“What are your next 2 quarters of projects?”
That’s the first thing I ask when someone tells me they need a Project Manager. And the way they answer tells me everything.
Either they rattle off a dozen real initiatives — with deadlines, dependencies, team members assigned — and I know they genuinely need someone to own all of it.
Or they pause. Fumble through a vague list. And I realize they haven’t 86’d enough of their to-do list to even know what a “project” is yet.
Both of these people show up every single week. And they need completely different hires.
I follow up with more questions. What projects did you have last quarter? What percent completed on time? How many were late? Why were they late?
Nine times out of ten, the answer to “why were they late” leads to the same place: “Because I was doing it all myself.”
I run HireUA. We’ve placed over a thousand remote workers with US companies — everything from Virtual Assistants to Operations Managers. A big chunk of those are Project Management roles. I’ve been on the other side of hundreds of these conversations, and I’ve seen the same patterns play out over and over. The hires that work. The hires that blow up. And the ones where the business owner didn’t actually need a PM in the first place — they just needed to stop doing everything themselves.
This is how you hire a Project Manager. A real one.
Last Updated: February 2026
Table of Contents
- When You Say “Project Manager,” What Do You Actually Mean?
- What a Project Manager Actually Does
- The Real Cost of Hiring a Project Manager
- How to Screen a Project Manager (The Trial Task That Actually Works)
- Do Project Management Certifications Actually Matter?
- Where to Find the Best Project Managers (Region by Region)
- The Tools a Project Manager Should Know
- Case Studies
- Your PM’s First 90 Days (What to Actually Expect)
- The Biggest Mistake When Hiring a Project Manager
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Hire a Project Manager Through HireUA
When You Say “Project Manager,” What Do You Actually Mean?
Almost nobody wants a pure Project Manager.
They want a PM who also does copywriting. Or a PM who also handles client success. Or a PM who can troubleshoot technical issues. Or a PM who manages accounts.
One agency owner described it perfectly: “It’s kind of 3 combined — Project Manager, inbox manager, client success manager. It’s partly because it’s the first role in my agency, which makes sense that it’s everything kind of together.”
That’s not a Project Manager. That’s a senior person who manages projects AND does other stuff.
This is the norm, not the exception. The vast majority of people who say “I need a PM” actually mean “I need a capable senior person who can own things.” And that’s fine — but you need to know which role you’re really hiring for before you post the job.
Here’s the quick breakdown:
Project Manager: Manages specific projects and deliverables. Sprints, timelines, tasks, deadlines. More internal-facing. Lives in ClickUp or Asana or Notion. The person who makes sure things ship on time. They’re thinking in terms of this project, this deadline, this deliverable.
Operations Manager: Manages the macro view of the company. Systems, processes, people, departments. Makes sure the whole machine runs — not just individual projects. They’re thinking in terms of this quarter, this year, this company.
[Read our full guide on hiring an Operations Manager →]
Executive Assistant: Manages the founder’s life and workflow. Calendar, email, travel, communications, daily reports. The best ones handle Project Management as part of the role — without the title. They’re thinking in terms of this person — the CEO — and everything that needs to happen around them.
[Read our full guide on what an Executive Assistant does →]
There’s a ton of overlap between all three.
The lines can blur constantly. An OM is generally expected to manage projects. A senior EA runs projects every single day. And most PMs end up touching operations whether they signed up for it or not.
Here’s my honest advice:
If you only have 2 projects a quarter, don’t hire a PM. Hire an EA or OM and have them manage projects as part of their role. People seriously underestimate how much a good EA or OM can handle as far as Project Management.
My own EA just re-categorized an entire year of QuickBooks transactions, built a monthly review system with new department categories, and is now onboarding someone else to own it going forward. That’s Project Management. She doesn’t have the title. Doesn’t need it.
But here’s what most people miss:
If you’ve got 10+ team members, projects are consistently late, and you’re personally the bottleneck on every deliverable — that’s when you need a dedicated PM. Not before.
What a Project Manager Actually Does
Monday planning meetings to set the week’s priorities.
Friday reviews to see what shipped and what didn’t. Setting tasks and deadlines across team members. Tracking progress and flagging risks before they become fires.
Onboarding new clients — building dashboards, creating folder structures, sending welcome emails. Running status updates so you’re not chasing people.
Performance tracking — not just “did it get done” but “did it get done well and on time.” Managing the tools: ClickUp, Notion, Asana, Slack. Whatever your stack is.
Here’s the reality for most founders reading this:
You’re personally doing all of it. You’re waking up, handling clients, managing service delivery, and by the end of the day you haven’t touched sales or growth because all your time went to making sure the trains ran on time.
That’s the PM’s job. Take that off the founder’s plate entirely. Not partially. Entirely.
The “Hands Dirty” Test (And the Middle Management Poison)
I wrote a presentation called The Communist Factory about how companies rot from the inside. One of the core concepts is something I call MMMD — Managers Managing Managers Disease.
Here’s what it looks like:
You hire someone with “manager” in their title.
- They immediately start building a little kingdom of coordination.
- Status meetings.
- Update threads.
- “Alignment” calls.
- They look busy.
- They sound in control.
- They produce beautiful Slack messages and color-coded dashboards.
But if you removed them tomorrow — would anything actually break?
Or would the people doing the real work just… keep doing it without someone narrating their progress back to you?
I’ve lived this.
I had senior people on my team whose entire output was updates.
I was paying a premium for people who produced narrative and paying discount rates for the people who produced outcomes.
When I finally removed the management layer and kept the do-ers, the company got MORE efficient.
Not less.
That’s the danger with hiring a PM. If you’re not careful, you end up with a middle manager who sits in a chair, delegates tasks into ClickUp, barks orders at people who already know what to do, and runs status meetings where everyone reports on work they would have done anyway.
Your PM shouldn’t be some dude lounging around on a La-Z-Boy barking orders from a board. They should be in the work.
Real PMs get their hands dirty. Because sometimes shit happens and someone has to fix it.
Your designer delivers mockups that are wrong. Client call is in 2 hours. A board-watcher creates a Slack message and waits. A real PM opens Canva and fixes the mockups themselves.
A client sends an urgent message at 4pm. The Account Manager is offline. A board-watcher forwards it and goes home. A real PM responds directly and handles it.
Monthly report is due Friday. The person responsible is sick. A board-watcher reschedules the deadline. A real PM pulls the data and assembles the report themselves.
An email campaign goes live with a broken link. A board-watcher creates a ticket. A real PM logs into the sender and fixes the link.
New client onboarding is supposed to happen Monday, but the SOPs aren’t finished yet. A board-watcher sends a message saying, “We can’t onboard until the SOPs are done.” A real PM builds the client dashboard, creates the folder structure, writes the welcome email — and THEN builds the SOP so it doesn’t happen again.
At your company size, the PM IS the backup plan. They don’t just identify problems — they solve them first, then build the system to prevent them from happening again.
That second part is critical. Any warm body can jump in and fix a broken link. The PM’s real value is that after they fix it, they create a pre-send checklist so nobody on the team ever sends a broken link again. Fix the fire. Build the fire prevention system. That’s the job.
That’s the difference between a Project Manager and a project reporter. More on that later.
The Real Cost of Hiring a Project Manager
Every competitor article either hides pricing behind a “contact us” button or gives you salary data from Glassdoor that means nothing if you’re hiring remotely.
Here’s what it actually costs to hire a project manager remotely, based on what our clients are paying right now:
- Part-time (20 hours/week): $1,200–$1,800/month
- Full-time (40 hours/week): $2,000–$3,000/month
- Senior or specialized PM: Up to $4,000+/month
For context — a comparable hire in the US runs $8,000 to $10,000+ per month. That’s six figures annually for a mid-level Project Manager in a major metro.
I’ll be direct about something…
Most people who reach out about hiring a Project Manager have no idea what to budget. Some have done zero research. Some think a full-time PM costs $1,500.
The pricing above is real — confirmed across dozens of active placements. When you see a competitor say “starting at $500/month,” they’re either talking about a Virtual Assistant with a fancy title or they’re lying.
One thing to know about part-time: It’s more expensive per hour than full-time.
That’s because the best candidates want full-time work. When you’re asking someone to commit 20 hours, you’re competing with companies offering them 40. The premium reflects that reality.
A question we get constantly:
“Can I start part-time and scale to full-time later?”
Yes. And a lot of clients do exactly that. Start at 20 hours, see if the person is good, then bump to 40 once you trust them. It’s one of the smartest ways to de-risk the hire.
How to Screen a Project Manager (The Trial Task That Actually Works)
Most business owners have never even started to hire a Project Manager before. And I don’t mean “haven’t hired one recently.” I mean never. First time. Zero experience evaluating this role.
That’s the norm, not the exception. If you’ve never hired a PM before, you’re in the majority. So here’s what actually works.
The Reverse-Engineering Test
Take a project your company already completed. Something that went well. Give the candidate the original brief — just the brief, nothing else.
Then tell them: Map it out. Show me the full plan — diagrams, flows, resources needed, budget, timeline, dependencies.
This is what separates real PMs from people with PM on their resume.
A good PM will produce a plan that looks remarkably similar to what actually happened — because experienced Project Managers think the same way. They’ll identify the right phases, the right dependencies, the right resource allocation. They’ll flag the risks you actually encountered.
A bad PM will give you a generic Gantt chart that could apply to any project in any industry.
One more thing:
If they used AI, demand the prompts. All of them. I don’t care that they used ChatGPT — I care HOW they used it. Did they go back and forth, refine the output, push it to think harder? Or did they paste the brief, accept the first response, and submit it as their own work?
AI as a tool is fine. AI as a crutch tells you everything about how they’ll manage your projects.
Resume Red Flags
Too much freelancer hopping.
Five clients in two years, each for three months. That’s not a PM — that’s a temp. You want someone who did so well at a company that they were brought in-house. Someone whose clients couldn’t let them go.
Generic buzzwords without outcomes. “Led cross-functional initiatives to drive alignment and optimize stakeholder engagement.”
What the heck does that actually mean? How many projects? What was the budget? Did they ship on time? What broke and how did they fix it?
No industry match. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but the learning curve is real. If you can find someone with experience in your industry, the ramp-up time drops dramatically.
Resume Green Flags
Measurable outcomes. “$200K project delivered 2 weeks early.” “Reduced delivery timeline from 6 weeks to 3.” “Brought project completion rate from 60% to 95%.” Numbers. Specifics. Proof that something got better because they were there.
Progressive responsibility. Started as coordinator, promoted to PM, then senior PM. That trajectory tells you they earned it.
Industry match. Someone who’s managed the same type of work you do? That’s a layup.
The Interview Question That Actually Works
Here’s the one I’d ask:
“You’re managing a project. It’s Thursday. The deliverable is due Monday. Your designer just told you they’re behind and won’t finish the mockups until Tuesday. What do you do?”
Bad answer (coordinator): “I’d flag it to the team lead and ask for guidance.”
Good answer (PM): “I’d find out what’s blocking the designer — is it scope creep, a tool issue, personal stuff? Then I’d see if I can remove the blocker or reassign part of the work. If the deadline is truly at risk, I’d communicate to the client proactively with a revised timeline before they have to ask.”
The coordinator waits for instructions. The PM solves the problem.
That’s the entire difference.
Do Project Management Certifications Actually Matter?
PMP. Scrum Master. PRINCE2. Agile Certified Practitioner.
Here’s the honest answer:
Certifications tell you someone studied Project Management. They don’t tell you if they can actually manage a project.
Just like a college degree. They can complete the course. Can they do the work?
If I had to pick one, I’d pick the person who shipped 20 projects on time over the person with a cert and no war stories.
For bigger companies with formal methodologies — enterprise clients, regulated industries — certifications carry more weight. They signal that the person understands the framework and speaks the language.
Execution track record beats credentials every single time.
Now, pay attention:
That doesn’t mean certifications are worthless. A PM with a PMP AND a track record of shipping? That’s the best of both worlds. Don’t dismiss the certification — just don’t let it be the only thing you look at.
As for Agile, Scrum, Kanban — most small businesses don’t need formal sprint methodology. But understanding the principles behind them — time-boxed work, iterative improvement, daily check-ins, retrospectives — is valuable even if you never call it “Scrum.”
Where to Find the Best Project Managers (Region by Region)
We place remote talent from Eastern Europe and Latin America. After hundreds of PM placements, here’s what I’ve seen:
Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Moldova, etc.) — Best for SaaS and software companies. Strong STEM and technical backgrounds. These are people who understand systems architecture, development cycles, and technical dependencies. If your projects involve code, sprints, and product releases, Eastern European PMs tend to be a natural fit.
Latin America (Colombia, Argentina, Brazil) — Best for marketing agencies. Cultural alignment with US clients, natural time zone overlap, and strong communication skills. If your projects are campaign launches, content calendars, and client deliverables, LATAM PMs tend to thrive.
Time zone is the number one concern we hear. Almost every client wants EST overlap. Eastern European candidates can accommodate US business hours — most of ours already do. LATAM candidates are naturally in similar time zones, which makes real-time collaboration effortless.
The Tools a Project Manager Should Know
I’ll keep this short because I don’t think tools matter nearly as much as everyone else does.
We don’t place potatoes.
If someone can learn ClickUp, they can learn Asana.
If they can learn Notion, they can learn Monday.com.
(Also, sorry, if you’re on Notion, time to make a change if you want a real PM software…)
The PM tool is the easy part.
Here’s the baseline stack most of our clients use:
Project management: ClickUp, Notion, Monday, Airtable
Communication: Slack (universal), Zoom, Loom
Everything else: Google Drive, and whatever industry-specific tools your business runs on.
But get this:
The industry-specific tools matter way more than the PM tools. A PM for your SaaS company should be comfortable in Jira or Linear. A PM for your email marketing agency should know Klaviyo. A PM for your SEO agency should understand Google Search Console and Ahrefs.
The PM tool is teachable in a week.
The industry knowledge takes months.
One warning: Be cautious with “do it all” platforms — the tools that try to be your CRM, your project management tool, your task tracker, your database, your calendar, and your communication hub all at once. They end up being mediocre at everything and great at nothing. Use best-in-class tools for each function and let your PM connect them.
Case Studies
Adam — From Writer to Manager in 21 Days
Adam runs a B2B SaaS SEO agency. Solo operator. Handling all the fulfillment, all the sales, everything. No systems — “everything was Google Sheets and manual stuff.”
He didn’t come to us looking for a PM. He needed a content writer. Just someone who could write well and take some fulfillment off his plate.
We presented six candidates within days. Five-day process from “I need someone” to “are you ready to start Monday?”
Here’s what happened:
The writer he hired didn’t just write. She excelled in communication — started throwing out ideas, suggesting optimizations, pushing back on processes that didn’t make sense. She came to Adam and said, “Hey, let’s optimize the way we do this in Notion.” She built a better content calendar without being asked. She started managing quality across the writing team because she saw the gap and filled it.
Within three weeks, she was managing his entire team of writers. He calls her “a partner in his business.”
Adam went from doing 100% of fulfillment to 20%. Not because he hired a PM — because he hired someone with initiative who naturally grew into the role.
And check this out:
That’s what a real Project Manager looks like. Not someone with a PMP who waits for a task to be assigned. Someone who sees a problem, owns it, and builds the system to fix it. The best PMs we’ve placed didn’t come in with the title. They earned it within weeks because they couldn’t help themselves — they saw inefficiency and attacked it.
The DTC Brand That Needed 4 Decision-Makers to Agree
A growing DTC brand came to us needing a marketing PM. Budget up to $4,000/month. Decent budget. Clear role. Should be straightforward.
It wasn’t.
The challenge wasn’t finding candidates — it was navigating the hiring committee. Four different interviewers. Multiple rounds. Holiday delays in the middle of the process. The kind of process that kills most hires before they start.
We presented five candidates from across Eastern Europe and Latin America. After weeks of interviews, something interesting happened — all four decision-makers independently gravitated toward the same person.
Despite some minor concerns during the interviews, every single interviewer ranked her first. When the right candidate is in front of multiple stakeholders, alignment tends to happen naturally. You don’t have to force it.
The lesson:
When you have multiple stakeholders involved in hiring a PM, the process will take longer than you want. Accept that. But don’t let it drag so long that your best candidates take other offers.
Set a hard deadline — two weeks from first interview to decision — and stick to it.
The best PMs are getting multiple offers. They’re not waiting around.
Brad Smith — IT Consulting PM
Brad runs an IT consulting firm. Hired a PM through us from Eastern Europe. The result: $55K in annual savings compared to what he was paying locally.
Your PM’s First 90 Days (What to Actually Expect)
I’m going to save you from the mistake most business owners make with new PMs.
They hire someone, hand them the keys, and expect transformation by week two. Then they’re disappointed when the PM is “still asking too many questions” at the end of month one.
Here’s what the timeline actually looks like:
Week 1-2: The Audit
Your PM should be documenting everything. Every process, every tool, every team member’s responsibilities, every recurring meeting, every deliverable cadence. They’re not changing anything yet — just understanding the machine.
If your new PM starts rearranging things in week one, that’s a red flag. They don’t know enough yet. They’re guessing. The best PMs resist the urge to fix things immediately and spend two full weeks just absorbing how your business actually works — not how you think it works, not how the org chart says it works, but how it actually works.
Week 3-4: First Fixes
Quick wins. Overdue tasks cleaned up. Meeting cadence established. Tools organized. The low-hanging fruit that’s been bugging everyone for months but nobody had the time or ownership to fix.
You should feel a slight reduction in chaos by the end of month one. Not a transformation — a reduction. If the PM is good, people on your team will start saying things like, “Oh, [Name] already handled that.” That’s the first sign it’s working.
Month 2: Build Systems
This is where it gets real. Recurring meeting structures. Task templates. Reporting cadence. Client communication protocols. Status update formats. SOPs for the processes that used to live only in the founder’s head.
The PM isn’t just doing tasks anymore — they’re building the machine that runs the tasks. The difference matters. Anyone can complete a to-do list. A PM builds the to-do list that rebuilds itself every week.
Month 3: Run Independently
You should be able to ask, “What’s the status of X?” and get an instant, accurate answer. You shouldn’t have to chase. You shouldn’t have to check. The PM should be coming to you with updates before you think to ask.
By the end of month three, you should be able to take a week off and know that nothing will fall apart while you’re gone.
Here’s the thing:
The first 90 days almost always look good. New employees are on their best behavior. They’re borrowing the founder’s brain through constant guidance — asking the right questions, getting real-time feedback, learning the context.
The real test is months 4 through 6. That’s when they’re on their own. That’s when the safety net of “I can just ask the founder” starts to fade. That’s when you find out if you hired a PM or someone who’s just good at following directions when you’re watching.
The Biggest Mistake When Hiring a Project Manager
I saved this for its own section because it’s that important.
The number one mistake: Hiring someone who reports problems instead of solving them.
You know those news anchors who stare into the camera with grave concern and say, “Breaking news — someone is on the run”?
Very dramatic.
Very serious.
Absolutely zero ability to do anything about it.
That’s what a bad PM sounds like.
10am Monday morning: “Good morning! Just wanted to flag — the project is behind schedule.”
Thanks, Tom. Great update. Now what are you going to DO about it?
I call this person “The Project Reporter.”
They can tell you exactly what’s behind schedule. They can list every blocker. They can give you a beautifully formatted status update that makes your stomach drop because everything is red. They’ve got the dashboards. They’ve got the color coding. They’ve got the urgent emoji in Slack.
But they don’t DO anything about it.
This ties back to what I said earlier. The project reporter is a Forwarding Manager in a PM costume. Their output is narrative — updates, reports, escalations. Not outcomes. Not solutions. Not deliverables that shipped because they made it happen.
A project reporter tells you the designer is behind. A Project Manager talks to the designer, finds the blocker, removes it, and tells you the deliverable will ship on time.
A project reporter forwards the client’s angry email. A Project Manager responds to the client, resolves the issue, and updates you after it’s handled.
A project reporter creates a Slack message at 4:45pm saying, “FYI, this deadline might slip.” A Project Manager saw that risk at 10am, adjusted the plan, and the deadline didn’t slip.
The reporter narrates. The manager acts.
When you’re interviewing PM candidates, listen for how they talk about past problems. Do they describe what happened TO them? Or do they describe what they DID? The language tells you everything.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to hire a Project Manager remotely?
Through HireUA:
$1,200–$1,800/month part-time
$2,000–$3,000/month full-time
Up to $4,000+ for senior or specialized PMs.
A comparable US hire runs $6,000–$10,000+/month.
What’s the difference between a Project Manager and an Operations Manager?
PMs manage specific projects and deliverables — sprints, timelines, deadlines. OMs manage the macro view of the company — systems, processes, people, departments. Tons of overlap at smaller companies.
How do I know if I need a Project Manager?
If you have 10+ team members, projects are consistently late, and you’re the bottleneck on every deliverable — yes. If you have 2 projects a quarter, an EA or OM can handle it.
Should I hire a full-time or part-time Project Manager?
Start part-time (20 hours/week) if you’re unsure about the workload. Most clients scale to full-time within 2-3 months once they see the impact.
What tools should a Project Manager know?
The specific tool doesn’t matter — ClickUp, Asana, Notion, Monday.com are all fine. Industry-specific tools matter more. A PM for a Klaviyo agency should know Klaviyo.
Do Project Manager certifications (PMP) matter for small businesses?
Not as much as execution track record. A PM who shipped 20 projects on time beats a PMP with no war stories. But a PM with both? That’s the ideal.
How long does it take to hire a Project Manager?
Through HireUA, we present candidates within 1 week. Most clients are interviewing within 5-10 days of kickoff.
Can a Project Manager be client-facing?
Yes — especially in agencies. Many of our PM placements handle client communication, status updates, and relationship management alongside internal project tracking.
What’s the biggest mistake when hiring a Project Manager?
Hiring someone who reports problems instead of solving them. If your PM’s main contribution is telling you what’s behind schedule, they’re not managing projects — they’re narrating them.
Can an executive assistant handle Project Management?
Absolutely. Good EAs handle Project Management as part of the role every day. If you only have a few projects at a time, an EA is often the smarter hire. [Read our EA guide →]
Hire a Project Manager Through HireUA
We’ve placed over a thousand remote workers with US companies. Project managers, operations managers, EAs, and everything in between. Primarily from Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Here’s how it works:
You tell us what you need. We present candidates within 1 week — not 200 resumes for you to sift through, but a shortlist of people we’ve already screened, tested, and vetted. You interview. You pick. One invoice, one point of contact, replacement guarantee if it doesn’t work out.
No job boards. No wading through AI-generated resumes. No guessing whether someone can actually manage a project or just knows how to spell “Gantt chart.”
If you’ve read this far, you know more about hiring a PM than 99% of business owners. But if you’d rather have someone else handle the search — someone who’s done it hundreds of times and knows exactly what to screen for — that’s what we do. Every day.
