There are well-documented competency standards for instructional/training designers and for project managers. However, there is little research about what skills and abilities employers expect from those seeking to become instructional/training design project managers, particularly within specific industry sectors. Focusing on the US professional services sector, the sector in which firms have a global impact and in which human capital is the largest asset, this article addresses the "must have" skills/competencies, characteristics and organizational conditions associated with career advancement from instructional designer to instructional design project manager by means of an expert study that is grounded in an in-depth literature review. In addition to enhancing knowledge of instructional designers" competency development for career advancement in the professional services sector, this study also offers some concrete recommendations and implications for research and practice. (Contains 8 tables.)