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ANZSCO 5111Skill level 2Business and finance

Project officer

Support project managers with planning, scheduling, reporting and stakeholder coordination.

What a project officer actually does

Project officers support project and program managers across the delivery lifecycle. A typical day starts with checking the project inbox, updating the schedule, and flagging anything off-track. The middle of the day is mostly meetings: stand-ups with delivery teams, steering committees, and one-to-ones with workstream leads. Action items come back to the project officer to log, chase and report. Afternoons usually go to writing status reports, maintaining the risk and issue register, and chasing approvals or invoices. Most roles are 38-40 hours a week, hybrid one to two days at home. Workload spikes at steering committee weeks, the end of a phase, audits, and go-live windows. The role is highly varied because no two projects move exactly the same way.

Typical tasks

  • Maintain risk and issue logs.
  • Coordinate project meetings and minutes.
  • Produce status reports for sponsors.

Skills you'll use

  • Microsoft Project, Asana, Jira or similar project tools
  • Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint for reporting
  • Risk and issue tracking
  • Meeting coordination and minute-taking
  • Stakeholder communication across multiple teams
  • Reading contract and procurement basics
  • Calm work under pressure when timelines slip

How to become one

  1. 1Finish Year 12 with English; Maths Standard is enough for most business degrees
  2. 2Complete a Bachelor of Business, Bachelor of Project Management, or a related degree (3 years), or a Diploma of Project Management through TAFE
  3. 3Build experience through administration officer, project administrator, or junior coordinator roles
  4. 4Apply for project officer roles in government, construction, IT, or professional services
  5. 5Consider certification through AIPM (Australian Institute of Project Management) or PMI (PMP, PRINCE2, Agile) as you take on more responsibility

Where you can work

  • Federal, state and local government departments
  • Construction and infrastructure delivery firms
  • IT and digital transformation programs in large corporates
  • Banks, insurers and financial services
  • Defence prime contractors and primes' subcontractors
  • Universities, hospitals and research institutes
  • Engineering, energy and resources project teams

Career progression

Typical stages and salary bands. Salary figures are sourced from Job Outlook, QILT or industry bodies; brackets are 25th-75th percentile not absolute floors or ceilings.

  1. Project administrator / coordinator
    0-3 years
    Typical roles: Project administrator, Project coordinator, PMO analyst
    Salary band: $65,000 - $85,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  2. Project officer
    3-7 years
    Typical roles: Project officer, Senior project coordinator, PMO lead
    Salary band: $85,000 - $115,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  3. Project / program manager
    7+ years
    Typical roles: Project manager, Senior project manager, Program manager

Is this for you?

You might love this if

  • You like keeping a plan up-to-date and noticing when something is slipping
  • You can chase people for actions politely but firmly
  • You're patient with stakeholders who have competing priorities
  • You're comfortable being the most organised person in the room
  • You can write a status report that doesn't sugarcoat the bad news

This might not suit you if

  • You hate paperwork, meeting minutes and status reports
  • You can't tolerate plans slipping despite your best efforts
  • You want fully autonomous work with no stakeholder coordination
  • You dislike formal governance and approval processes

Three ways in

Uni, TAFE and trade routes for project officer. Not every career has all three; we only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.

University

Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.

No direct undergraduate pathway. Consider postgraduate study after a related bachelor degree.

TAFE / VET

Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.

Apprenticeship trade

Earn while you learn through an Australian Apprenticeship.

Not an apprenticeship trade.

Sources

ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Job Outlook directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.