---
title: "Supply Chain Manager"
description: "Direct or coordinate production, purchasing, warehousing, distribution, or financial forecasting services or activities to limit costs and improve…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/supply-chain-manager"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Supply Chain Manager

**Category:** Management · **SOC code:** 11-3071 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 11-3071.04

Direct or coordinate production, purchasing, warehousing, distribution, or financial forecasting services or activities to limit costs and improve accuracy, customer service, or safety. Examine existing procedures or opportunities for streamlining activities to meet product distribution needs. Direct the movement, storage, or processing of inventory.

Also advertised as: Global Supply Chain Director; Material Requirements Planning Manager; Solution Design and Analysis Manager; Supply Chain Director; Supply Chain Manager.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $107,230 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $51.55/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $65,120 to $194,900, with the middle half between $82,440 and $146,770
- **Total US employment:** 221,180
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +6.1% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 18,500 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 38/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 221,180 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $65,120 |
| 25th | $82,440 |
| 50th (median) | $107,230 |
| 75th | $146,770 |
| 90th | $194,900 |
| Mean (average) | $121,600 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DE | $145,000 | $145,279 | 310 |
| WA | $136,500 | $127,555 | 2,490 |
| CO | $132,610 | $128,683 | 2,310 |
| DC | $132,180 | $120,272 | 610 |
| NJ | $130,610 | $120,040 | 9,120 |
| NH | $129,470 | $124,293 | 530 |
| NY | $127,180 | $117,845 | 6,740 |
| MA | $123,830 | $117,089 | 4,310 |
| CA | $123,780 | $111,796 | 30,540 |
| GA | $123,330 | $128,078 | 6,700 |
| IL | $120,250 | $120,301 | 11,030 |
| VA | $119,140 | $117,839 | 3,380 |
| AL | $118,320 | $133,209 | 1,250 |
| MN | $118,180 | $119,832 | 4,030 |
| RI | $117,600 | $114,978 | 450 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/supply-chain-manager/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/supply-chain-manager.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 216,700 in the 2024–2034 base year to 229,800 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 13,100 jobs, or +6.1%. Faster than average: 6.1% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 18,500 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** 5 years or more.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 66.7% |
| Master's Degree | 19.1% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 9.5% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 4.8% |

## What the work involves

- Determine appropriate equipment and staffing levels to load, unload, move, or store materials.
- Define performance metrics for measurement, comparison, or evaluation of supply chain factors, such as product cost or quality.
- Implement new or improved supply chain processes to improve efficiency or performance.
- Develop procedures for coordination of supply chain management with other functional areas, such as sales, marketing, finance, production, or quality assurance.
- Monitor suppliers' activities to assess performance in meeting quality or delivery requirements.
- Design or implement supply chains that support business strategies adapted to changing market conditions, new business opportunities, or cost reduction strategies.
- Manage activities related to strategic or tactical purchasing, material requirements planning, controlling inventory, warehousing, or receiving.
- Negotiate prices and terms with suppliers, vendors, or freight forwarders.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Coordination — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Transportation — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Economics and Accounting — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Enterprising (E), Conventional (C), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| E — Enterprising | 6.24 |
| C — Conventional | 5.25 |
| R — Realistic | 3.39 |
| I — Investigative | 2.46 |
| S — Social | 2.04 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESTJ | 86.9 |
| ISTJ | 73.6 |
| ESFJ | 72.0 |
| ENTJ | 67.7 |
| ESTP | 66.6 |

Best-fitting types: ESTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Logistics Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/logistics-analyst) — median $82,320
- [Logistician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/logistician) — median $82,320
- [Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-storage-and-distribution-manager) — median $107,230
- [Logistics Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/logistics-engineer) — median $82,320
- [Purchasing Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/purchasing-manager) — median $148,080
- [Industrial Production Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-production-manager) — median $126,060
- [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) — median $102,440
- [Purchasing Agent, Except Wholesale, Retail, and Farm Products](https://nuecareer.com/careers/purchasing-agent) — median $77,710
- [General and Operations Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/general-and-operations-manager) — median $105,770
- [Project Management Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/project-management-specialist) — median $102,320

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/supply-chain-manager