IT Project Manager
Also advertised as: Digital Project Manager, ICT project managers, Implementation Manager, IT Delivery Manager, IT project manager, IT Project Manager
Plans and delivers technology projects on time and within budget.
What the job involves
IT project managers coordinate the people, budgets and timelines needed to deliver technology projects, from system upgrades to new platform rollouts. You manage risks, report progress to stakeholders and keep delivery teams aligned. Many come up through technical roles before moving into project delivery.
Typical responsibilities
- Plan project scope, timeline and budget
- Coordinate technical teams and suppliers
- Manage risks and issues
- Report progress to stakeholders
- Oversee testing and go-live activities
Common employers
- Consultancies
- Government digital services
- Banks
- Retailers
- Telecoms providers
Pay, hours and working environment
Typical pay
£32,000 – £40,000 a year
With experience
£50,000 – £75,000 a year
Typical hours
37.5 hours, with pressure around key milestones
Working environment
Office or hybrid, meeting-heavy
Remote working
hybrid
Demand for this work
steady
Pay ranges are indicative guidance drawn from advertised UK vacancies and published careers information. They are not an offer, and actual pay varies by employer, location and experience.
Skills and qualifications
Core skills
- Project planning
- Risk management
- Stakeholder management
- Budgeting
- Agile or waterfall methodologies
- Reporting
Transferable skills you may already have
- Organising complex work
- Managing competing priorities
- Clear written and verbal communication
Requirements employers ask for
- Project planning
- Risk management
- Stakeholder management
- Budgeting
- Agile or waterfall methodologies
- Reporting
- No formal qualification required; project or technical experience expected
- perform project management
- internal risk management policy
- quality standards
- estimate duration of work
- apply conflict management
- build business relationships
- ICT project management
- coach employees
- manage ICT project
- perform resource planning
- train employees
- provide cost benefit analysis reports
Useful but not essential
- Organising complex work
- Managing competing priorities
- Clear written and verbal communication
- PRINCE2 Practitioner
- APM Project Management Qualification
- Level 4 Associate Project Manager apprenticeship
- apply change management
- Rapid application development
- Open source model
- use ICT ticketing system
- implement ICT risk management
- define technical requirements
- outsourcing strategy
- apply organisational techniques
Helpful qualifications
- PRINCE2 Practitioner
- APM Project Management Qualification
- Level 4 Associate Project Manager apprenticeship
Ways into this career
A degree is only one route. Where an apprenticeship, work-experience or qualification route exists, it is listed here alongside the academic option.
Apprenticeships and work-based routes
- Associate Project Manager (Level 4)
- Project Manager (Level 6)
Degree and college routes
- Related subject: Business management
- Related subject: Computing
- Related subject: IT
Where this career can lead
next
Senior Project Manager
next
Programme Manager
next
Head of Delivery
The good parts and the hard parts
What people enjoy
- Transfers across industries
- Strong salaries at senior level
- Variety across different projects
What people find hard
- Accountable when projects slip or overspend
- Can involve difficult conversations with stakeholders
Common questions
- Do you need a degree to become a it project manager?
- No. As well as degree routes, this career can be entered through an apprenticeship or by building experience and qualifications on the job. preferred
- How much does a it project manager earn in the UK?
- Typical advertised pay runs from £32,000 to £40,000 a year, rising towards £75,000 with experience. Figures are indicative guidance rather than an offer.
- What skills transfer into this career?
- Skills that transfer well include Organising complex work, Managing competing priorities, Clear written and verbal communication.
Related careers
Scrum Master
Helps agile teams work smoothly and remove obstacles to delivery.
CRM Administrator
Configures and maintains the software a business uses to manage customer relationships.
IT Support Technician
Fixes technology problems for staff or customers, from logins to hardware faults.
Software Developer
Writes, tests and maintains the code behind applications and systems.
Systems Administrator
Keeps servers, networks and business systems running day to day.
Site Reliability Engineer
Applies software engineering to keep large systems reliable at scale.
Where this information comes from
- National Careers Service
- Institute for Apprenticeships
Last reviewed 15 September 2026.
Read how our career data is built and reviewed, or tell us if something here is wrong.