GUIDE 2024

What is the Average Scrum Manager Salary?

Are you interested in learning what the average Scrum manager salary is? Keep reading to find out!

The Scrum manager’s average salary depends on numerous factors. In a nutshell, these factors include

  • The years of experience Scrum manager has
  • The company Scrum manager works for
  • The location of the company
  • The skills and qualifications of a Scrum master

The objective of the Scrum master is to become a facilitator for agile-driven software projects.

This article provides an overview of how much a Scrum master earns according to well-researched reports, the factors mentioned above that affect it, and what the future holds for the earning potential of a Scrum master.

So, first, let’s start with how much a Scrum manager earns.

 

What is the Earning Potential of a Scrum Master?

Glassdoor reported a yearly salary of $109,978 with an average Scrum master salary figure of $95,331 per year for US Scrum masters. The annual salary of $109,978 includes additional pay of $14,647 for incentives and benefits comprising tips, bonuses, commissions, and profit sharing.

Comparably, on the other hand, reports a Scrum master’s salary ranges from $75,000 to $105,000 per year.  

While the common Scrum master salary sits in the range mentioned above, there are also reports of remote Scrum master salaries. So, the stats below are vital for anyone seeking employment as remote Scrum masters, as remote working is the new norm among many companies.

The Builtin website reports an average base salary of $109,333 per anum based on the data gathered from anonymous Scrum master employees in remote settings. According to the report, they also received average additional cash compensation of $8,250, with an average total compensation adding up to $117,583.

As per the recent Scrum master salaries above, you know by now that scrum master is a rewarding career.

These salary figures look even more inspiring when you drill the Scrum master salaries based on the industry they work for, number of years of experience, company, and numerous other factors.

Let’s look into these factors.

 

What Factors Affect Scrum Master Salaries?

The factors mentioned here serve as a guideline. The salary of a Scrum master doesn’t depend only on these factors. However, they are the major reasons behind the differences in various salaries.

Experience

Experience is critical in determining a Scrum master’s average salary like any other career. According to another prominent salary website, ZipRecruiter, a junior Scrum master earns an annual pay of $79,188.  The same website reports that junior Scrum master salary ranges from a minimum amount of $64,500 to the highest amount of $94,500.

These figures indicate that there are various startup jobs for junior Scrum managers out there. So if you’re just starting your career as a junior Scrum manager, find startup jobs on ZipRecruiter, Glassdoor, and Indeed websites.

As you move higher up the career ladder, your potential earnings increase. For instance, a senior Scrum manager earns in the range of$64,00 to $145,000.

The salary also depends on the type of industry that the Scrum master works in. Let’s find out the average Scrum master salary in various Industries.

Industry

Since many industries have started using the agile framework, there are many opportunities for Scrum masters. Their salaries vary based on the size of the company and the industry, turnover, workload, and the organization’s market value.

So, let’s discover leading industries that employ Scrum masters.

  1. Tech Industry

It’s the tech or the computer industry in which the agile and Scrum concepts were born. So no doubt that based on research by GreyCampus, the IT industry hits the top of the list with an overwhelming 44.6%. Also, according to a survey conducted by Apple, a project manager earns a handsome salary of $137,282 per year. 

  1. Financial Industry

The world’s leading digital banking institutions, investment companies, and retirement planning institutions use financial apps that are accessible from the comfort of your home. Such financial institutions use agile practices to develop these apps because agile practices make it easier to rectify any shortcomings of these apps in the earlier phases.

According to the Comparably website, the average Scrum master salary for Bank of America in Atlanta is $117,146. This figure is $7,469 more than the average US salary for Bank of America. Also, as per the data of GreyCampus mentioned in the above paragraph, the finance sector hits the 2nd in the list with 11.9%.

  1. Insurance Industry

According to the Greycampus survey, the insurance industry covers 5.9% of all companies that use Scrum. Most insurance companies plan large-scale digital transformation initiatives, so they prefer agile methodology with Scrum. This is because a working product is visible to the stakeholders after the first iteration.

Liberty Mutual Insurance, a leading US insurance provider, pays its Scrum managers an attractive figure of $122,547 per anum.

Now you know the pay scale of Scrum managers in various industries. Let’s dive into how a Scrum manager’s salary depends on the company’s location in the US.

Geographical Location

Based on your geographical location, your Scrum master earnings vary. For instance, a scrum master in Chicago earns an average salary of $129,342, whereas a Scrum master in New York earns $136,566.

According to the Randstad website, Boston has the highest earnings for a Scrum manager, with a salary of $193,332.

ZipRecruiter reports the lowest salary of $83,642 from North Carolina.

 

Skills That Affect Scrum Master Salary

Three core behaviors in Scrum are Scrum master, product owner, and team members. Hence, most skills you need are soft skills, knowledge, and experience in the Agile frameworks. It also helps if you possess technical skills as your team consists of developers and tech-minded professionals.

So some of the mandatory agile skills that you need when moving up the career ladder for lucrative pay are:

  • Coaching abilities: A major role of a Scrum leader is to ensure that everyone is on the same page with an Agile mindset. Thus you need extraordinary coaching skills, particularly those who lack technical skills and hands-on experience in Agile methodology. Furthermore, you need to know each individual’s strengths and weaknesses to help them.
  • Servant leader: Rather than telling the team what to do Scrum master always shares the workload amongst the team members. In other words, servant leadership is all about working with the team and helping to reach goals rather than being concerned with the self. This kind of leadership produces happy and motivated team members with lower turnover rates over time.
  • Conflict facilitation: As a Scrum team has members with various opinions and ideas, it’s not surprising that conflicts occur among them. If it’s apparent that specific conflicts don’t seem to solve, Scrum master steps in and resolves them. So a Scrum master needs expert negotiation and facilitation skills to help.

Scrum Master Certification

Research has shown that earning a Scrum master certification has an earning potential of over $100,00. The same report shows that only 18% make over $100,000 without a Scrum master certification.

 

What is the Career Path for a Scrum Master?

Your career path doesn’t stop at the Scrum manager level. To reach higher salary figures, climbing the career ladder in Scrum management is important. Here is a brief overview of two of the most popular career options after Scrum managers.

Project Manager

People often confuse a project management role with a Scrum manager.

The Scrum manager ensures that the project team implements Scrum principles by facilitating clear communication through meetings, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives. In contrast, the project management role of an Agile project manager ensures that the entire team completes the project within time and budget by setting goals, managing risks, and defining budgets.

In these organizations, a Scrum master also performs the role of a project manager, possibly due to a lack of resources. In others, you have the option of career advancement as a project manager. In either case, it’s worth knowing the average project management salaries. Here are some figures according to the Glassdoor website:

  •  Project manager: $93,075 per anum
  •  Senior project manager: $124,028 per anum

Agile Coach

An agile coach role is an advanced version of Scrum master where they coach the agile teams on various challenges that an entire organization confronts. They also ensure that the company achieves maximum ROI through enterprise coaching. On the other hand, the Scrum master drives agile teams and collaborates with team members to deliver a quality product.

Due to the greater work that agile coaches undertake, their pay scales are higher, with a staggering figure of $175,000, according to Comparably reports.

 

Conclusion

You know by now that Scrum master salary depends on various factors discussed in this article. So first, your objective is to improve the skills mentioned above and build an outstanding portfolio.

Even if you’re an experienced Scrum master, the learning curve never ends, and you have to keep enhancing your skills and experience to stay ahead in your career.

Josh Fechter
Josh Fechter
Josh Fechter is the co-founder of Product HQ, founder of Technical Writer HQ, and founder and head of product of Squibler. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.