Objective To understand the current status of the job competency of full-time healthcare-associated infection (HAI) management professionals in all levels and types of medical institutions across China, and provide information and basis for professional training, competency improvement, and career planning. Methods The stratified sampling method was adopted to select HAI management professionals from medical institutions in 31 provincial-level administrative regions across the country as the research subjects. The designed content of questionnaire involved four parts, including the surveyed personnel’s basic information, daily job competency assessment, satisfaction level towards the job, as well as opinions and suggestions on the management of full-time HAI management professionals. The assessment on daily job competency was divided into 13 dimensions, ranging from very incompetent to very competent in 5 levels. The scores of HAI management professionals with different professional backgrounds were compared and analyzed. Results A total of 8 709 valid questionnaires were collected, with 3 475 and 3 697 surveyed personnel from tertiary and secondary medical institutions, respectively, and 1 537 from primary or unclassified medical institutions. The overall average score for the competency assessment of full-time HAI management professionals was (4.17±0.80) points. The scores of professionals with different professional backgrounds, from high to low, were as follows: nursing (［4.12±0.81］ points), clinical medicine (［4.07±0.86］ points), preventive medicine (［3.93±0.92］ points), laboratory medicine (［3.88±0.93］ points), pharmacy (［3.86±0.94］ points), and health management (［3.85±0.95］ points). For the core competency of HAI management professio-nals, such as monitoring and analyzing HAI cases, identifying and investigating HAI outbreaks, the assessment scores for professionals with medical backgrounds were the highest (both P<0.05). For the basic work of HAI prevention and control, such as checking and guiding the implementation of rules and regulations, guiding occupational protection, management and communication, and implementing HAI management training, professionals with a nursing background had the highest assessment scores (all P<0.05). Full-time HAI management professionals were relatively satisfied with their training, while those with a background in preventive medicine had lower satisfaction with their training, career development, and job benefits (all P<0.05). Conclusion There are significant differences in the competency of HAI management professionals with different professional backgrounds. It is nece-ssary to optimize division of labor and leverage the strengths, providing ideas and models for promoting the construction of a specialized and professional HAI management team.