The Differences Between Being a Consultant Project Manager and an Employee Project Manager

Two years ago, when I first transitioned into consulting, I kept wondering how my role as a Project Manager would differ from being a full-time employee. At the time, I was unsure and a bit lost. After eight years of project management experience as an employee, I questioned whether those skills would still apply. Would internal team members respect me the same way? Would my client terminate the contract at any moment? Would I need to provide updates more frequently? How should I manage relationships with team members who don’t “belong” to me?

All these questions made my first day as a consultant feel tense and unfamiliar. But after some time, a few mistakes, and help from others, I gradually adapted to my new identity. Eventually, I successfully delivered multiple projects.

Based on these experiences, here are some of the key differences I’ve observed between being a consultant Project Manager and an employee Project Manager.

1. Your “Client” Is Different

This is the single biggest difference.

As an employee Project Manager, your client is simply the external customer your organization serves. You focus on delivering the project to meet their expectations, and you usually enjoy internal support from your organization. Everyone’s goal aligns toward satisfying the external customer.

For a consultant Project Manager, the situation is different.Your first client is the organization that hires you — the one that signs your contract. You serve their project, and you report to them.

Before you even earn the satisfaction of the project’s external customer, you first need to win the trust and support of the company that hired you. They must believe that you can manage the project effectively and help them deliver satisfaction to their customer. This additional layer directly affects how you think, act, and make decisions.

Your mindset shifts from simply “How do I deliver this project?” to“How do I earn trust, secure support, and deliver this project together with the people who hired me?”

2. Your Stakeholder Engagement Model Changes

Because you serve your hiring company first, your stakeholder network becomes more complex.

As an employee PM, you can request resources from your organization during the initial project phase. Internal alignment is generally easier.

As a consultant, however, you are far more dependent on your client’s influence within their organization. Whether they can support you, secure resources, or open doors directly affects your project.

Until you gain full trust and support, you must rely heavily on your own communication and relationship-building skills to persuade others, encourage cooperation, and move the project forward. This is significantly more challenging than in an employee environment.

In fact, I found that the amount of internal communication required as a consultant was much higher than when I was an employee.

3. You Need a Stronger Sense of Personal Ownership

Employee Project Managers are guided by the organization’s KPIs — revenue, customer satisfaction, delivery timelines, etc. In large organizations, you are continuously pushed to maintain a strong sense of direction and accountability.

As a consultant PM, those organizational pressures are weaker.Your goals are transmitted through your hiring client, but not always clearly. Without a strong internal sense of purpose, it’s easy to feel confused about what you should prioritize.

That’s why I believe consultant PMs must have a much stronger personal goal-setting mindset.This is also why I often say:

A consultant is closer to being a business owner than an employee.

4. Consultant PMs Require Stronger and Longer-Lasting Relationships

As a consultant, you must build stable and lasting relationships with:

• your hiring client

• your client’s customer

• partners

• subcontractors

• other stakeholders

This is especially important for long-term projects, because your identity is often tightly linked to the project itself. Your relationships strongly influence how others perceive the project.

For employee PMs, internal organizational dynamics play a larger role.For consultant PMs, personal relationship capital matters much more.

5. Consultant Project Managers Think About More Things

These are only part of the differences I’ve observed so far. I will add more in future reflections.

Overall, consultant PMs tend to think across longer time horizons and consider more angles(otherwise i will not write this article)— sometimes to the point of appearing indecisive. Balancing this deeper level of thinking with timely decision-making is one of the most important skills to develop.