How to become a project manager
Inspire a team to bring exciting new projects to life—whether it’s a building, app, health initiative or arts festival.
Begin your project management career
- Gain foundational project management skills in a VET-level course such as a Certificate IV in Project Management Practice.
- Increase your skills and employability with an undergraduate course such as a Bachelor of Business (Management).
- Consider advancing to a Graduate Certificate in Project Management or a more specialised postgraduate course such as a Master of Global Project Management.
- Register for accreditation with the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM).
What is a project manager?
Project managers are needed in a huge range of industries, including tech, manufacturing, construction, government, and the arts. Whatever your industry, as a project manager, you’ll use your killer organisational and people skills to manage and motivate a team to keep projects on track.
What does a project manager do?
A project manager is responsible for coordinating all the different aspects that need to work together for a project to be successful—things like finances, timeline, risk, and most importantly, people. For example, if you’re a project manager for a tech company, you might run meetings with developers, update senior leaders on progress, and manage budgets and project milestones.
The project management skills you will learn in your studies are transferable across industries—and sought after worldwide.
Your day-to-day tasks as a project manager might include:
- Leading meetings
- Hiring and managing your team
- Coordinating tender processes and budgets
- Preparing business cases
- Producing and presenting progress reports
- Liaising with senior leadership
Project manager skills
- Strong communication
- Leadership
- Negotiation
- Decision-making
- Organisation
Project manager salary
According to Payscale at the time of publication, the average project manager salary in Australia is $101,700 per year.
Industry bodies
Discover project management degrees online
Postgraduate SCU-PMT-GCE
Postgraduate TUA-GPM-GCE
Postgraduate SWI-PMT-GDI
Postgraduate CUR-PRM-MAS
Available majors
- Research Major Stream
- Professional Major Stream
Discover project management subjects online
Postgraduate CUR-PRM500
Related degrees
- Graduate Certificate in Project Management
- Graduate Diploma in Project Management
- Master of Information Science (Extended)
- Master of Information Science
- Master of Environment and Climate Emergency
- Graduate Diploma in Archives and Records Management
- Master of Architecture
- Graduate Diploma in Environment and Climate Emergency
- Postgraduate Single Subjects
- Graduate Certificate in Environment and Climate Emergency
- Master of Science (Project Management)
- Master of Urban and Regional Planning
- Graduate Certificate in Professional Practice
- Fast track your Curtin on campus study (Postgraduate)
Postgraduate ACU-MGMT627
Related degrees
Undergraduate TAS-ZAX106
Related degrees
Student stories and study advice
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Project management: More than meets the eye
Project managers are the superheroes of every organisation. We shine a light on the role, including responsibilities, skills, and ways to get started.
We're here to guide you there
Our student advisors can assist you with enrolment, help you plan your studies, and answer questions about how studying through Open Universities Australia can get you from where you are today, to where you want to be tomorrow.