Investigating Entry-Level Software Project Managers’ Skills and

Responsibilities: An Empirical Analysis of LinkedIn Job Ads

Clara Berenguer

1 a

, S

avio Freire

2 b

, Manoel Mendonc¸a

1 c

and Rodrigo Sp

ınola

3 d

Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Federal Institute of Cear

a, Morada Nova, Cear

a, Brazil

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, U.S.A.

Keywords:

Project Managers, Entry-Level, Responsibilities, Skills.

Abstract:

Context. Project managers play a central role in software development projects. Knowing the skills re-

quired and responsibilities expected from entry-level software project managers can help those starting a job

search and organizations that want to articulate their stafﬁng needs clearly. Aims. To investigate the required

skills and expected responsibilities prevalent in the job market for entry-level software project managers.

Method. This work collects and analyzes, qualitatively and quantitatively, 50 online job advertisements from

the LinkedIn Jobs platform. Results. Overall, organizations look for professionals with a vast list of skills

and able to address several job responsibilities. The most expected responsibilities are planning, organizing,

and coordinating team activities, establish a good communication with the client, and analyze and communi-

cate project risks. The most required skills are communication, technical knowledge, and planning/managing.

Both hard and soft skills are expected. However, soft skills are slightly prevalent. Conclusion. Job ads are a

valuable source to gain insights into current job market trends and project management role expectations for

professionals, organizations, and researchers.

1 INTRODUCTION

Software project management seeks on-time delivery

of a project and manages its internal unknowns and

complexities (Shaﬁq et al., 2018). Project managers

play a central role in ensuring the successful deliv-

ery of projects. They are responsible for the appli-

cation of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to

project activities to meet project requirements (Insti-

tute, 2021). Their role is one of the most challenging

because it requires a broad understanding of several

areas that must be coordinated and requires strong

technical and non-technical skills (Guide, 2001).

Several studies have investigated skills and re-

sponsibilities for project managers (Ahsan et al.,

2013; do Vale et al., 2018; Hernandez-de Menendez

et al., 2020; Heﬂey and Bottion, 2021). Skills high-

light the speciﬁc abilities, competencies, and quali-

ﬁcations a company seeks. The responsibilities out-

https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4987-8976

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3989-9442

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0874-7665

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0272-9578

line the speciﬁc tasks and obligations expected from

the candidate for a particular role. Ahsan et al. (Ah-

san et al., 2013) showed that the most commonly de-

manded skills are leadership, effective communica-

tion, technical expertise, team building and manage-

ment, and planning. Do Vale et al. (do Vale et al.,

2018) identiﬁed four categories (contextual, manage-

rial, technical and behavioral) to organize project

managers’ skills. Hernandez et al. (Hernandez-de

Menendez et al., 2020) explored the impact of Indus-

try 4.0 on project management, emphasizing the need

for project managers to acquire new technical, con-

textual, and behavioral competencies. Lastly, Heﬂey

and Bottion (Heﬂey and Bottion, 2021) investigated

the readiness and performance of new graduates in

project management roles.

Although these studies have identiﬁed responsibil-

ities and skills needed for software project managers,

it is still necessary to know what responsibilities and

skills are required by the job market for entry-level

software project managers.

Investigating requirements for entry-level project

manager positions can provide insights for guiding

individuals in preparing themselves for starting a ca-

214

Berenguer, C., Freire, S., Mendonça, M. and Spínola, R.

Investigating Entry-Level Software Project Managers’ Skills and Responsibilities: An Empirical Analysis of LinkedIn Job Ads.

DOI: 10.5220/0012681700003690

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2024) - Volume 2, pages 214-221

ISBN: 978-989-758-692-7; ISSN: 2184-4992

reer in project management. Information on the re-

quired skills and expected responsibilities helps them

make informed decisions on preparing and qualify-

ing for job search processes. This information would

also be valuable for educators, who could best ﬁt their

courses guided by demands from the software indus-

try. For instance, should a future project manager in-

vest several hours learning a speciﬁc technique for

cost estimation or improving her(is) communication

skills? Or, instead of focusing only on technical skills,

which soft skills should be considered in project man-

agement courses?

On the other hand, the hiring of project managers

is a signiﬁcant challenge for organizations (Ahsan

et al., 2013). Mapping the skills and responsibili-

ties for entry-level positions is helpful for organiza-

tions looking for such professionals. Organizations

can clearly articulate their expectations when hiring

them by identifying the core skills and responsibilities

associated with entry-level project managers. They

can also align their recruitment strategies, job descrip-

tions, and selection processes to ensure that the can-

didates attracted possess the desired qualiﬁcations.

This paper investigates the required skills and

expected responsibilities prevalent in the job mar-

ket for entry-level software project management

positions. Our research is based on the analyses

of online job advertisements on the professional net-

working platform LinkedIn. The study design is in-

spired by the work of Maya et al. (Daneva et al., 2017)

and considers a diverse range of job advertisements

from LinkedIn to collect six elements present on the

job ads: company name, company size, company spe-

cialties, the responsibilities, and the skills required.

The results show that project manager is the most

used title for entry-level project manager job ads.

Only two ads indicated the required level of expe-

rience in the title, requiring the candidate to verify

the job description. The most commonly expected re-

sponsibilities are to plan, organize and coordinate the

team activities, establish good communication with

the client, and analyze and communicate project risks.

The most commonly desired skills are communica-

tion, technical skills and planning/management skills.

The list of the most commonly mentioned responsibil-

ities and skills, somehow, conﬁrms how project man-

agement body of knowledge (Institute, 2021) deﬁnes

a project manager.

In addition to this introduction, this paper has six

other sections. Section 2 presents related work. Sec-

tion 3 describes the methodology used. Then, Sec-

tion 4 presents the results, which are discussed in Sec-

tion 5. Section 6 discusses the threats to validity. Fi-

nally, Section 7 presents the ﬁnal remarks.

2 RELATED WORK

There is a couple of studies investigating skills and re-

sponsibilities of speciﬁc software development roles.

Concerning software project managers, Heﬂey and

Bottion (Heﬂey and Bottion, 2021) examined the

readiness and performance of recent graduates in

project management positions. The authors discov-

ered that these new graduates often lack the nec-

essary preparation and comprehensive project man-

agement skills, particularly in risk management,

and their soft skills are not well-developed, which

presents challenges for project success. Hernandez et

al. (Hernandez-de Menendez et al., 2020) investigated

the implications of Industry 4.0 on project manage-

ment, underscoring the necessity for project managers

to gain fresh technical, contextual, and behavioral

skills. The study ultimately established that project

managers in the context of Industry 4.0 should place

greater emphasis on behavioral or soft skills com-

pared to their traditional counterparts, mirroring the

evolving demands of this technological revolution.

Magano et al. (Magano et al., 2020) examined the

project management competencies and traits associ-

ated with Generation Z individuals entering the work-

force. The study identiﬁed a lack of self-awareness

among Gen Zers about their traits but also high-

lights a signiﬁcant correlation between some of their

characteristics and essential project management soft

skills, suggesting that Generation Z has promise in the

project management ﬁeld. The authors emphasized

the need for further research to improve educational

approaches and training policies to strengthen Gen-

eration Z’s soft skills and assess whether their traits

align with the competencies sought by organizations

in project management.

Brewer (Brewer, 2005) discussed the skills a

project manager must have to be proﬁcient and how

these skills can be tough. The author related the soft-

ware project manager’s competence to their skills.

For example, the skills written and oral communi-

cation, effective listening, strategic planning, con-

ﬂict management, teamwork, business writing are ex-

pected to the competence “to facilitate effective com-

munication between customer, management, project

sponsors, and the project team.” Jalil and Shahid (Jalil

and Shahid, 2008) conducted a survey about the skill

set of software project managers, reveling that the

highly desired skills of software project managers

are communication, organizational, and leadership

skills. Ahsan et al. (Ahsan et al., 2013) analyzed

project manager job advertisements, identifying re-

quired knowledge, skills, and abilities. Their ﬁnd-

ings reveal variations in the emphasis on soft skills

Investigating Entry-Level Software Project Managers’ Skills and Responsibilities: An Empirical Analysis of LinkedIn Job Ads

215

and highlight the implications for project manager re-

cruitment.

In another related work, Peters and Moreno (Pe-

ters and Moreno, 2015) presented a set of skills that

should be taught to software engineering students

who intend to work as project managers. These com-

petencies include team development, communication,

project planning and scheduling, complexity man-

agement, strategic planning, estimating, project cost

accounting and status monitoring, and risk manage-

ment. Do Vale et al. (do Vale et al., 2018) clas-

siﬁed project manager competencies into four cat-

egories (behavioral, technical/speciﬁc, management,

and contextual), and reported core competences such

as leadership, planning, and business. Gandomani

et al. (Gandomani et al., 2020) performed a system-

atic literature review to identify the role of project

managers in agile software teams. The authors found

eleven responsibilities and duties of the agile project

management, such as change coach and organizing

affairs. Also, they found a difference between agile

and traditional project management, pointing out that

agile project management is accompanied by direct

intervention in the development process.

Differently, our work focuses on responsibilities

and skills expected for entry-level project managers

from LinkedIn ads.

3 RESEARCH METHOD

This section presents our research questions, the data

collection and analysis procedures.

3.1 Research Questions

Software professionals face several challenges to en-

ter in the job market. Common questions asked by

them are: How to look for a speciﬁc job position?

What skills should I improve to have better chances of

getting a position? What responsibilities should I be

prepared for dealing with in a speciﬁc position? On

the other hand, when organizations are hiring, they

have to stand out in the right way to the right job

seekers to connect with the people who will help them

reach their goals. A key step is putting their job listing

containing the correct information.

The goal of this study is to investigate online job

advertisements for entry-level software project man-

ager. We consider the following research questions:

• RQ1: What terms are used for entry-level soft-

ware project manager positions? This question

aims to identify terms used by organizations when

hiring entry-level project managers. This may

help job seekers understand the different job ti-

tles and better target their job search. Also, it may

enable employers to create more accurate and ap-

pealing job postings.

• RQ2: What responsibilities are accounted for

entry-level software project managers? We

seek to establish a comprehensive list of respon-

sibilities associated with entry-level project man-

ager roles. It helps potential candidates to have

a clear understanding of the tasks they might be

expected to perform in such positions and al-

lows employers to outline the core responsibilities

when advertising jobs.

• RQ3: What skills are necessary for entry-level

software project managers? This question fo-

cuses on identifying skills required for entry-level

project manager roles. It helps job seekers to as-

sess their qualiﬁcations and adjust their skill set

to meet the industry’s demands. For employers,

understanding the central skills aids in evaluating

and selecting suitable candidates who possess the

necessary competencies.

3.2 Data Collection

We collected the data from job advertisements from

LinkedIn jobs repository. The data was collected

twice, with a 30-day gap between each round. The

following ﬁlters were applied on LinkedIn search:

• Location: United States. The position is required

to be located within the United States due to its in-

ﬂuential position in the software industry, offering

abundant data and resources.

• Experience Level: Entry Level. The position

must be open to junior project managers. Senior

and expert level positions will be excluded, pri-

marily based on the presence of “senior” or “ex-

pert” terms within the job title or if the job de-

scription clearly speciﬁes a requirement for can-

didates with extensive experience, such as a min-

imum of ﬁve years of professional work experi-

ence or expertise in the ﬁeld. The assessment of a

position’s suitability will not be based on the com-

plexity of the listed job responsibilities.

• Job Type: Full Time. We are interested only in

job ads that require the position to be either per-

manent or possess the potential for permanency.

All internships, traineeships, and positions lo-

cated abroad were disregarded and deemed inel-

igible for consideration.

• Industry: Software Development. Job postings

outside the scope of software development were

excluded.

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• Job Function: Project Management. Job ad-

vertisements seeking professionals not associated

with project management roles (e.g., scrum mas-

ter), will be also eliminated from the ﬁnal data set.

To perform the search on LinkedIn, ﬁrst, navigate to

LinkedIn’s website and log in to your account. Once

logged in, click on the “Jobs” section. In the search

bar, type “project manager” and then specify the lo-

cation as “United States.” After performing the ini-

tial search, you will see job listings related to project

management roles in the United States. To reﬁne your

search, click on “All Filters.” In the ﬁlter options, se-

lect “Entry level,” “Full-time,” and specify your in-

terest in “Software Development.” Finally, click the

“Search” button to see a tailored list of entry-level,

full-time software project management job opportu-

nities in the United States.

We collected for each job ad: job title, company

name, company size, company speciality, responsi-

bilities, skills, and if the job ad was for an agile or

non-agile position. Due to the absence of a prescribed

template, job ads varied in style. Figure 1 exempliﬁes

a job ad and how we identify the data to be collected.

Figure 1: Example of a job ad.

3.3 Data Analysis

We followed qualitative data analysis procedures to

answer our research questions (Strauss and Corbin,

1998; Seaman, 1999). For RQ1, we analyzed the job

titles and grouped them into high level terms. For ex-

ample, job titles like “project manager,” “project man-

ager - consultant,” and “project manager - software

development” composed the high-level term project

manager. This process was performed by the ﬁrst au-

thor and reviewed by the last author.

For RQ2 and RQ3, we applied qualitative data

analysis techniques (Seaman, 1999). We applied

manual open coding to the collected list of respon-

sibilities and skills. Initially, the ﬁrst author coded

the set of all answers. After, the second author re-

viewed all codes. Disagreements were resolved by

the last author. Next, we analyzed the extracted codes

in both subsets (responsibilities and skills), identify-

ing the codes that had the same meaning. This process

resulted in the ﬁnal list of responsibilities and skills.

An example of this process is as follows: a job ad

mentioned “handle risk management and contingency

planning” and another described “highlight risks and

assumptions throughout the project.” For both of

them, we extracted the code “analyze and communi-

cate project risks.” The used nomenclature emerged

inductively from the job advertisements.

Subsequently, we categorized the identiﬁed

skills into two types: hard and soft skills. Hard

skills refer to a person’s ability to perform a certain

type of task or activity (Hendarman and Tjakraat-

madja, 2012). On the other hand, soft skills are per-

sonal attributes that enhance an individual’s interac-

tions and his/her job performance (Hendarman and

Tjakraatmadja, 2012). For instance, we classiﬁed

“excellent verbal and written communication, orga-

nization, and follow-up skills” as a soft skill and “PM

framework/software” as a hard skill.

This ﬁnal step was conducted by the ﬁrst author

and reviewed by the last author. Divergences were

resolved by them in a meeting. In the end, we have a

list of skills and responsibilities, and the types of each

skill. We counted the number of times each of those

elements was mentioned on job ads and ranked them.

4 RESULTS

In total, we collected 85 job ads, but 35 of them were

duplicates. We eliminated the duplicates, resulting in

50 job ads composing our ﬁnal data set. The raw data

is available at here.

These ads were posted by 38 North American or-

ganizations. Most of them are medium-sized (46%,

companies with 51 to 1000 employees), followed by

large (42%, more than 1001 employees), and small

(12%, up to 50 employees). From this total, 38% were

interested in agile software development process.

4.1 RQ1: What Terms Are Used for

Entry-Level Software Project

Manager Positions?

We found 30 terms in job titles and grouped them into

ﬁve main high-level terms: project manager (38 ci-

tations), program manager (9), technical project im-

plementation specialist (1), technical data migration

consultant (1), and public key infrastructure admin-

istrator (1). The term project manager was the most

mentioned and is composed of the following terms:

“project manager,” “project manager - consultant,”

Investigating Entry-Level Software Project Managers’ Skills and Responsibilities: An Empirical Analysis of LinkedIn Job Ads

217

“project manager - software development,” and “ju-

nior project manager.” Interestingly, only two ads in-

dicated in the title the required level of experience,

requiring the candidate to verify the job description.

4.2 RQ2: What Responsibilities Are

Accounted for Entry-Level Software

Project Managers?

We found 27 responsibilities for entry-level project

manager positions. Table 1 presents the ten most

commonly cited. This table reports the responsibil-

ity name, its deﬁnition, quotes, and the total num-

ber (i.e., count) of citations (#CR), i.e., the number

of job advertisements in which the responsibility was

found. The column %CR presents the percentage of

#CR about the total job advertisements (44) that cited

at least one responsibility. It reveals how frequently

each responsibility was cited. The complete list is

available at here.

Project managers are most tasked with planning,

organizing, and coordinating team activities, with

82% of the job advertisements, focusing on imple-

menting project plans by breaking them down into ac-

tionable tasks and assigning responsibilities to team

members. The other best positioned responsibility

was establish a good communication with the client

(48%), which refers to maintain a strong working re-

lationship.

Additionally, our research shows that project man-

agers must analyze and communicate project risks

(43%) by proactively addressing potential challenges

of the project. The responsibility analyzing stake-

holders’ activities and providing feedback (34%)

means that all project managers need to ensure stake-

holders remain informed and engaged throughout the

project’s progression. Aligning client expectations

with team capabilities (32%) is very present and helps

maintain a shared vision for the project.

The responsibility budget management (27%) en-

ables resource allocation and ﬁnancial control. Lead-

ing continuous improvement tasks is present in 23%

of the job advertisements and cultivates a culture of

learning and innovation, driving ongoing project en-

hancements. Following a well-established project

management process (20%) ensures consistency and

minimizes errors for more predictable outcomes. En-

suring deliverable (20%) requires meticulous mon-

itoring and quality control at every project stage.

Lastly, establishing training processes, present in

20% of the job advertisements, indicates that project

managers should empower the team, enabling success

in project delivery.

4.3 RQ3: What Skills Are Necessary for

Entry-Level Software Project

Managers?

We found 30 skills expected for entry-level project

managers. Table 2 presents the ten most commonly

cited. This table reports the skill name, its type (hard

(H) or soft (S)), its deﬁnition, quotes, and the to-

tal number (i.e., count) of citations (#CS), i.e., the

number of job advertisements in which the skill was

found. The column %CS presents the percentage of

#CS about the total job advertisements (43) that cited

at least one skill. It reveals how frequently each skill

was cited in entry-level project manager job advertise-

ments. The complete list of skills is available at here.

Communication skills and technical knowledge

were the most frequently cited skills, both present

in 53% of the job advertisements. Project managers

need to convey information, ideas, and instructions

clearly and effectively. Also, they should understand

and have expertise in the technical aspects relevant

to the project to effectively convey project goals and

guide team members through technical complexities.

Other commonly present skill was plan-

ning/managing, noted in 49% of the advertisements.

It refers to the ability of developing strategic project

plans and allocate resources effectively. Project

managers should also have problem-solving skills, so

when challenges arise, they are able to ﬁnd innovative

solutions. We can also see that organizational skills

was present in 35% of the job advertisements, indi-

cating that project managers have to ensure tasks and

documentation are well-managed and contributing to

project efﬁciency. Software industry is searching for

project managers who can effectively communicate

with stakeholders, plan project execution, navigate

challenges, and maintain organized workﬂows.

Additionally, Table 2 shows that teamwork skills

is present in 30% of the job advertisements, meaning

that a project manager needs to create a collaborative

and motivated team environment. Project manage-

ment framework/software skills (28%) highlights the

importance of the ability to optimize the workﬂows

and monitors progress effectively. Domain knowl-

edge and agile skills, with a presence of 23%, indi-

cate that project managers need to make informed de-

cisions and adapt to changes in the project’s domain

and requirements. Lastly, project management con-

cepts skills (21%) mean that project managers ensure

that projects follow best practices.

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Table 1: Responsibilities for entry-level project managers.

NO Responsibility Deﬁnition Quote #CR %CR

1st Plan, organize and coordinate

team activities

Developing a strategic roadmap, allocating re-

sources, and efﬁciently managing the team’s tasks

and activities to achieve project goals.

Monitor and ensure efﬁcient, timely

project delivery to a high standard.

Compile project plan tasks and dates.

36 82%

2nd Establish a good communica-

tion with the client

Build and maintain effective and open channels of

communication with the client.

Serve as the main point of contact for

clients during project implementation.

Maintaining and accurately reporting and

documenting ongoing communications with

existing customers.

21 48%

3rd Analyze and communicate

project risks

Identify potential challenges or risks that may im-

pact the project’s success, addressing them, and

communicating these risks to stakeholders for in-

formed decision-making.

Highlight risks and assump-

tions throughout the project.

Handle risk management and contingency

planning.

19 43%

4th Analyze stakeholder’s activities

to provide feedback

Observe and evaluate stakeholders’ involvement

and contributions to the project, and offer a con-

structive feedback.

Conduct performance reviews and

provide mentor team members.

Attend project meetings and provide status

updates to the Project Manager.

15 34%

5th Make an alignment of client ex-

pectations

Ensure the client’s expectations are aligned with

the capabilities and resources of the project team.

Deﬁne clear project objectives

with clients and colleagues.

Set and uphold standards for delivery excel-

lence and client service.

14 32%

6th Budget management Manage project ﬁnances, including budget allo-

cation, tracking expenses, and ensuring that the

project remains within the approved budget.

Construct and monitor project budgets.

Financial health and budget management.

12 27%

7th Lead continuous improvement

tasks

Initiate and guide efforts to continuously improve

project processes, methods, and outcomes.

Continuously identify areas for improve-

ment and implement process improve-

ments to increase efﬁciency and quality.

Participate in process improvement efforts.

10 23%

8th Follow a well establish project

management process

Adhere to established and proven project manage-

ment methodologies, frameworks, and best prac-

tices.

Promote and follow a deﬁned project

management process and implement best

practices for project management.

Apply project management best practices to

meet project plan, time and scope objectives.

9 20%

9th Ensure deliverable are achieved Monitor project progress to ensure that all project

deliverable are completed and meet the required

quality standards.

Ensuring all project plan and con-

tractual commitments are achieved.

Ensure all project documentation is com-

plete, up-to-date, and accessible to relevant

stakeholders.

9 20%

10th Establish and implement train-

ing processes

Design and implement training programs to equip

the team with the necessary skills and knowledge.

Establish and implement training processes

and strategies for all technical personnel.

Accomplishes orienting, training, assigning,

scheduling, and coaching employees

9 20%

4.3.1 Hard and Soft Skills

Some of the identiﬁed skills are soft skills, i.e., they

are related to personal attributes that enhance an in-

dividual’s interactions and job performance (Hendar-

man and Tjakraatmadja, 2012) (e.g., communication

skills, planning / managing skills, problem solving

skills, organization skills, and team work skills). Oth-

ers are hard skills as they are associated with a

person’s proﬁciency and capacity to execute speciﬁc

tasks or activities (Hendarman and Tjakraatmadja,

2012) (e.g., technical knowledge, project manage-

ment framework/software skills, domain knowledge,

agile skills, and project management concepts skills).

Table 3 presents the two types, the number of

skills of each type (#S), and the total number (i.e.,

count) of citations (#C). Column %CS presents how

frequently soft and hard skills are mentioned in job

ads. Although there are more hard than soft skills,

soft skills are more commonly expected in job adver-

tisements.

5 DISCUSSION

The ﬁrst actionable result for practitioners is: in the

LinkedIn job repository, checking the content of the

ad is crucial, as the job title does not always bring the

required level of experience.

Interestingly, we rarely ﬁnd mentions to speciﬁc

tools or techniques. On the contrary, broad knowl-

edge on the area is expected. This poses more chal-

lenges for those interested in starting a project man-

ager career, because it can take some time until get

enough knowledge in such a vast area. Besides, it can

make it harder to make decisions on how to pursue

expected technical knowledge and skills.

Overall, the expected responsibilities are the same

regardless the process model followed by the organi-

zation. Plan, organize and coordinate team activities,

analyze stakeholder’s activities to provide feedback,

establish a good communication with the client, and

analyze and communicate project risks are amongst

the most commonly expected responsibilities. Con-

cerning skills, there are slightly differences in the list

of the most expected per process model (traditional

or agile). Interestingly, the top 10 ranked responsibil-

Investigating Entry-Level Software Project Managers’ Skills and Responsibilities: An Empirical Analysis of LinkedIn Job Ads

219

Table 2: Skills for entry-level project managers.

NO Type Skill Deﬁnition Quote #CS %CS

1st S Communication The ability to effectively convey information,

ideas, and instructions to others, fostering clear

understanding and collaboration among team

members and stakeholders.

Excellent written and ver-

bal communication skills.

Ability to communicate difﬁcult concepts

using terminology appropriate to the audience.

23 53%

2nd H Technical knowledge Understand and have expertise in the technical as-

pects relevant to the project, enabling informed

decision-making, guidance to team members, and

addressing technical challenges.

Understanding of video middleware stacks

like RDK, Android TV, hardware/software.

Proﬁcient knowledge of Excel and VBA.

23 53%

3rd S Planning/managing Proﬁciency in developing strategic project plans

and allocating resources efﬁciently to ensure

projects stay on track and meet goals within set

timelines and budgets.

Ability to work effectively within a fast-

paced, deadline-driven environment.

Effective prioritization and meeting dead-

lines.

21 49%

4th S Organization The ability to maintain order and efﬁciently man-

age tasks, documents, and resources, contributing

to overall project efﬁciency and effectiveness.

You are highly organized and care

deeply about building and growing a sus-

tainable, culture-conscious business.

Excellent organizational skills and ability to

manage multiple priorities effectively.

16 37%

5th S Problem solving The capacity to identify, analyze, and ﬁnd inno-

vative solutions to challenges and obstacles that

arise during the project’s execution.

Ability to identify complex problems and re-

viewing related information to develop and

evaluate options and implement solutions.

Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.

15 35%

6th S Team work The ability to foster a collaborative and moti-

vated team environment, promoting cooperation

and collective effort towards project goals.

Ability to maintain a posi-

tive, team-oriented attitude.

Ability to manage complex relationships among

stakeholders on a project which has signiﬁcant

executive oversight.

13 30%

7th H Project management

framework/software

Proﬁciency in utilizing project management tools

and methodologies to optimize project workﬂows,

monitor progress, and enhance project outcomes.

Efﬁcient in project management tools like MS

project, JIRA, VISIO, SharePoint, Adobe etc.

Experience using Jira and Conﬂuence.

12 28%

8th H Domain knowledge Expertise in the speciﬁc industry or ﬁeld of the

project.

Knowledge of healthcare, medicare

and medicaid systems and data.

Experience overseeing a construction project.

10 23%

9th H Agile Competence in agile methodologies, which em-

phasize ﬂexibility, iterative approaches, and

adaptability to changing project requirements and

environments.

Agile project management skills

in infrastructure projects.

Knowledge of agile practices and methods.

10 23%

10th H Project management

concepts

Understanding of fundamental project manage-

ment principles and practices, guiding effective

decision-making and successful project execution.

Knowledge of project management techniques. 9 21%

Table 3: Types of skills for entry-level project managers.

Type of skill #S #C %CS

Hard skill 18 87 41%

Soft skill 12 126 59%

ities and skills conﬁrm how the body of knowledge

in project management deﬁnes, in general, a project

manager role.

For organizations, we provide an extensive list

of expected responsibilities and skills. Organizations

can now clearly articulate their expectations when hir-

ing entry-level project managers by identifying the

core skills and responsibilities associated with them.

We also recommend clearly state in the title of the job

ad the level of experience required for a speciﬁc posi-

tion.

For educators, there are also valuable insights. Re-

sults pointed out that both technical and soft skills

are highly expected. However, soft skills are slightly

more commonly requested on job ads. Technical

skills have already been taken into consideration in

project management courses for a long time. How-

ever, the same does not hold for soft skills. For in-

stance: which courses (at the undergraduate and grad-

uate levels) have employed practices to improve stu-

dents’ skills such as communication, teamwork abil-

ity, problem solving, be organized, and others? Our

results can serve as a starting point to develop new

training strategies in the skills and qualiﬁcations for

performing project management activities (responsi-

bilities) required for entry-level project manager po-

sitions. Software engineering educators can support

these development by conducting pedagogical inter-

ventions to assess these strategies with their students.

6 THREATS TO VALIDITY

We identiﬁed some threats to validity:

Construct validity. A threat emerges as the

LinkedIn platform can suggest job ads according to

proﬁle information. To mitigate this threat, we de-

ﬁned a new proﬁle and used it to search the job ads.

Another threat steams from the fact that we only

chose the LinkedIn as a source to collect the ads. We

recognize that this is a limitation of our work.

Internal validity. We identiﬁed the threat associ-

ated with the format of the ads. When the extracted

elements (responsibilities and skills) are not in differ-

ent sections of a job ad. The ﬁrst author extracted and

classiﬁed them. Next, the last author reviewed the list

of responsibilities and skills, minimizing this threat.

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220

External validity. This threat relates to the rea-

sonableness of generalizing our conclusions. We can

not generalize our results. Our sample size is lim-

ited to the analyses of 50 job ads and refers to entry-

level software project manager positions from only

one country. However, we stopped to collect new job

ads when we reached a state of saturation in the codes

for responsibilities and skills. We did not ﬁnd any

new code in the last ﬁve job ads analysed.

Conclusion validity. This threat is related to the

procedures we followed to standardize the nomen-

clature of responsibilities and skills, and classify the

identiﬁed skills into soft or hard skills. To reduce

this threat, the aforementioned procedures were per-

formed by two researchers individually. Divergences

between them were resolved in a meeting.

7 FINAL REMARKS

This study investigates the responsibilities and skills

required for entry-level software project managers

through the analysis of online job ads on the LinkedIn

platform. It also reports the group of responsibilities

and skills required in combination. Results reveal that

plan, organize and coordinate team activities, estab-

lish a good communication with the client, and ana-

lyze and communicate project risks are amongst the

responsibilities that organizations pay more attention.

Concerning skills, communication, technical knowl-

edge, and planning/managing are amongst the most

commonly found.

Researchers can utilize the ﬁndings to gain in-

sights into current job market trends and project man-

agement role expectations. Professionals beneﬁt from

information on responsibilities and skills, enabling

them to enhance their career development and align

their qualiﬁcations with industry demands. Finally,

organizations can reﬁne their hiring strategies based

on the study’s insights.

The next steps of this work include to (i) expand

our data source by considering job ads from different

countries, and (ii) organize the set of responsibilities

and skills in evidence brieﬁngs that could be used to

guide both professionals and organizations interested

on project management roles.

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