Radiology Manager Job Description

Salary Range

$94,700 - $166,100

Experience

Mid-career

Work Environment

Hospital imaging department

What Does a Radiology Manager Do?

When a CT scanner goes down in the middle of a busy afternoon, a radiology manager rebuilds the schedule and gets the service engineer on the phone. The hospital imaging department, which offers X-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound and rarely closes, is theirs to run: technologist schedules, the imaging budget, scanner purchases and the radiation safety records that inspectors review.

Other Job Titles for This Work

Workers in this occupation report titles such as Cancer Center Director, Clinical Director, Health Information Management Director (HIM Director), Health Information Manager (HIM Manager), Healthcare System Director, Medical Records Director, Medical Records Manager, Mental Health Program Manager.

Radiology Manager Duties and Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of a radiology manager include:

• Schedule technologists across X-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound so every shift and on-call slot is covered.
• Prepare the imaging budget and track spending on staffing, supplies and scanner service contracts.
• Plan the purchase and replacement of scanners with radiologists, biomedical engineers and hospital finance.
• Enforce radiation safety rules, from staff dosimeter badges to shielding surveys and state inspection records.
• Keep quality control logs and phantom test results ready for accreditation surveys and inspections.
• Watch turnaround times from order to signed report and fix the bottlenecks that slow them down.
• Hire, train and evaluate radiologic technologists, imaging aides and front-desk schedulers.
• Coordinate with IT on PACS and RIS outages so images and reports still reach physicians.
• Handle patient complaints about waits, repeat scans or billing, and follow up in writing.
• Review incident reports, such as contrast reactions or wrong-patient scans, and change procedures to prevent repeats.

Required Skills and Qualifications

To succeed as a radiology manager, you will need the following skills and qualifications:

• ARRT registration in radiography or another imaging modality
• Working knowledge of PACS and RIS software
• Radiation safety and ALARA dose principles
• Budgeting and capital planning for imaging equipment
• Staff scheduling for round-the-clock coverage
• Accreditation and inspection readiness
• Calm decision-making when a scanner fails mid-shift
• Clear communication with radiologists, nurses and patients

Education and Training

ARRT registration and several years as a radiologic technologist come before any management post, and a bachelor's degree is the BLS norm for health services managers. A small clinic may promote a technologist without a degree, but hospitals generally expect one. Larger departments look for a master's in health administration.

Salary and Job Outlook

BLS projects employment of medical and health services managers, the wider group that includes radiology managers, to grow about 24 percent from 2025 to 2035, with roughly 62,300 openings a year. Openings in imaging often are tied to hospital budgets, but radiology managers always will be needed as more patients are sent for scans and as the equipment grows more complex.

Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, Medical and health services managers.

Radiology Manager Pay Range

Highest-Paying States for Radiology Managers

The states with the highest median pay for this occupation are New York ($164,120), District of Columbia ($155,140), Hawaii ($147,630), New Jersey ($145,650), Washington ($145,290). Pay is lowest in Mississippi ($98,160), Alabama ($97,790), Arkansas ($94,340).

What the Work Is Like

O*NET surveys people who work as medical and health services managers about their daily conditions. Of those surveyed:

• 100% use email every day
• 100% say teamwork is very or extremely important in their job
• 96% work indoors in a climate-controlled space every day
• 93% are on the phone every day
• 89% say being exact and accurate is very or extremely important
• 79% spend more than half the workday sitting
• 50% usually work more than 40 hours a week

Education Workers Say the Job Needs

Tools and Software Radiology Managers Use

Tools and equipment

• Desktop computers
• Laptop computers
• Personal computers
• Scanners

Software

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Office software
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Adobe Acrobat
• Apache Hadoop
• Apache Maven
• Autodesk Revit
• Cisco Webex
• eClinicalWorks EHR software
• Epic Systems
• Facebook

Is This Job a Good Fit for You?

People who do well in this job tend to enjoy leading, persuading and making business decisions as well as organized work with data, records and clear procedures.

Skills O*NET rates most important: Speaking, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Writing, Monitoring.

Knowledge areas used most: Administration and Management, English Language, Customer and Personal Service, Personnel and Human Resources, Education and Training.

Preparation: O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 4 of 5, which means considerable preparation.

Related Careers

These jobs use similar skills, according to O*NET's related-occupation data:

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• Public Health Officer job description
• Clinic Manager job description
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• Health Educator job description
• Business Analyst job description

Applying for a Radiology Manager Job

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