The IT project manager job description includes many skills that require research and experience. If you’re an employee seeking a job as an IT project manager, you need to know how employers view the details of the job description so you can make an ideal application. Likewise, if you’re an employer looking for someone to take this job, you need to know what makes someone qualified to manage your company’s technology strategies.
Either way, use this guide to the IT project manager job description to learn what it entails and what experience you should have (or look for) when sifting through the available jobs in this fast-growing field.
What is an IT project manager?
First things first: the basic definition. An IT project manager usually doesn’t design a company’s system. Rather, they maintain a business’s “information technology” with proven strategies, management skills, and tech experience. But what’s “information technology?”
Everything a company uses to send, receive, and store data is part of its information technology. This includes the business’s network, security systems, data storage systems, and all routers, phones, servers, and laptops that connect to the company’s mainframe.
Since all these processes fall under the IT umbrella, the right employee for the job needs a balance of experience in both technology and management.
IT Project Manager Job Description and Duties
Many company systems fall under the influence of the IT project manager, both in terms of network security and management structure.
Therefore, their main responsibilities often involve communication. They have to assess the company’s expectations and communicate their plan to the employees, as well as assess the results and discipline those who fall short. Project managers enforce a company’s policies. They keep people in line, from recruitment to training.
When they assess a company’s IT systems, they look for ways to improve them. One of their major responsibilities is to define and implement successful IT strategies. This often requires research on the part of the team and organization on the part of the project manager.
IT project managers also conduct audits on existing systems and recommend new solutions based on:
- IT strategies they learned through experience
- The company’s policies
- The results of the audits
- Current trends in security technology
This requires both technical and managerial experience. An IT project manager has gone beyond the nitty-gritty of IT system problem-solving. They now direct strategies to a whole team. This could even include budgeting, so educational experience in that arena helps as well.
The Takeaway
The IT project manager job description includes technical expertise in the fields of security technologies and network management. But it also involves many business administration skills such as managing employees, budgeting, proposing plans, conducting audits, and more.
Companies need secure networks now more than ever. But to maintain one, they need an IT project manager aware of current tech trends and able to execute well-made strategies on a company level. Communication is key. Whether you’re an employee looking for a job or an employer looking to fill one, this is the main experience you should seek.