Show your skills in a demanding environment with IPMA Level B certification

Achieving IPMA B level certification is a prestigious international recognition that confirms your status as an experienced project, programme and portfolio manager. You are a professional whose skills and expertise are recognised by your peers and clients alike. You’ve earned your place as a senior project, program, portfolio or Senior Agile leader – and with this certification, you’ll be recognized domestically and internationally.

The certification was a true 360-degree review of my project expertise. It gave me concrete ideas for improvement, but also reassurance that many things are already good.
Johannes Siiki, Metso Finland Oy ,
IPMA Level B – Certified Senior Portfolio Manager

Who can take the certificate

The certificate requires that

have worked as a project manager in a demanding environment within their organisation.
be able to demonstrate the ability to lead demanding projects
have at least five years’ experience as a project manager in the last eight years. Of these five years, at least three years must have been in a responsible general management role in demanding projects. For duly justified reasons, this period may be extended by four years to twelve years.

A responsible general management role is defined as a role in which the applicant has acted as a supervisor of people in the context of project activities. This should be reflected, for example, in the project organisation chart, where the person has people under his/her authority. The mere management of affairs does not meet the requirement.

The applicant shall provide in the application for certification a list of projects in which he/she demonstrates that he/she meets the temporal eligibility requirements. A reference project that best illustrates the applicant’s competence shall be included in the application. The project must have been completed by the highestntaan kaksi vuotta ennen hakemuksen jättöpäivää. During the certification process, documentation of the reference project must be available for presentation to the assessors. Read more about the project’s eligibility criteria.

The certificate requires that

the applicant has worked as a programme manager in a demanding environment in his/her organisation.
be able to demonstrate their ability to manage demanding programmes
have at least five years’ experience as a programme manager in the last eight years. Of these five years, at least three years must have been in a responsible general management role in demanding programmes. For duly justified reasons, this period may be extended by four years to twelve years.

The applicant shall provide in the application for certification a description of the programmes by which he/she demonstrates that he/she meets the time eligibility requirements. The application shall be accompanied by a reference program that best describes the applicant’s competencies. The programme must have been completed no more than two years before the date of application. During the certification process, reference documentation must be available for presentation to assessors. Read more about the project’s eligibility criteria.

The certificate requires that

the applicant has worked as a portfolio manager in a demanding environment in his/her organisation.
be able to demonstrate the ability to manage demanding portfolios.
have at least five years’ experience as a portfolio manager in the last eight years. Of these five years, at least three years must have been in a responsible general management role in demanding portfolios. For duly justified reasons, this period may be extended by four years to twelve years.

A responsible general management role means a role in which the applicant has acted as a supervisor of people in the context of project activities. This should be reflected, for example, in the project organisation chart, where the person has people under his/her authority. The mere management of affairs does not meet the requirement.

The applicant shall provide in the application for certification a description of the portfolios that he/she will use to demonstrate that he/she meets the temporal eligibility requirements. The application shall be accompanied by a reference portfolio that best describes the applicant’s competencies. The reference must be a completed no more than two years before the date of application. During the certification process, reference documentation must be available for presentation to assessors. Read more about the project’s eligibility criteria.

The certificate requires that

The candidate has played the role of agile leader in complex agile tasks within their organisation.
The candidate is able to lead demanding agile tasks.
Have at least five years of experience as an agile leader in the last eight years. Of these five years, the applicant has at least three years of experience in a responsible agile leadership role, leading demanding agile tasks. For duly justified reasons, the period of evidence may be extended by four years to cover the last twelve years.

A responsible agile leadership role is defined as a role in which the candidate has held a leadership position within an agile framework. This must be demonstrated, for example, in an agile organisation, by the manager having subordinates to manage. Mere case management does not meet the criterion.

Certification process at level B

Order the application package – You will receive the application forms and clear instructions by email. Ordering the application package is free of charge and does not commit you to anything.
Check out the materials – Read the “Individual Competence Baseline” and the Ethical Guidelines. For those pursuing the Agile Management Certificate, we also recommend that you read the IPMA® Reference Guide ICB4 in an Agile World.
Fill in the forms and prepare a free-form CV – Register for the certification scheme and save your application with attachments.
Write a report – Once your application has been accepted, you will receive a confirmation and can download the report template from the certification system. Save the report as instructed in the certification system.
Oral examination and interview – Once your written report has been approved, you will be invited to an oral examination and personal interview. At the interview, you will be asked to show original documents related to the management of your reference assignment. Each step of the process can be repeated once.
Final assessment – After the interview, a final assessment will be conducted and, upon approval, you will be awarded the IPMA® Level B certification and can use the professional title “Certified Senior Project/Programme/Portfolio Manager” or “Certified Senior Agile Leader”.

Validity and renewal of the certificate

The certificate is valid for 5 years. The renewal application must be submitted no earlier than six (6) months before the expiry date of the certificate and no later than six (6) months after the expiry date of the certificate. For renewal, the applicant shall provide evidence that he/she has worked for 30 months during the past five (5) years in a position meeting the requirements of the profession and level.  In addition, they must provide evidence of continuous competence development – a minimum of 35 hours per year, or 175 hours over a five-year period. Develop your skills through webinars, courses, conferences, lectures, writing professional articles, self-study and reading professional literature.

You can check the validity of your certificate on the IPMA website. Please note that the validity of the certificate is given in the format MM/DD/YYYY.

Click here to check the validity of your certificate.

You can change your profession when you renew your certificate. The professional area refers to the professional areas defined in the ICB: Project, Program, Portfolio and Agile Leader. A change can only be made to another certificate at the same level. When changing the professional area, the applicant must demonstrate in the renewal application that he/she has at least 30 months of experience in the new professional area at the level of the current certificate within the last 5 years.

The certificate is renewed electronically. The application is accompanied by a free-form CV and the required attachment, which are returned to the certification system. Instructions for the renewal application and the required attachment can be found in the links below.