Hire a CTE director as a program leader who will run a portfolio of career pathways, not as another classroom teacher. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 reports 328,330 Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary (SOC 11-9032) nationwide, with a median annual wage of $105,870. BLS counts a CTE director within that occupation. Use those figures to set a range, then screen with a pathway program-review work sample.
| Fact | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| National employment | 328,330 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 (SOC 11-9032) |
| Annual median wage | $105,870 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Annual mean wage | $116,100 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Annual 10th–90th percentile | $76,280–$167,770 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
How to hire a CTE director: the short answer
Write the role before you post it: which programs of study, which campuses or career center, which labs and shops, and which extra duties (work-based learning, student organizations, dual credit with a college partner). Set pay from the BLS range for SOC 11-9032. Test how the candidate would review a pathway, staff a shop with industry experts, and work with an advisory committee. Call references about leadership results, budget stewardship, and relationships with staff and partners.
What a CTE director does
According to O*NET OnLine (accessed September 24, 2026) for 11-9032.00, these administrators plan, direct, or coordinate academic, administrative, or auxiliary activities of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools. In a CTE office, that work is the district’s or career center’s career pathways.
Core duties drawn from O*NET, applied to this setting, include determining the scope of program offerings and preparing course schedules and descriptions to estimate staffing and facility needs; recruiting, hiring, training, and evaluating teachers and staff; observing teaching methods and examining learning materials; evaluating curricula, teaching methods, and programs; planning professional development; creating improvement plans using student performance data; determining allocations of funds for staff, supplies, materials, and equipment and authorizing purchases; preparing budget requests or grant proposals; developing partnerships with businesses, communities, and other organizations for school-to-work programs; and organizing committees of specialists, volunteers, and staff for technical and advisory help.
Skills, knowledge and tools to look for
O*NET lists management of personnel resources, management of financial resources, judgment and decision making, and coordination among the transferable skills for this occupation. Knowledge areas that show up on the same profile include education and training, and administration and management. For a CTE director, that combination looks like staffing a welding or health-science pathway with an industry hire, defending an equipment line in a budget draft, and keeping an advisory committee and a college partner moving in the same direction.
O*NET technology includes student information systems, spreadsheets, Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Outlook, Google Classroom, and Schoology. Ask candidates to show how they use student data and spreadsheets for program and budget decisions; do not screen for a particular local login.
| Must-have at hire | Reasonable to train after hire |
|---|---|
| Personnel leadership: hiring, coaching, and evaluating CTE teachers and support staff | Your SIS screens, local report templates, and board packet format |
| Financial judgment: allocating funds for staff, supplies, materials, and equipment | This year’s chart of accounts and purchasing workflow |
| Program evaluation: using student performance data to judge a pathway | Names, square footage, and inventory of each lab or shop |
| External coordination: employers, college partners, and advisory committees | The calendar of this year’s advisory meetings and existing MOUs |
O*NET places the occupation in Job Zone Five (extensive preparation). Respondents said a master’s degree is required (62%), a bachelor’s degree (27%), or a post-master’s certificate (10%), and many of these jobs need more than five years of related experience. Screen for pathway leadership and industry hiring, not for a matching software list.
Setting the pay range
Use the BLS figures for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary as a market reference, not as an exact rate for the CTE specialty. Use the published annual wages for this occupation. The spread below is pay across the occupation, not a ladder of job titles.
| Percentile (U.S.) | Annual wage |
|---|---|
| 10th | $76,280 |
| 25th | $86,040 |
| Median | $105,870 |
| 75th | $134,630 |
| 90th | $167,770 |
Place the offer by the candidate’s experience and by scope: program breadth, sites, evening or adult sections, and whether the director also owns work-based learning. Look up your state on the BLS occupation page. A location quotient above 1 means the occupation is more concentrated in that area’s employment than nationally.
| Rank | State | Employment | Annual median | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | 6,470 | $166,590 | 0.86 |
| 2 | California | 31,370 | $159,950 | 0.82 |
| 3 | Connecticut | 4,610 | $156,240 | 1.29 |
| 4 | New York | 19,210 | $138,830 | 0.94 |
| 5 | District of Columbia | 1,930 | $137,470 | 1.3 |
Elsewhere on the same BLS table, Texas shows employment 37,140, annual median $93,910, and location quotient 1.25; Florida shows employment 16,960, annual median $96,490, and location quotient 0.81.
Writing the posting and finding candidates
Use a title the field recognizes—CTE director, director of career and technical education, or director of career pathways—and duties that match the program and schedule. Start from a CTE director job description template and replace placeholders with your programs of study, sites, and extra duties. State the setting (district office, regional career center, or county office), the calendar (school-year or year-round), and any extra duties: adult evening sections, student organization travel, or dual-credit coordination.
Say plainly if the director hires instructors from industry, owns equipment replacement, staffs advisory committees, and reports pathway results to the board. Candidates who have led a single shop will see the difference from a multi-pathway portfolio. If the opening sits closer to a college division than a K–12 office, compare the duties with how to hire an associate dean of career and technical education before you freeze the title.
Post the opening on ACTE Job Bank and share it with relevant industry and college partners.
Screening and interviewing
Resume screens should confirm pathway or career-center leadership, staff hiring, budget or equipment decisions, and employer or college partnerships. Then run one work sample before the panel so you are not hiring on interview polish alone.
| Work sample | What you give | What you score |
|---|---|---|
| Pathway program review (written or live) | A short description of one program of study plus anonymized enrollment and completion patterns; no student names | Whether the candidate lists what they would look into before they propose a change |
| Staffing note | A brief sketch of who currently teaches the pathway (industry hire, continuing teacher, or open section)—roles only | How they would hire or support the instructor and keep the lab or shop usable |
| Partner note | That an advisory committee and a college or employer partner exist | Whether they would use those partners on curriculum, work-based learning, or equipment advice |
Interview the same themes for every finalist: program leadership and evaluation; staffing pathways with industry experts; budget, equipment, and facilities; employer and college partnerships. A ready set of CTE director interview questions keeps the panel on those topics. If work-based learning is a large share of the job, add a question that matches how you would hire a work-based learning coordinator so the director and that coordinator will not be working at cross purposes.
Ask every candidate the same job-related questions. Under the laws enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (accessed September 24, 2026), it is illegal to discriminate because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. Do not ask about age, family or pregnancy, religion, national origin, disability, genetic information, or other protected characteristics. This guide is general information as of September 24, 2026, not legal advice.
References, verification and the offer
Call references with a short, job-related list: leadership results on programs of study, stewardship of budget and equipment, and relationships with teachers, employers, and college partners. Ask what the person actually owned—pathway review, hiring, a shop renovation, an advisory committee—not whether they were “easy to work with.”
Verify any degree, license, or credential the candidate lists with the body that issued it, and follow your district’s or college’s own clearance process, before the start date. Put duties, schedule, site, and pay in writing, including extra duties you named in the posting. Early in the role, walk the labs and shops together, introduce advisory chairs and industry partners, and hand over the current pathway data files so the new director is judging programs, not hunting for logins.
More hiring guides
FAQ
What does a CTE director do?
A CTE director plans, evaluates, and improves career pathway programs; hires and supports CTE teachers and staff; manages program budgets, equipment, and facilities; and builds partnerships with employers, colleges, and advisory committees. O*NET lists those administrator tasks under SOC 11-9032.00.
How much should I pay a CTE director?
BLS OEWS, May 2025, reports a national median of $105,870 for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary, with the 10th percentile at $76,280 and the 90th at $167,770. BLS counts a CTE director within that occupation; use your state median and the scope of the portfolio to place the offer.
What experience should I look for?
O*NET places the occupation in Job Zone Five, and 62% of respondents said a master’s degree is required. Many of these jobs need more than five years of related experience. Look for pathway leadership, hiring instructors from industry, budget and equipment decisions, and employer or college partnerships.
How do I test a CTE director candidate before hiring?
Give a short program-review work sample: one pathway with anonymized enrollment and completion patterns. Ask the candidate to outline what they would look into and what they would propose, and score every candidate the same way.
What should I ask a CTE director in an interview?
Ask the same job-related questions of every candidate on program evaluation, staffing pathways with industry experts, budget and facilities, and employer and college partnerships. Do not ask about age, family or pregnancy, religion, national origin, disability, genetic information, or other characteristics protected under EEOC rules.
