Are you the planner of your friend group? The one who makes spreadsheets for vacations, ensures everyone Venmos their fair share after a big dinner and keeps every group project from going off the rails?

The Creative Ladder’s Career Spotlight, presented by Smartsheet, features one of the many creative industry roles that today’s rising talents might want to consider as a rewarding career path. 

And if you’re the kind of person who keeps everyone around you organized and uses spreadsheets as a love language, Project Manager could definitely be a good fit for you.

What this role does:

Project managers (often called PMs) are responsible for seeing a project through from start to finish. PMs are the ones who plan, organize and execute a variety of projects including creating and leading the project team. 

PMs work within schedule and budget constraints, establish milestones, balance the workloads of the team, monitor progress, remove any issues that arise, ensure everyone involved is satisfied with the outcome, and measure the performance of the project and their team members.

Salary range:

$77,000–$129,000 (average $99,000), per Glassdoor; $56,000–$136,000 (average $87,350), per Indeed.

Personality traits that thrive in this career: 

• Excellent time management skills

• Strong attention to detail

• Communication skills

• Collaboration and teamwork

• Good financial planning and budgeting 

What they love about their job:

“I love building relationships with my creative colleagues and setting them up to succeed—especially on challenging projects.” —Cori Spruiell, Project Manager

What recruiters look for in hiring this role:

• Experience with collaborative software (like Slack or Microsoft Teams)

• Familiarity with project management software platforms

• Experience running projects involving multiple teams—and generating strong results

• “Proactive communication” — the ability to address problems before they emerge by keeping an eye on schedules

• Ability to stay cool under stressful conditions and adapt to unexpected changes

A sample career path for this role:

• Project Manager

• Senior Project Manager

• Executive Project Manager

• Project Management Office (PMO) Director

• Chief Operating Officer