How To Become A Professional Development Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a professional development director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

As a professional development director, your main duty is to develop and oversee professional development programs within your organization. The primary goal is to improve the skills and abilities of employees, all while helping them progress further in their careers.

Other responsibilities that come with this role include establishing training goals, monitoring employee performance, creating reward or incentive programs, improving company policies and regulations, and serving as a liaison for third-party agencies. Sometimes, you may also conduct coaching sessions and help address very critical employee issues as needed.

A professional development director must have at least a bachelor's degree, preferrably a master's, in business, human resource management, or another related field. Furthermore, one must have at least five or more years of relevant work experience, as well as a proven proficiency in leadership. The job of a professional development director pays well with an average salary of $86,000 per year.

ScoreProfessional Development DirectorUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $100,545

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.1

Growth Rate 7%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.50%

Asian 4.14%

Black or African American 11.34%

Hispanic or Latino 15.90%

Unknown 5.45%

White 62.66%

Gender

female 65.77%

male 34.23%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress Level

6.1

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.2

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.2

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a professional development director

Explore professional development director education requirements

Most common professional development director degrees

Bachelor's

64.0 %

Master's

23.6 %

Associate

4.9 %

Start to develop specific professional development director skills

Skills	Percentages
Professional Development	9.75%
Oversight	8.64%
Adult Learning	6.96%
K-12	6.91%
Curriculum Development	6.43%

Complete relevant professional development director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New professional development directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a professional development director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real professional development director resumes.

Research professional development director duties and responsibilities

Extend product revenue by delivering new products for managing configuration of Linux platforms.
Prepare powerpoint to production specifications covering research base on SLIFE learning challenges and key program components for effective instruction of SLIFE.
Supervise certified nursing assistants with bed placement for post-op patients and maintain paperwork require for house clinician.
Implement train-the-trainer programs using SMEs that save the company money by eliminating outside vendors.

Get professional development director experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a professional development director. The most common roles before becoming a professional development director include teacher, presenter team lead and internship.

Prepare your professional development director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your professional development director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a professional development director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Professional Development Director Resume templates

Build a professional Professional Development Director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Professional Development Director resume.

Apply for professional development director jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a professional development director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average professional development director salary

The average Professional Development Director salary in the United States is $100,545 per year or $48 per hour. Professional development director salaries range between $46,000 and $216,000 per year.

Average Professional Development Director Salary

$100,545 Yearly

$48.34 hourly

How do professional development directors rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

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Professional Development Director reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2020

Pros

Staying abreast of changes, helping others improve the quality of care.