Skills it runs on
The capabilities O*NET rates most important for this occupation — the human ground the work is built on.
See all skills →Emergency Management Directors
Occupation · SOC 11-9161.00
Plan and direct disaster response or crisis management activities, provide disaster preparedness training, and prepare emergency plans and procedures for natural (e.g., hurricanes, floods, earthquakes), wartime, or technological (e.g., nuclear power plant emergencies or hazardous materials spills) disasters or hostage situations.
Also called: Emergency Management Director · Emergency Management System Director (EMS Director) · Emergency Planner · Public Safety Director · 911 Communications Manager · Emergency Management Coordinator · Emergency Manager · Emergency Preparedness Manager · Emergency Services Director · Emergency Services Program Coordinator · Change Management Specialist · Civil Defense Director
Job family: Management Occupations
Take this to your AI
A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch
/roles/role-11-9161-00/context.md directly.
AI work map
A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.
Market signal
Independent published positions, read together — not a forecast.
- About average employment outlook (+3.0% by 2034)
- 1,000 openings/yr
- High AI exposure
- Median pay $86,130/yr
- Work is mostly on-site (not teleworkable)
- A reversal from 2013 — rated low automation risk then (0th), high AI task-overlap now (71st)
71st-percentile task overlap — yet about 1,000 openings a year (+3% projected, BLS) . What exposure means →
AI & job outlook
What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.
Exposure to current AI
Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.
| Measure | Rank vs all occupations | Percentile | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) High | 76th | 1.0 | |
| LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) High | 70th | 0.8 | |
| AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) High | 67th | 0.2 |
OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.0), with simple added tooling (β 0.4), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.8). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.
This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.
Historical automation estimate (2013)
A pre-LLM (2013) estimate of how automatable this job is by computerization and robotics. Shown for historical context only — it is not part of any current AI ranking.
Frey–Osborne probability 0.0 · 0th percentile among occupations · Low
How AI is actually used in this job
Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.
| Prepare plans that outline operating procedures to be used in response to disasters or emergencies, such as hurricanes, nuclear accidents, and terrorist attacks, and in recovery from these events. | 0.4% | |
| Develop instructional materials for the public and make presentations to citizens' groups to provide information on emergency plans and their implementation processes. | 0.2% |
Job outlook
Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.
| Outlook | About average · +3.0% by 2034 |
| Projected annual openings | 1,000 |
| Employment 2024 → 2034 | 13,200 → 13,600 |
“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.
Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient
The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.
Emergency Management Directors sits at the 72nd percentile of 427
occupations on the global GenAI task-exposure gradient
— exposure rose from 2023 to 2025. Each dot is one occupation; the
ringed one is this work. Exposure is task overlap, not automation or jobs lost.
38% mean task exposure (2025)
72nd percentile of 427 placed occupations
+5 pts shift 2023 → 2025
| International occupation (ISCO-08) | Task exposure (2025) | Most tasks fall in |
|---|---|---|
| Senior Government Officials · 1112 | 38% | Minimal |
Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.
Tasks
All 23 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.
- Consult with officials of local and area governments, schools, hospitals, and other institutions to determine their needs and capabilities in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency. Core · importance 4.6
- Develop and maintain liaisons with municipalities, county departments, and similar entities to facilitate plan development, response effort coordination, and exchanges of personnel and equipment. Core · importance 4.5
- Coordinate disaster response or crisis management activities, such as ordering evacuations, opening public shelters, and implementing special needs plans and programs. Core · importance 4.4
- Maintain and update all resource materials associated with emergency preparedness plans. Core · importance 4.4
- Prepare emergency situation status reports that describe response and recovery efforts, needs, and preliminary damage assessments. Core · importance 4.4
- Prepare plans that outline operating procedures to be used in response to disasters or emergencies, such as hurricanes, nuclear accidents, and terrorist attacks, and in recovery from these events. Core · importance 4.3
- Develop and perform tests and evaluations of emergency management plans in accordance with state and federal regulations. Core · importance 4.1
- Collaborate with other officials to prepare and analyze damage assessments following disasters or emergencies. Core · importance 4.1
- Design and administer emergency or disaster preparedness training courses that teach people how to effectively respond to major emergencies and disasters. Core · importance 4.1
- Inspect facilities and equipment, such as emergency management centers and communications equipment, to determine their operational and functional capabilities in emergency situations. Core · importance 4.0
- Keep informed of activities or changes that could affect the likelihood of an emergency, response efforts, or plan implementation. Core · importance 4.0
- Keep informed of federal, state, and local regulations affecting emergency plans, and ensure that plans adhere to those regulations. Core · importance 4.0
- Review emergency plans of individual organizations, such as medical facilities, to ensure their adequacy. Core · importance 4.0
- Conduct surveys to determine the types of emergency-related needs to be addressed in disaster planning, or provide technical support to others conducting such surveys. Core · importance 3.9
- Attend meetings, conferences, and workshops related to emergency management to learn new information and to develop working relationships with other emergency management specialists. Core · importance 3.9
- Propose alteration of emergency response procedures, based on regulatory changes, technological changes, or knowledge gained from outcomes of previous emergency situations. Core · importance 3.7
- Develop instructional materials for the public and make presentations to citizens' groups to provide information on emergency plans and their implementation processes. Core · importance 3.5
- Apply for federal funding for emergency-management-related needs, and administer and report on the progress of such grants. Core · importance 3.5
- Train local groups in the preparation of long-term plans that are compatible with federal and state plans. Core · importance 3.4
- Provide communities with assistance in applying for federal funding for emergency management facilities, radiological instrumentation, and related items. Core · importance 3.4
- Study emergency plans used elsewhere to gather information for plan development. Core · importance 3.1
- Develop and implement training procedures and strategies for radiological protection, detection, and decontamination. Core · importance 2.8
- Inventory and distribute nuclear, biological, and chemical detection and contamination equipment, providing instruction in its maintenance and use. Supplemental · importance 2.7
Work activities
- Maintain knowledge of current developments in area of expertise.
- Develop emergency response plans or procedures.
- Recommend organizational process or policy changes.
- Maintain operational records.
- Coordinate special events or programs.
- Establish interpersonal business relationships to facilitate work activities.
- Determine operational compliance with regulations or standards.
- Prepare reports related to compliance matters.
- Develop training materials.
- Inspect condition or functioning of facilities or equipment.
- Communicate with government agencies.
- Coordinate operational activities with external stakeholders.
- Evaluate program effectiveness.
- Confer with organizational members to accomplish work activities.
- Present information to the public.
- Teach safety standards or environmental compliance methods.
- Conduct opinion surveys or needs assessments.
- Prepare proposals or grant applications to obtain project funding.
- Prepare operational progress or status reports.
- Implement organizational process or policy changes.
- Develop safety standards, policies, or procedures.
- Communicate organizational policies and procedures.
- Manage inventories of products or organizational resources.
- Advise others on legal or regulatory compliance matters.
Knowledge, skills & abilities
O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).
Knowledge
Transferable skills
| Service Orientation | 4.3 | |
| Complex Problem Solving | 4.1 | |
| Social Perceptiveness | 4.0 | |
| Coordination | 4.0 | |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 4.0 | |
| Instructing | 3.8 | |
| Time Management | 3.8 | |
| Persuasion | 3.6 | |
| Systems Analysis | 3.6 | |
| Systems Evaluation | 3.5 |
Essential skills
| Speaking | 4.1 | |
| Reading Comprehension | 4.0 | |
| Active Listening | 4.0 | |
| Writing | 4.0 | |
| Critical Thinking | 4.0 | |
| Monitoring | 4.0 | |
| Learning Strategies | 3.9 | |
| Active Learning | 3.8 |
Abilities
| Oral Comprehension | 4.1 | |
| Oral Expression | 4.1 | |
| Deductive Reasoning | 4.1 | |
| Speech Clarity | 4.1 | |
| Written Comprehension | 4.0 | |
| Written Expression | 4.0 | |
| Problem Sensitivity | 4.0 | |
| Inductive Reasoning | 4.0 | |
| Fluency of Ideas | 3.9 | |
| Information Ordering | 3.9 | |
| Speech Recognition | 3.9 | |
| Originality | 3.8 | |
| Category Flexibility | 3.6 | |
| Near Vision | 3.6 |
Skills in demand
Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.
Showing the top 40 of 41.
Tools & technology
Work context
How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.
How to get in
- Job zone
- Zone 4 — Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
- Typical entry-level education
- Bachelor's degree · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
- Related experience
- A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
- Preparation level
- SVP (7.0 to < 8.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.
What to study: Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services , Medical Residency/Fellowship Programs . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.
Education of current workers
Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.
| Bachelor's Degree | 59.1% | |
| Master's Degree | 13.6% | |
| Some College Courses | 9.1% | |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 9.1% | |
| High School Diploma | 4.5% | |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 4.5% |
Interests & work styles
The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.
Work styles
| Achievement Orientation | 10.0 | |
| Social Orientation | 9.0 | |
| Self-Control | 8.0 | |
| Stress Tolerance | 7.0 | |
| Perseverance | 6.0 | |
| Adaptability | 5.0 | |
| Leadership Orientation | 4.0 |
Interest areas
| Management/Administration | 6.1 | |
| Public Speaking | 4.3 | |
| Protective Service | 3.2 | |
| Teaching/Education | 3.1 |
Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)
| Enterprising | 5.1 | |
| Conventional | 4.7 | |
| Investigative | 4.5 | |
| Social | 4.0 | |
| Realistic | 3.5 |
Wages & employment
U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)
| 10th percentile | $51,260 |
| 25th percentile | $64,470 |
| Median (50th) | $86,130 |
| 75th percentile | $119,690 |
| 90th percentile | $160,420 |
| People employed | 12,570 |
Industries that employ this occupation
Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.
| Industry | Workers | National median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector | 1,200 | $96,310 |
| Educational Services · Sector | 560 | $94,200 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 330 | $122,610 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector | 280 | $132,070 |
| Utilities · Sector | 260 | $156,290 |
| Manufacturing · Sector | 200 | $119,280 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | 180 | $103,380 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | 140 | $68,420 |
| Ambulance Services · National industry | 120 | $74,560 |
| Nuclear Electric Power Generation · National industry | 80 | $156,180 |
| Engineering Services · National industry | 60 | $85,610 |
| Transportation and Warehousing · Sector | 40 | $122,610 |
Where this work is most concentrated
Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).
| Industry | Concentration | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Ambulance Services · National industry | 8.96× | 120 |
| Utilities · Sector | 5.5× | 260 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector | 1.22× | 280 |
| Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector | 0.64× | 1,200 |
| Educational Services · Sector | 0.5× | 560 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) · Sector | 0.39× | 140 |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector | 0.38× | 330 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector | 0.24× | 180 |
Related occupations
Part of the Public Service & Safety career cluster.
- Business Continuity Planners · 13-1199.04 Compare →
- Security Managers · 11-3013.01 Compare →
- Security Management Specialists · 13-1199.07 Compare →
- Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors · 17-2111.00 Compare →
- Medical and Health Services Managers · 11-9111.00 Compare →
- Management Analysts · 13-1111.00 Compare →
- Compliance Managers · 11-9199.02 Compare →
- Forest Fire Inspectors and Prevention Specialists · 33-2022.00 Compare →
- Occupational Health and Safety Specialists · 19-5011.00 Compare →
- Information Security Engineers · 15-1299.05 Compare →
- Public Safety Telecommunicators · 43-5031.00 Compare →
- Emergency Medical Technicians · 29-2042.00 Compare →
Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.
What you can do with this
Options the data surfaces for Emergency Management Directors — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.
Skills that travel
Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.
Adjacent roles
Occupations O*NET rates as related — the nearby moves on the map.
Paths in
How people typically prepare for this work.
- Bachelor's degree · typical entry level
- Job zone 4 — Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed · preparation tier
- Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services · field of study
- Medical Residency/Fellowship Programs · field of study
Zoom out
On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 72nd percentile of 427 international occupations.
Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation
Emergency Management Directors show 71st-percentile AI task overlap — and about 1,000 annual U.S. openings
- Emergency Management Directors rank in the 71st percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
- The occupation is projected to see about 1,000 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- BLS projects employment to be about average (+3%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
- Median annual pay is $86,130, across about 12,570 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
Copy the whole kit
Emergency Management Directors show 71st-percentile AI task overlap — and about 1,000 annual U.S. openings • Emergency Management Directors rank in the 71st percentile (High band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE) • The occupation is projected to see about 1,000 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • BLS projects employment to be about average (+3%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34) • Median annual pay is $86,130, across about 12,570 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024)) Source: Singulariki — "Emergency Management Directors". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-9161-00 Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom
Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.
Sources for this page
Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.
- O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
- Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai Microsoft Research
- “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
- AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic
- ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025 International Labour Organization
- IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022 Institute for Structural Research (IBS)
- Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation academic
- Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome academic
Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.
Cite this page
Plain
Singulariki. "Emergency Management Directors." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-9161-00
APA
Singulariki. (2026). Emergency Management Directors. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-9161-00
BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-11-9161-00,
title = {Emergency Management Directors},
author = {{Singulariki}},
year = {2026},
note = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
url = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-9161-00}
} Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.