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OPINION
AEC firms face a middle management gap, but technology can empower PMs, boost efficiency, and accelerate talent development. Power project managers with tech
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T he AEC industry has been quietly dealing with a structural challenge for more than a decade: A middle management gap. The roots of the issue go back to the Great Recession of 2008. Starting that year, there was an exodus of talent from the AEC industry, particularly among architects. Over only four years, the number of employees at engineering firms declined by more than 10 percent – a big drop. However, for architecture firms, the decline was an astounding 30 percent.
Matt Cooper
The impact is visible in the chart on page 10, where employment across architectural services and engineering services is indexed to 2003. Young professionals in the industry were hit particularly hard. Many left the industry and never returned. While many firms have healthy senior leadership at the top and plenty of talent from those early in their careers, there aren’t enough experienced project managers, project architects, project engineers, studio leaders, and other mid-level staff. (The chart shows that while employment in engineering recovered and surpassed 2008 levels,
employment in architecture has never fully recovered. It’s a deeper challenge for discussion in a different article.) This “hourglass” shaped tenure structure puts pressure on firms and their employees – there’s an insufficient bridge between vision and execution. For firms to be successful, they need to find ways of making sure their PMs are as efficient, productive, and supported (retention!) as possible. They need the right business technology – not to replace PMs, but to empower them. Here are three ways technology can help:
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THE ZWEIG LETTER AUGUST 18, 2025, ISSUE 1598
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