← Back to Reports

San Francisco Project & Delivery Market

Beta

January 2026

This report analyzes 591 Project & Delivery job postings from 340+ companies tracked via direct employer career pages and job board aggregators. Our coverage skews toward tech-forward and scaling companies; large enterprises using enterprise hiring platforms may be underrepresented. Coverage varies by section and is noted throughout.


Market Context

1.SF information sector continues net job losses despite AI investment San Francisco's information sector lost approximately 4,500 jobs (around 4%) over the past year, even as AI-related investment surged. The market is characterized as 'low hire, some fire,' suggesting that AI-driven productivity gains have not yet translated into broad-based delivery hiring. (SF Standard, January 2026)
2.Mobility sector sustains delivery demand in the Bay Area Autonomous vehicle and ride-sharing companies, including Waymo, Uber, and Zoox, remain among the top delivery-role employers tracked in San Francisco. Their presence in the top 15 is consistent with the Bay Area's concentration of mobility R&D operations that require large-scale programme coordination. (SF Standard, January 2026)
3.Return-to-office mandates tightening across tech industry Nearly half of companies surveyed plan to require four or more days in-office by 2026, which may put downward pressure on the 40% remote share observed among tracked delivery roles. Candidates and hiring managers should monitor whether this trend narrows remote availability in coming months. (ResumeBuilder, January 2026)
4.AI fluency becoming a sought-after project and delivery competency Industry analysts report that demand for AI-fluent project and programme managers is outpacing supply, as organizations look for delivery professionals who can govern AI initiatives and integrate AI tools into existing workflows. AI appeared as a requested skill in 6% of tracked postings this month. (PMI/TechTarget, 2026)
5.Remote-first employers report higher retention rates Companies offering remote-first arrangements are seeing approximately 15% higher employee retention compared to those requiring full onsite presence. This may give remote-friendly delivery employers a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining experienced programme managers in a senior-skewed market. (DOXA Talent, 2026)

Key Takeaways: Job Seekers

1.0Prepare for a senior-skewed market With 54% of roles at the Senior level and a 14:1 senior-to-junior ratio, candidates should expect most openings to require substantial experience. Building a portfolio of cross-functional delivery wins and quantifiable outcomes may help differentiate applications.
1.1Target mobility and transportation employers Mobility-sector companies such as Waymo, Uber, and Zoox are among the most active hirers. Familiarity with hardware-software integration, safety-critical timelines, and regulatory coordination could be valuable for candidates targeting these employers.
1.2Add SQL and Salesforce to your toolkit SQL (7%) and Salesforce (6%) appeared alongside traditional project and delivery skills in tracked postings. These technical and platform-specific competencies may help candidates stand out, particularly for roles at data-driven or enterprise SaaS companies.
1.3Leverage the 40% remote availability Remote roles accounted for 40% of tracked postings with arrangement data, offering geographic flexibility for candidates outside the Bay Area. However, broader industry trends suggest in-office requirements may tighten, so candidates should verify current policies during interviews.
1.4Develop AI fluency as an emerging differentiator AI appeared in 6% of tracked role skill requirements and is growing as a requested competency. Building familiarity with AI-assisted project tools, prompt engineering basics, and AI governance frameworks could position candidates for the next wave of delivery roles.

Key Takeaways: Hiring Managers

2.0A 14:1 ratio gives you leverage at senior levels The highly competitive 14:1 senior-to-junior ratio means experienced delivery professionals are abundant relative to openings. This may allow hiring managers to be selective on domain expertise and cultural fit without extending timelines substantially.
2.1Compensation premiums may be needed for niche roles The overall median of $154,500 masks variation: programme managers command a $163,500 median versus $120,000 for project managers. Roles requiring specialized skills like AI fluency or mobility-sector experience may require above-median offers to attract top candidates.
2.2Growth-stage companies face stiffer competition Among tracked roles with maturity data (52% coverage), 56% came from mature companies and 69% from enterprise-scale organizations. Growth-stage firms (41% of roles) may need to differentiate on equity, mission, or flexibility to compete for experienced delivery hires.
2.3Management track roles represent 17% of openings With 83% of tracked roles on the IC track, managers are relatively scarce. Teams looking to hire delivery leads or heads of PMO should anticipate a smaller but potentially well-qualified candidate pool, and may benefit from considering internal promotions alongside external searches.

Industry Distribution

53% of roles with industry data

Low
High

Among 53% of tracked roles with industry data, Professional Services leads at 19%, likely reflecting demand from consultancies running large transformation engagements. Mobility and Transportation (12%) is the second-largest sector, consistent with the autonomous vehicle cluster visible in the top employers. Consumer Tech gained 4 percentage points month-over-month while Mobility declined by 6 points, based on a single month's movement. Education Technology appeared as a new entry this period.


Company Maturity

52% of roles with company age data

41%Growth Stage
Mature (>15 yrs)55%
Growth (6-15 yrs)41%
Young (<=5 yrs)4%

Among 52% of tracked roles with company age data, Mature companies (over 15 years old) account for 56% of postings, with Growth-stage firms at 41% and Young companies at just 4%. This distribution likely reflects the dominance of established tech and professional services firms in delivery hiring, where programme scale and organizational complexity tend to favor larger, more tenured employers.


Ownership Type

53% of roles with ownership data

45%Private
Private45%
Public44%
Subsidiary11%

Among 53% of tracked roles with ownership data, Private (45%) and Public (44%) companies are nearly evenly split, with Subsidiaries at 11%. The close balance may reflect the Bay Area's mix of publicly traded tech giants alongside large private companies and late-stage startups that have yet to IPO.


Employer Size Distribution

52% of roles with company size data

69%Enterprise
Enterprise (1,000+)70%
Scale-up (50-1,000)19%
Startup (<50)11%

Among 52% of tracked roles with company size data, Enterprise organizations (1,000+ employees) account for 69% of postings. Scale-ups contribute 19% and Startups 11%. This concentration likely reflects that delivery and programme management functions tend to scale with organizational size, as larger companies run more concurrent initiatives requiring dedicated coordination.


Employers Hiring for Project & Delivery Roles

Low
High

Market interpretation: The top 15 employers account for 22% of tracked postings, indicating a broadly distributed hiring landscape with 1.74 jobs per employer on average. Waymo leads with 13 roles, followed by Uber (11) and a cluster of four employers tied at 10. Three employers are new to the top 15 this month: Atlassian, Instacart, and Accenture. Concentration at the top is a sampling artifact and should not be interpreted as overall market dominance.


Role Specialization

Low
High

Programme manager (49%) and project manager (41%) together account for 90% of tracked delivery roles. Delivery manager holds 10% while scrum master is marginal at 1%. Based on a single month's movement, project manager gained 7 percentage points and programme manager declined by 6 points, which could be driven by seasonal variation in how employers title similar coordination roles rather than a structural shift.


Seniority Distribution

Junior: 0-2 years | Mid-Level: 3-5 years | Senior: 6-10 years | Staff/Principal: 11+ years (IC track) | Director+: Management track

Low
High

Senior-to-Junior Ratio

14:1

Senior+ roles per Junior role

Entry Accessibility Rate

22%

Junior + Mid-Level roles combined

Senior roles dominate at 54%, followed by Director+ and Mid-Level tied at 16% each, Staff/Principal at 7%, and Junior at 6%. The 14:1 senior-to-junior ratio makes this one of the most competitive entry-level delivery markets tracked. The 22% entry accessibility rate is the lowest across tracked cities, indicating that most delivery openings in San Francisco target experienced professionals.


IC vs Management Track

83%IC
Individual Contributor83%
Management17%

Individual contributor roles account for 83% of tracked postings, with management at 17%. This split is consistent with delivery functions where most programme and project managers operate as ICs coordinating across teams rather than managing direct reports. The 17% management share may appeal to candidates seeking people-leadership paths within the delivery discipline.


Working Arrangement

Onsite: office full-time | Hybrid: mix of office and remote | Remote: work from anywhere | Flexible: employee chooses arrangement

97% of roles with known working arrangement

40%Remote
Remote40%
Hybrid27%
Flexible26%
Onsite7%

Among 97% of tracked roles with working arrangement data (based on 126 ATS-sourced roles), Remote leads at 40%, followed by Hybrid (27%), Flexible (26%), and Onsite (7%). The high remote share may reflect delivery roles' inherent suitability for distributed work, as coordination and stakeholder management can often be performed effectively across locations. Only 7% of roles required full onsite presence.


Compensation

13% of roles with disclosed salary ranges

Overall Distribution

25th Percentile

$120K

Median

$155K

75th Percentile

$185K

IQR (Spread)

$65K

Advertised Salary by Seniority

Advertised Salary by Role


Skills Demand

42% of roles with skills data

Low
High

Skills insight: Among 42% of tracked roles with skills data (249 roles), stakeholder management (25%) and JIRA (21%) are the most requested capabilities, followed by project management (19%), Agile (18%), and risk management (18%). The top skill pairs, Agile + JIRA (10%) and Risk management + Stakeholder management (10%), suggest employers value candidates who combine process methodology with tooling proficiency. Emerging skills include AI (6%) and SQL (7%), which may indicate a growing expectation that delivery professionals can engage with data-driven decision-making and AI-assisted workflows.


Market Metrics

Market Structure

1.74

Jobs per employer

Average open roles per hiring company

Among tracked employers

9%

Top 5 concentration

Combined share of tracked postings by top 5 employers

Among tracked employers

22%

Top 15 concentration

Combined share of tracked postings by top 15 employers

Among tracked employers

Accessibility

14:1

Senior-to-Junior ratio

Senior+ roles for every junior role

Very competitive entry

22%

Entry accessibility

Roles open to candidates with <3 years experience

Competitive entry market

17%

Management opportunity

Roles on the people management track

Balanced tracks

Flexibility

40%

Remote availability

Roles offering fully remote work

High flexibility


Methodology

This report analyzes direct employer job postings for Project & Delivery roles in San Francisco during January 2026.

Data collection:

  • 1.Over 500 roles from 340+ employers aggregated from multiple sources
  • 2.Recruitment agency postings identified and excluded (7% of raw data)
  • 3.Jobs deduplicated across sources to avoid double-counting

Classification:

  • 1.Roles classified using an LLM-powered taxonomy
  • 2.Subfamily, seniority, skills, and working arrangement extracted
  • 3.Employer metadata enriched from company databases where available

Limitations:

  • 1.Not a complete census of the market - some roles may not be captured
  • 2.Skills analysis based on 249 roles with skill data (42% coverage)
  • 3.Salary data available due to pay transparency law
  • 4.Working arrangement based on 126 ATS-sourced roles (Adzuna excluded due to truncated descriptions)

Data coverage:

68%

Seniority coverage

Roles with seniority level classified

97%

Arrangement coverage

Roles with working arrangement known

42%

Skills coverage

Roles with skills extracted from description

62%

Employer metadata

Roles with enriched company data

About

This report was created by Rich Jacobs, Data product manager focused on hiring market intelligence. Want the data? rich@richjacobs.me