What this occupation does
Computer and information systems managers, often called IT managers or IT directors, plan, coordinate, and direct computer-related activities in an organisation. They set technology goals, oversee hardware, software, and security needs, manage teams of analysts, developers, and support staff, and align computing resources with business strategy and disaster-recovery requirements.
The exposure score in context
The ILO 2025 refined Generative AI Occupational Exposure Index places computer and information systems managers in the moderate exposure gradient. ILO 2025 places information-systems managers in the moderate exposure gradient. Routine status reporting, documentation, and first-pass analysis are highly exposed to current generative AI; team leadership, vendor negotiation, budget ownership, and technology-direction decisions under uncertainty are augmentation-prone rather than displaceable at task level.
The mapping uses ISCO-08 code 1330 (BLS-published SOC-to-ISCO crosswalk). The full methodology, including the dominant-match rule for one-to-many crosswalks, is at /methodology/#algorithm.
The top five tasks, classified
The top five O*NET 30.2 tasks for this occupation, each tagged Displaceable / Changing / Growing per the Brookings 2024 task-level rubric. The tag definitions are at /glossary/#displaceable-task, /glossary/#changing-task, and /glossary/#growing-task.
- Growing: Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in fields such as electronic data processing, information systems, systems analysis, and computer programming. Setting technology direction and coordinating cross-functional delivery is the least substitutable managerial task and grows as AI absorbs more execution work.
- Changing: Consult with users, management, vendors, and technicians to assess computing needs and system requirements. AI assists with requirements drafting and vendor comparison; judgement on trade-offs and stakeholder alignment remains human-led.
- Changing: Manage backup, security, and user-help systems, and assign and review the work of systems analysts, programmers, and other computer-related workers. Monitoring and ticket triage are increasingly automated; accountability for security posture and personnel decisions stays with the manager.
- Displaceable: Prepare and review operational reports, project status updates, and budgets. Routine report generation and budget drafting are technically and contextually feasible for current generative AI.
- Growing: Develop computer information resources, providing for data security and control, strategic computing, and disaster recovery. Strategic planning and risk ownership are augmentation-prone per Brookings 2024 and grow in importance as systems complexity rises.
What is growing in this role
The BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034 outlook for computer and information systems managers is much faster than average (+15% projected change, no published absolute figure). Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034.
Per the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top three growing skills relevant to this role are: AI and big data, Leadership and social influence, Technological literacy. The skills are mapped to the occupation's O*NET skills profile.
Brookings 2024 finds management and coordination tasks among the least exposed to substitution; routine reporting and monitoring are exposed, while team leadership, budget ownership, and technology-strategy decisions are augmentation-prone.
IT manager outlook: BLS 2024-2034
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of computer and information systems managers to grow 15 percent from 2024 to 2034, much faster than the average for all occupations. That is one of the faster growth rates among management occupations, and BLS attributes it to organisations relying more heavily on IT services and needing managers to plan and oversee increasingly complex hardware, software, and security needs.
The occupation held about 667,100 jobs in 2024, with roughly 55,600 openings projected each year on average over the decade, most arising from the need to replace workers who transfer to other roles or leave the labour force. The median annual wage was $171,200 in May 2024, among the highest of any computer or management occupation.
AI is a driver of this growth rather than a threat to it: as generative AI is embedded across an organisation's systems, the planning, security, budgeting, and vendor-management work of IT managers expands. The tasks most exposed to automation are routine status reporting and first-pass analysis, not the leadership and technology-direction work that defines the role.
Sources: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Computer and Information Systems Managers (2024-2034).
Similar occupations
O*NET 30.2 lists the following related roles. Each links to its own deep dive where one is published.
- Software Developers
- Computer and Information Research Scientists
- Data Scientists
- Project Management Specialists
- Marketing Managers
Industry context
This role sits primarily in the Technology industry. The industry-level rollup includes the cross-occupation exposure profile and the BLS-published industry-level outlook.
How this assessment was made
The full methodology is at /methodology/: ILO 2025 refined index for the gradient, Brookings 2024 rubric for the task tags, BLS 2024-2034 for the growth outlook, WEF 2025 for the skills demand. The pre-empted critiques are at /how-to-argue-with-this/.