You sound like you’re just starting out and so it would be unrealistic to expect anything other than absolutely foundation level salary.

I found one way to get a good idea of what you can expect is to simply trawl through job sites and find jobs you think you could genuinely do. Use different keyword phrases as often the same kind of jobs are advertised with lots of different job titles e.g. search for web project manager, digital project manager, web producer, digital account manager, digital producer – and so on…

As you find junior level jobs that have descriptions that you think you could do, you’ll probably start to get an idea of ‘what you’re worth’. Search inside big cities and also outside – if I did my exact job as I have now, but did it in London instead of where I am, I would probably earn up to 30% more – so don’t get sucked into thinking you should be paid X when the location means you should really get Y.

As for questions based on your experience – I guess they would be to assess two things: your web experience and management / commercial experience i.e. although you’ve not been a developer or Web Project Manager before, could you potentially do the job?

You’ll need to demonstrate your web design knowledge just so they can see you have a good grasp on the basics e.g. understanding the website / app design and build workflow. Then you’ll need to show you have an understanding of the commercial side of business and that you can manage people.

I hope this helps.

Your website is really good. I just went through it because I have an itw for the position of Web Project Manager and there are a lot of useful information here. Nice work.

I have a question though. What will be the average salary for this position for someone new in this field? I only have experience in web design as a freelance, marketing, IT and audiovisual background.

Any idea what question I can get during the interview as I was not a WBM before or Web Developer? This is not covered in your article.

Thanks for the info.

For years I was bitter about this situation until I realised I could do nothing to stop it altogether. Yes I always tried to get involved in the pre-sales and this does help, but sometimes you just can’t get involved.

Instead one has to realise there was is real art to taking these projects on and building a relationship clients despite having to start off negotiating scope, price and deadlines on something they only just agreed and paid for – but it can be done – and you can use poorly sold work to your advantage sometimes e.g. if someone sells a “Blog” feature for £xx but with not much more detail, you can start to talk to the client about if they really need an all singing all dancing blog as we know it etc. Or when sold for a cheap price, you can try to utilise free third-party solutions that meet the client’s requirements without seemingly going back on your agency’s promise in the sale.

But you’re right, this is a good question to ask as it’s one of the trickier situations a Web Project Manager will have to deal with at some point in their career.

I feel like I’ve been saying “commercial awareness” for far too long now but it’s so often a technical person’s weakness, and technical the weakness for commercially aware people – both types will often lead you down a path of pain in web project management.

The technically-biased Web Project Manager will provide a fantastic solution, but will often not spot new opportunities for account growth, deliver an over the top solution that the client doesn’t really need and isn’t as financially appropriate for their own agency etc.

A commercially aware but low-tech person tends to be great at handling clients but will often grossly over-promise and over-sell solutions based on inadequate technical knowledge.

One solution to this is to pair an experienced account manager type person with a senior technical person, however while this can work fantastically, it does mean paying two people, and even if working closely, can often cause ‘crossed wires’ problems as both can’t always be involved in every single mail, telephone call or meeting.

As you mentioned in your post near the beginning – its the client facing skills that matter alot of the time – especially ‘commercial awareness’. Interview questions that probe (ouch!) this are particularly good – prehaps legal understanding, managing change requests, resolving conflicts – those kinds of things.

Good stuff Sam