17 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You start by checking the day's schedule in FPA Software MACCS or Outlook for services, staff shifts, and vendor arrivals. Mornings often include coordinating deliveries, confirming crematorium bookings, and reviewing the service logistics (vehicles, embalming rooms, chapel setup).
Afternoons focus on family meetings, signing legal paperwork like death certificates and permits, and resolving any customer or post-service issues. Evenings may include reviewing budgets and reports in Excel and PowerPoint, planning next-day services, or handling last-minute transfers.
Expect daily use of FPA Software MACCS for case management, iCIMS Talent Cloud for hiring, and Microsoft Outlook for scheduling and emails. You’ll also use Word for documents, Excel for budgets and financial reporting, and PowerPoint for staff meetings or vendor reviews.
If your cemetery or funeral home offers digital tributes, you’ll use funeralOne Life Tributes. Vendor and consultant contacts may be tracked with CSR Consultants Cemetery Management SC.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for 2025, there were about 13,910 employed in this SOC and the median pay was $78,790 per year. The lowest tenth earned $49,700 and the top tenth earned $156,400. These numbers come from the BLS and reflect the job title broadly, not a specific employer.
Your actual pay depends on location, responsibilities (crematorium oversight, cemetery management), and whether you manage multiple locations or have profit-sharing.
Start with local mortuary or funeral services courses and seek on-the-job training under an experienced manager. Learn the paperwork: death certificates, permits, and regulatory compliance specific to your state. Get comfortable with MACCS or similar case-management software and basic Excel for budgets.
Volunteer or work part-time at a funeral home to learn family counseling, embalming basics, and how crematorium operations run. Many employers also expect hiring experience, so learn iCIMS or similar applicant tracking systems.
A funeral director focuses on arranging services, meeting families, and often embalming or supervising care of the body. A location manager runs the funeral home as a business: staffing, budgets, vendor contracts, and policy development.
Managers use Financial reporting, Excel, and vendor-evaluation processes to monitor revenue (including crematorium income) and may interview/hire staff with iCIMS, while directors spend more time with families and service details.
AI can draft routine documents (price lists, staff memos, basic emails) and summarize market research or vendor performance data from Excel. Always check AI outputs against legal requirements and your state’s regulations—death certificates, permits, and legal correspondence must be accurate and signed by authorized staff.
Never use AI to generate emotional support or counseling for grieving families. Use it only as a time-saver for admin tasks and always verify financial numbers, legal text, and crematorium procedure steps before acting.
Clear, calm communication under pressure. You’ll explain goals, policies, or procedures to staff, negotiate with vendors, handle complaints, and guide grieving families. That requires precise language and emotional steadiness.
Combine that with basic financial sense (monitoring the crematorium service revenue budget in Excel) and competence with case-management systems like MACCS and hiring tools like iCIMS.