Also called: Program Analyst, Program Director
Manages a government program, like school lunches or a space project, keeping it on budget and on track.
Program managers coordinate staff, contractors, and budgets, report to Congress on results, and solve problems when things go wrong. One might run a disaster-loan program, another a NASA satellite. The GS-13 to GS-15 levels are common.
Federal General Schedule (GS) pay scale, with locality pay.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 6 years after high school. Bachelor's; master's and PMP certification are common.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school, Certification. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Public Administration, Business Administration, Engineering, Political Science.
Growing slowly.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI tracks schedules and drafts status reports; coordinating staff, contractors and Congress stays human.
Classes: AP Government, Business class, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-9199.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.