San Francisco Project & Delivery: Stakeholder Management, JIRA, Project Management Lead 591 Roles -- January 2026

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San Francisco's Project and Delivery market in January 2026 tracked 591 roles across 340 employers, with a 14:1 senior-to-junior ratio making entry highly competitive. Mobility-sector employers led hiring among tracked companies, and the overall median salary sat at $154,500.

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.

Key Takeaways for 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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)

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

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