stay up-to-date and connected with your peers

There are numbers of professional communities on the web where you can exchange your insights and experience, get information about PM events, and many more. Another good idea is subscribing to PM-related blogs and using free resources to boost your knowledge in the field.

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