Explore the core project management roles and what each one involves.

Project management isn’t just about leading from the front- it’s about creating the structure that enables delivery. There are multiple roles within a (extended) project team, each with specific responsibilities that contribute to success. Understanding these roles not only helps you find your fit – it helps organisations build better project capability.

Whether you’re looking to get started, move up, or pivot, here’s a detailed guide to the most common project management roles and what they actually do.

Project Administrator

A project administrator will provide support to the through administrative and reporting activities

Project Administrators are the backbone of project support. They keep teams organised, ensure documentation is current, and help maintain compliance with delivery processes.

While sometimes underestimated, this role is vital to ensure the project is managed in the right way and continues to perform as expected. It is also a great stepping-stone into more technical project roles.

Explore the core project management roles and what each one involves.

Whether you’re looking to get started, move up, or pivot, here’s a detailed guide to the most common project management roles and what they actually do.

Project Administrator

A project administrator will provide support to the through administrative and reporting activities

Project Administrators are the backbone of project support. They keep teams organised, ensure documentation is current, and help maintain compliance with delivery processes.

What they do:

Keep logs (risks, issues, actions, changes) updated and audit-ready
Support scheduling, meeting minutes, and action tracking
Maintain version control of project documentation
Ensures a consistent relationship with the PMO
Liaise with enabling departments for low-level admin tasks

Skills & strengths:

Excellent admin and organisational skills
Working knowledge of project environments (Prince2, Agile, etc.)
Proficiency in Excel, SharePoint, Teams, and collaboration tools

Role impact:
Supports delivery teams and enables the use of appropriate project controls.

Project Coordinator

Project Coordinators bridge the gap between support and delivery

They work closely with the Project Manager to track milestones, follow up on actions, and coordinate across workstreams. In some cases, they may own small project elements themselves.

What they do:

Monitor timelines and update schedules
Coordinate communication across necessary stakeholders
Prepare and distribute regular progress reports
Maintain project dashboards and governance materials

Skills & strengths:

Attention to detail and time management
Strong communicator and collaborator
Comfortable with project management tools (Microsoft Project, Planner)

Role impact:
Keeps the project moving forward, especially when complexity increases.

Project Planner

Planners are the architects of time in a project

They create detailed schedules, model timelines, and monitor delivery progress in a way that helps leadership make informed decisions.

What they do:

Develop and manage the master schedule
Conduct critical path and dependency analysis
Track actuals vs forecasts, and update baselines
Perform schedule impact assessments when risks arise

Skills & strengths:

Advanced knowledge of planning tools (Microsoft Project, Power BI)
Strong analytical skills and scenario modelling
Communication skills to explain technical schedules to team members

Role impact:
Enables delivery certainty by giving teams a reliable picture of time and progress.

Project Manager

The project manager leads a project following the appropriate governance applied for the determined life cycle

The Project Manager (PM) is the single point of accountability for delivering the project’s objectives, will be responsible for building ongoing commitment from stakeholders, and bring people together to achieve specified outcomes.

Project Management is a challenging, dynamic role that requires them to lead people, manage uncertainty, and stay aligned to business goals.

A project manager can typically lead a project with limited complexity, or assist on a complex project, following the appropriate governance applied for the determined life cycle. They can typically build ongoing commitment from stakeholders and bring people together to achieve specified outcomes.

What they do:

Apply processes, methods, knowledge, skills, and experience to achieve specific objectives
Own the project scope, schedule, budget, and quality outcomes
Develop and execute the Project Management Plan (PMP)
Lead the team and resolve conflicts
Report to the sponsor and escalate as needed
Manage risks, change requests, and stakeholder engagement

Skills & strengths:

Leadership, communication, and resilience
Working knowledge of financial management and resource planning processes
Deep understanding of governance arrangements, assurance requirements, and reporting needs

Role impact:
Drives delivery of tangible outputs that meet business case expectations.

APM Pathway:

The APM has four levels of Project Manager defined in their competence framework.

Programme Manager

A programme manager leads a programme following the appropriate governance applied for the determined life cycle

Programme Managers operate at the strategic level, oversee related projects, build ongoing commitment from stakeholders and bring people together to achieve specified outcomes.

This role involves navigating complexity, interdependencies, and business change.

What they do:

Set the vision, mission, and blueprint for the programme
Coordinate multiple project teams and their interdependencies
Track realisation of programme-level outcomes
Own the change management plan to manage the organisational impact

Skills & strengths:

Business acumen
Experience managing risk, dependencies, and cross-functional teams
Strong negotiation skills and influence across senior stakeholders

Role impact:
Ensures that projects work together to deliver transformational change – not just outputs.

APM Pathway:

The APM has three levels of Programme Manager defined in their competence framework.

PMO Manager

A PMO manager is responsible for maintaining governance structures, monitoring, and reporting on applied governance for the delivery life cycle and investing in people to develop project management capability for continual improvement

The PMO (Project, Programme, or Portfolio Management Office) Manager develops the PMO as a value-adding Business partner, ensuring that projects and programmes follow appropriately consistent frameworks and achieve predictable outcomes

They take responsibility for managing the PMO team and the community, and don’t usually deliver projects themselves.

What they do:

Design and implement the PMO, project frameworks, templates, and toolkits
Monitor project portfolio health through reporting and insights
Own and ensure compliance to assurance, and resource management practices
Provide services and support to the community
Drive improvements in delivery maturity and performance

Skills & strengths:

Deep knowledge in project governance and portfolio control
Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement
Process-oriented with a continuous improvement mindset
Strategic mindset with the ability to develop and harness knowledge
Business acumen to navigate the political landscape
Emotional intelligence

Role impact:
Increases delivery effectiveness and maturity across the whole organisation.

APM Pathway:

The APM has one role for PMO manager defined in their competence framework.

PMO Officers & Specialists

A PMO officer or specialist will support the strategic delivery of projects, programmes and portfolios influencing the appropriate governance, developing good practice and investing in people to develop project management capability for continuous improvement

PMO Officers typically support a subset of projects on a day to day basis, ensuring that all required governance arrangements are completed as per the local frameworks and practices.

PMO Officers often transition into specialists in specific areas of interest. PMO Specialists will support specific PMO services across all projects that require it and be considered the SME.

They are actively engaged in the community, and don’t usually deliver projects themselves.

What they do:

Support projects on a day to day basis
Monitor project health through reporting
Deliver insights and trends for continuous improvement
Ensure compliance to assurance practices and escalate malpractice
Provide content and support to the community
Actively engage in improvements in delivery maturity

Skills & strengths:

Deep knowledge in project governance and portfolio control
Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement
Process-oriented with a continuous improvement mindset
Strategic mindset with the ability to develop and harness knowledge
Emotional intelligence
Specialists will have increased knowledge in governance arrangements, life cycles, and at least one specialist competence from the following list: schedule management; budgeting and cost control; risk, opportunity, and issue management; stakeholder and communications management; reviews; change control; assurance; business case, benefit realisation, or capability development

Role impact:
Enables the creation of high performing delivery teams.

APM Pathway:

The APM has two levels of PMO defined in their competence framework, detailed as PMO Administrator and PMO Officer/Specialist.

PMO Analyst

A PMO Analyst will follow applied governance to monitor and report on key elements of the delivery through the life cycle, providing recommendations to project managers and PMO managers for continuous improvement

The PMO Analyst provides confidence to the PMO and Executive leadership through analysis of data, to ensure informed decision making can take place.

What they do:

Develop and manage PMO data sets
Conduct trend analysis to deliver insights
Conducts external horizon scanning to support development of the project management practices
Track actuals vs forecasts at the portfolio level

Skills & strengths:

Advanced knowledge of planning and analysis tools (Microsoft Project, Power BI)
Strong analytical skills and scenario modelling
Communication skills to create digestible information sets

Role impact:
Enables delivery certainty by giving teams a reliable picture of portfolio health.

APM Pathway:

The APM has one role for PMO Analyst defined in their competence framework.

Project Team Member

Project Team Members are the functional subject matter experts (SME) who deliver the hands-on work

Team member expertise is essential in translating the plan into action, whether it’s technical development, analysis, operations, or implementation.

What they do:

Complete tasks assigned in the project plan
Participate in workshops, solution design, testing, change requests, and handover processes
Communicate progress and surface risks or blockers
Work closely with the PM to ensure deliverables meet quality criteria

Skills & strengths:

Basic knowledge of project management frameworks and local approaches
Subject matter expertise
Accountability and ownership
Adaptability and willingness to work within a structured framework

Role impact:
Contributes technical or domain knowledge essential to delivering project outputs.

Project Sponsor

The Sponsor is the executive champion of the project

The Sponsor role is strategic: they own the business case, secure funding, and provide direction and backing to the PM. Their active involvement is one of the most important predictors of project success.

What they do:

Approve the project and authorise the Project Manager
Own and validate the business case and scope of work
Provide escalation support and decision-making for change requests
Represent and champion the project at senior levels and ensure business alignment

Skills & strengths:

Working knowledge of project management frameworks and local approaches
Leadership and decision-making authority
Understanding of the strategic context and business drivers
Ability to influence and engage other executives

Role impact:
Drives the project and keeps it aligned to strategic objectives.

Portfolio Manager

A portfolio manager ensures the selection, prioritisation, and control of an organisation’s projects and programmes in line with its strategic objectives and capacity to deliver

Portfolio Managers operate at the strategic level, oversee all of the projects, programmes, and capacity against business as usual, to ensure the ongoing alignment and balance of the portfolio against organisation objectives.

What they do:

Understand and support the creation of the organisation vision
Coordinate visibility of the entire portfolio and business as usual to form a view of capacity
Track realisation of benefits according to the expectations of the organisation
Own the portfolio plan, meeting cadence, and reporting structures

Skills & strengths:

Business acumen
Deep knowledge of project management practices
Experience managing risk, resource, and financials
Communication skills and the ability to influence at all levels of the organisation

Role impact:
Ensures that the portfolio delivers return on investment and supports the journey to the organisational straegy.

APM Pathway:

The APM has three levels of Portfolio Manager defined in their competence framework.

Our Final Thoughts

As this guide shows, project management roles range from operational to strategic, support-based to leadership-focused. Each role plays a crucial part in successful delivery – and each has its own path for growth and development.

Find out more about the APM Pathway and roles

It is important to note that not all projects or programmes require ALL of these roles to be fulfilled by an individual person. For smaller changes there may only be a need for a Project Manager and a Project Team member to be assigned.

So, it is important to tailor to the reality of the project and the organisation. If you are resource constrained, it is likely that different roles will deliver some of the responsibilities from across different roles.

However, whether you’re just starting out or looking to move up, understanding where you are – and where you want to go – can help you shape a rewarding project career.

If you notice that Change Manager is missing, you can find out more detailed information on this specific (but important role) in our dedicated article.