Whether you’ve chosen to capitalize on your interpersonal skills or simply love the challenge of organizing a group of talent individuals to achieve a singular goal, you’ll know that project management can be an immensely rewarding career path.

If you’re new to project management and just dipping your toes into the profession, here’s a little more incentive for you to really commit to becoming an ace project manager: In a recent survey conducted by PMI®, the average salary of a project manager is around £80,000. But those project managers who obtain their PMP® certification can earn in excess of £95,000 annually! Now more than ever a PMP® certification is critical to project manager seeking critical financial success.

Of the 100 project managers interviewed in the PMI salary survey of 2020, the following positions reported the highest average salary:

Engineering project Manager

Average annual salary: £98,000

As anyone who is familiar with the engineering industry knows, engineering projects are filled to the brim with tiny, yet crucial details. This makes it easier than ever for engineering project management professionals to lose sight of overall goals and get bogged down in minutiae.

Engineering project managers who receive their PMP® training know to keep focused on the tasks at hand and drive their teams towards success.

Job specifics: Knowledge how to clearly commentate and implement changes to the initial project plan to development teams.

Pros/cons: Engineering project managers have the benefit of always working towards a concrete, tangible goal. It may be a bridge, a computer chip or vehicle, but the measure of success is always something that can be easily defined – it works as intended. The downside to this role is that it isn’t very easily accessible to those without experience in the relevant industry. Engineering project manager is a role you work up towards, not something you simply step in to.

Pharmaceutical Project Management Professional

Average annual salary: £106,000

While the pharmaceutical industry is set to see record growth in 2020, the mean salary of pharmaceutical project managers hasn’t kept pace due to the introduction of more advanced automation and software. That’s not say it’s not a highly lucrative career path however.

Job specifics: Pharmaceutical project managers work with doctors, chemists, researchers and engineers to ensure that pharmaceutical research and development stays on schedule. Projects generally involve overseeing the research and testing of new medications for the treatment of diseases.

Pros/cons: Pharmaceutical project managers might just find themselves leading a project that could cure diseases and save lives. Because of the nature of this work however, a background in medicine is a must, and project managers will require a medical degree to qualify for the role. In addition, due to stringent regulations and laws surrounding medicine, a majority of time will be spend handling extensive and painstaking documentation procedures to ensure compliance with health and safety law.

Consulting Project Management Professional

Average salary: £110,000

Not to be confused with a project management consultant, a consulting project manager works as a project manager within a consultancy firm. A consulting project manager might work with an environmental protection agency one month and a software development company the next.

Job specifics: The goals of a consulting project manager changes depending on the industry in which they are working in at any one time. In general, you must give your clients the support they need to complete their own goals. You aren’t responsible for the completion of a single project, you’ll be responsible for ensuring your clients can complete not only their current project but are fully equipped to tackle future projects without your help.

Pros/cons: If you like variety, it doesn’t get better than this. You’ll need to constantly adapt and improvise to ensure your clients are satisfied with your performance. While some may enjoy this, the extreme unpredictability of the role may put off those who like a little more