A guide to project manager salaries: Free ebook
Project manager's salaries can vary enormously. This research shows you how much you should earn.
This comprehensive guide explains what project managers expect to earn in the UK. Discover where the highest/lowest paid project managers work and which industries they work in. If you're thinking of a career in project management and considering investing in some project management training as a means to enter the profession, then read this ebook.
If you're a more established project manager, learn how much you could be earning.
Overview
Project managers in the UK are certainly well paid. According to Glassdoor, nationwide salaries in the UK average £42k [1]. PayScale reports project manager salaries ranging from £25k to £60k, with a median UK salary of £38k [2].
However, when looking further at reported salaries, it is clear to see that project managers in certain regions, or those working in certain industries, are earning well above the national average.
As you might expect, London is where a lot of these higher earners are located. With regards to industry worked in, it is perhaps unsurprising that the IT project manager reports higher than average salaries, earning up to £66k [3], and construction project manager salaries up to £65k [4].
However, some sectors actually pay below the UK national average. You may not be surprised, but project managers working in the marketing industry, usually a glitzy and well-paid industry, earn just £31k [5].
London
As noted previously, London is home to some of the highest earning project managers in the UK, where they earn significantly more than the national average.
London may be an obvious place for high earners to live and work, whatever the job role, but delving deeper to try and understand why project managers in particular earn more in the capital than elsewhere is quite interesting.
If we look at what is happening in London at the moment, the need for project managers is incredibly high, with projects springing up across the city. Old buildings are being demolished, entire boroughs are undergoing regeneration, and let's not forget famous projects such as Crossrail and Battersea Power Station.
With so much engineering and construction happening in the capital, it is safe to say that London-based project managers working in these industries are earning big money.
In fact, London-based project managers in the engineering industry earn on average over £48k [6], which is £5k above the UK average for engineering project managers. In construction, salaries are £4k higher than the UK average of £42k [7].
If we also look at the other high-earning industries such as IT, salaries in London are 18% higher than the average IT project manager salary of £42k [8].
Scotland
A more surprising region for high project manager salaries is Scotland. Take a quick glance at the chart below, and you will see how engineering project manager salaries compares with the other regions. Although Glasgow salaries are less than the UK average, in Aberdeen they are the highest of anywhere in the UK.
So, just what does Aberdeen have to offer a potential project manager? Aberdeen is the centre of the UK's oil industry. Known as the 'oil capital of Europe', the abundance of natural gas, oil and renewable energy companies has made Aberdeen one of the wealthiest places in the UK.
Located in Aberdeen alone are Wood Group Engineering, GL Noble Denton, The Cammach Group and Wellahead Engineering - all companies which focus on engineering products for energy, such as drills and machinery, offshore oil exploration and welding projects.
With so many expensive energy projects ongoing in Aberdeen, it surely must follow that project managers with the right knowledge are in high demand and will therefore be rewarded with an excellent salary.
In Edinburgh, the finance industry is strong. In fact, Edinburgh is a banking hotspot, with Standard Life, Scottish Widows, Royal Bank of Scotland and Tesco Bank all based there. Around 35,000 people are employed in Edinburgh's financial sector [9] which is the highest number of any city outside of London.
The IT sector is also doing well in Edinburgh, with major tech firms such as Amazon, Rockstar and Skyscanner all based in the city, which has in recent years become a tech hub.
Edinburgh is also home to large companies such as Cairn, an oil and gas exploration company, as well as Pelamis Wave Power and Aquamarine Power, two large renewable energy companies.
With such an array of employers to work for, one would expect project manager salaries in the city to be relatively high, but this is not the case. Construction project manager salaries in Edinburgh are only a fraction over the UK average at £43k [10]. IT project managers fare much worse with a salary of £36k compared to the UK average of £42k [11].
