17 Program Manager Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

A program manager’s resume needs to impress two people right off the bat: the recruiter who’ll pre-screen your resume and the Vice President or Director they’ll report to when hired.

The challenge is, that some companies use project managers and program manager titles interchangeably. You may be a project manager now but to another company (or industry) your skills might be for the project level only.

Semantics and corporate structures aside, about 25 million program managers are needed worldwide just to keep up with demand by 2030.

The application process is just a headache. How can your resume pass the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) if the hierarchies, job titles, and tasks vary everywhere?

Like any management job, there’s a way to work the system.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• How to write quantifiable metrics and achievements without bombarding your program manager experience with details
• The difference between good and bad program manager resume examples
• How to strategically list the multitude of skills, apps, and certificates you have
• How to write a program manager resume with no experience, especially if you’re switching from another role like product or project management.

If you’re not sure if this is the right fit for your experience and career trajectory, check out the additional guides we have for similar roles:

• Program analyst resume
• Scrum master resume
• Change management resume
• Project manager resume
• Project analyst resume
• Management resume
• IT project manager resume

program manager resume example

Here’s what this applicant does well in their resume:

• Quantifiable Achievements: The resume highlights specific accomplishments, such as reducing processing times by 40% and increasing team productivity by 35%. Quantifiable achievements demonstrate the applicant's impact in previous roles, not to mention their leadership skills
• Relevant Certifications: Including certifications like Advanced Project Management and API Design & Management aligns well with the Technical program manager role, underscoring their expertise in many program manager hard skills.
• Strategic Skill Representation: The skills section is well-tailored to the role, featuring relevant competencies like Program Management, Strategic Planning, and API Integration, which are essential for a Technical program manager.

How to format a program manager resume

No one’s going to hire a program manager with a disorganized resume.

The people reading your resume will be sticklers for organization, so don’t go breaking the mold with creative resume formats. Stick to a reverse-chronological program manager resume template that highlights recent and relevant experience.

Although many career paths, like product management, technical lead, or project management can lead to program management roles, a non-linear career path isn’t always a good reason to use a hybrid resume format. Although this will highlight your relevant skills, the lack of a chronological timeline will make it confusing.

If this is the case for you, just stick to the reverse chronological format then highlight relevant keywords in bold, and put relevant achievements in a separate list under each employer on your work history.

Next, your complex role means even professionals within the industry don’t always agree on what’s within a program manager’s purview. That means you have to make it clear why your experience is perfect for that exact role. Sometimes, that means highlighting your experience with Agile, or a certain tech stack. Whatever it is, it’s either on the job ad or the company’s career page. Do a little digging about the company and customize your resume accordingly.

More key points to remember when formatting your resume:

• Check that your contact info is up to date
• Use a professional email address
• Include a section for program manager hard skills to highlight the tech stack and programming languages you can use
• Stick to a serif or easily readable font between 10 to 12 points. Enhancv has Rubik, Montserrat, Volkhov, and all the other popular fonts.
• Choose a Word or PDF format. Read the job ad to see if the employer has a preference.

Making the ATS your best friend

Let’s talk a little bit about the applicant tracking system (ATS). Now it may seem like this system is out there to get you.

Oh no, your resume doesn’t have enough keywords for this job???

EEEEEEH. Rejected.

Don’t think of the ATS as an evil machine that just scans for keywords. To recruiters, they’re a godsend. Hating the ATS is like hating calculators. It’s just a tool that you have to learn how to make it work for you.

Make the ATS your friend by using relevant program manager hard skills on your resume like scrum management, stakeholder management, project planning, or tools like Asana and Jira. This way, recruiters looking for applicants with those skills will easily find your resume on their ATS results.

See how your current resume compares with real-world program manager resume examples at Enhancv resume checker.

Now you see what your resume is up against. How confident are you of getting an interview? Are you at least 90% sure it will happen? If not, keep reading to see the main sections hiring managers want to see from potential candidates.

Okay, time to write the main part of the resume — the program manager experience section. Don’t worry if you don’t have experience in this role yet. We’ll go over how to add relatable skills from previous jobs later.

How to write your program manager resume experience

The work history or experience section should contain all your relevant work, including part-time and project-based experience.

As program manager roles vary widely based on a company’s structure, it can be difficult to make a one-size-fits-all resume if you’re applying to both startups and multinational companies.

The solution? Create two resumes — one for startups or SMEs and one for big companies where they have all product, project, and program manager roles. This way, recruiters see relevant or similar program manager experience on your resume.

That’s not to say your resume should focus heavily on the tasks related to your title. Program managers are behind the success of huge initiatives, so that’s where you should focus on the work experience section.

Compare these two examples to get a feel of what this means:

The first example is vague. As if that’s not bad enough, the second bullet seems redundant or similar to the last bullet. Did their forecasting and conflict resolution prevent a crisis? This reads more like a task list.

Now compare this lackluster work experience to one that’s full of juicy details.

Now this second example shows the gravitas a recruiter would expect in an experienced program manager. It does a great job of:

• Listing the industry and location of the employer to give the hiring committee a way to gauge their experience correctly
• Including juicy details showing the scope of this candidate’s responsibilities
• Showing the aftermath of the candidate’s leadership and diplomacy
• Paints a clear picture of how well they perform under financial pressure (ahem $20.5 million!) and time constraints
• Lists program manager hard skills like agile and performance monitoring without making the resume look stuffed.
• Shows proof of program manager soft skills by pairing communication activities with keywords like “oversaw” and metrics (47%).

How to quantify the impact on your resume

Now you know what an impressive program manager experience looks like. Now you’re probably wondering, “How do I do that for my experience?”

The secret is combining measurable metrics with a succinct before and after story on your bullet points.

Recall your past experiences and mull over these questions to draw out your quantifiable achievements:

• What’s your experience like in handling short and long-term program initiatives? What gets delayed or delivered on time?
• How long was the program and did you complete it on time?
• How often do you meet deadlines?
• How many teams do you oversee? How do they overlap in terms of skills?
• How many stakeholders do you report to?
• What’s a typical budget for a long-term program? What about a short one?
• How do you prioritize allocating resources?
• What do you do in case of unforeseen expenses and delays? Were you able to reduce them?
• For change management, how long does it take you to roll out changes to a department?

Your answer to these questions should include numbers like percentage improvements in development, time saved in man hours, or revenue earned. These numbers could also show your capacity to manage diverse talents, your reliability in sticking to deadlines, and your competency in risk management.

From there you can create bullet points following the basic formula of action + job-related keyword = measurable result.

Check the program manager's resume example above for inspiration.

How do I write a program manager resume with no experience

Every experienced program manager has to start somewhere. So don’t worry, you can capitalize on your experience as a project or product manager. You can even use transferable skills when you are a lead developer or business analyst.

All these roles overlap. For instance, a project manager might handle one or two projects and work with several teams.

To get to the program manager level, show the recruiter that you’re ready to take on multiple projects simultaneously. That means showing consistently good results, despite varying deadlines, teams, and budgets across different projects.

You’ll also need to show high-level leadership and coordination skills, specifically in directing new initiatives or rolling out new protocols across multiple teams.

Read this article if you’re not sure how far back you should go on your resume, especially if you’re making the leap from project to program manager.

It will also be easier for you to qualify for a program manager role if you have at least 5 to 10 years of experience under your belt. Knowledge of the software and technical skills they use like MySQL, Salesforce, and process improvement skills like Lean Six Sigma also help.

Here’s a good example of a resume for a program manager with no experience:

How to list your hard skills and soft skills on your resume

Program management is a good skill to list, right? Nope. It’s stating the obvious.  

You should include a combination of program manager hard skills and soft skills.

Hard skills are technical proficiencies you learned on the job (or at school) that are specific to your role, like Lean Six Sigma, scrum, and stakeholder management. The desired technical skills will also vary depending on your chosen field, as the skills of a technical program manager will differ from an environmental or sales program manager.

Meanwhile, soft skills can also be picked up at work but they’re not limited to any job title. In-demand program managers soft skills are leadership, delegation, and conflict resolution.  

Regardless of field, program managers have a dizzying array of talents, so don’t list everything. Prioritize! Read the job ad carefully and list the skills the employer wants first. But don’t be too stingy in listing your skills as the more senior the role, the more they expect from you.

How to list your certifications and education on your resume

Don’t neglect this section, as some companies have strict certification and education requirements. It’s also not unheard of for senior program managers to have advanced degrees. If that’s the case for you, list the second degree before your bachelor’s on the resume.

Here’s what you need to include in this section:

• Degree name
• School and its location
• Dates of enrollment or graduation year
• GPA for fresh graduates

Certifications are important in this field, as many employers prefer their program managers to have Lean Six Sigma or Program Management Professional (PgMP) certifications.

Here’s what to include when listing certifications

• Certificate or program name
• Awarding institution or issuer

There are tons of free and paid certifications out there, but below is a list of the most recognized certifications for program managers.

Lastly, you need to create a program manager resume summary or objective. This is the hook that gets the hiring manager to read your application, so we left this section last. This way, you already have everything written up so it’s easier to draw inspiration from what you have.

How to write your program manager resume summary or objective

Arguably the trickiest part of creating a program manager resume, writing a summary or objective statement is a make-or-break moment. It’s the one that determines whether a recruiter will continue reading through the rest of your application. So we need to nail this!

Before that, here’s a primer on how a resume summary is different from an objective so you know which one to write.

As the name suggests, a summary is a 2 - 4  sentence statement of relevant career achievements. We recommend this for candidates with experience in their chosen fields. A great program manager resume summary is filled with keywords and quantifiable achievements that would make the recruiter wanna call you.

A resume objective, on the other hand, is for career switchers or fresh graduates with no on-the-job experience. It communicates their relevant skills, as well as what they hope to achieve and learn from the job.

Now put your thinking caps on and compare the two resume summary options below.

The above example isn’t so bad, right? It includes relevant skills and keywords. But there’s no pizzaz. It’s vague. It’s hard to tell what kind of programs or teams they’ve managed.

Now let’s look at a similar experience written differently.

The second program manager resume summary example is better in many ways, including:

• Use of metrics like percentage of time saved
• Shows scope of responsibility by including their budget
• Combination of action words and keywords like “spearhead,” “Six Sigma,” and “cross-functional team”
• The summary also shows the programs they worked on: SaaS developments

Experienced program managers will have tons of achievements under their belt. So, you’ll need to draw on your extensive organization and prioritization skills to pick achievements relevant to the job ad.  program manager salaries range from $128,000 to $170,000 according toSalary.com, so you need to match the job ad requirements and then some to get the higher end of that range.

Key takeaways

Congrats, you made it to the end of our guide on how to write a great program manager resume. It’s a lot of work, we know. But if you did this right, you’re well on your way to landing your next job.

Since we’ve covered a lot of information, here are some key points to remember before sending your resume:

• Each company has its structure and expectations for what a program manager could do, so write two versions of your resume — or at least your work history section. One will be for big companies, and another for startups where program managers may also do the duty of project managers.
• Add skills and keywords mentioned in the job ad. You have limited space on your resume, so don’t just list things willy-nilly.
• Use metrics and before-and-after stories to give recruiters a clearer picture of your work.
• You can still write a great program manager resume with no experience. Just remember to leverage related organizational and people management skills from your past employment.