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.
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
Typical pay: $94,700 - $166,100 per year, with a median of $123,860.
The range covers the middle half of earners nationwide. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Medical and Health Services Managers.
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.