Since 2016, Russia has been implementing labor market reform. Quite strict and reasonable requirements are formulated for employees in all areas of economic activity. Changes in labor legislation are based on the unity of requirements for specialists, based on the introduction of professional standards. In the sphere of state functions and services, there are strict regulations, but there are no requirements for the level of professional training and qualification of those who implement them. A way out of this situation may be the transfer of Federal regulations regarding the application of professional standards in relation to public executives. The article substantiates the need to develop and apply requirements for the level of professionalism and performance of public executives, enshrined in the relevant standard. Such a complex process as the development of a professional standard can be considered through various methodological bases that could be used as the grounds for their development: functional, project and competence approaches. The authors tend to prefer the use of a competence-based approach, which is the foundation for the development of other professional standards in the Russian Federation. As a result of the study, the authors concluded that the development of a professional standard for public executives is an important step that increases the effectiveness of not only training programs for professionals, but also the labor potential of public executives.