The prime minister of Romania (Romanian: Prim-ministrul României), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania (Romanian: Prim-ministrul Guvernului României), is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers (Romanian: Președintele Consiliului de Miniștri), when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called the Council of Ministers (Romanian: Consiliul de Miniștri). The title was officially changed to Prime Minister by the 1965 Constitution of Romania during the communist regime.

One of the roles of the president of the republic is to designate a candidate for the office of prime minister. The president must consult with the party that has the majority in the Parliament or, if no such majority exists, with the parties represented in Parliament.

Once designated, the candidate assembles a proposal for the governing program and submits it to the cabinet. The proposal must be approved by the Parliament within ten days through a motion of no confidence. The Parliament debates both the program and the cabinet membership in a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The proposal is accepted only if a majority of all deputies and senators approve.

Once the vote of confidence is obtained, the candidate becomes the prime minister, and all cabinet members become ministers. The prime minister, the ministers, and other members of the Government take an oath before the president, as stipulated under Article 82 of the Constitution. The Government as a whole and each of its members exercise their mandate from the date of the oath.

The prime minister directs the actions of the government and coordinates the activities of its members. The prime minister submits to the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate reports and statements on Government policy to be debated. As head of the government, the prime minister is charged with directing the internal policy of the country and leads the public administration. In this regard, the government cooperates with other interested social actors.

As with any other office of public authority, the office of the prime minister is incompatible with any other office, except that of deputy or senator and is also incompatible with a professional position in a commercial organization. The term of a prime minister ends with the individual's resignation, dismissal following a motion of no confidence, loss of electoral rights (following a conviction), incompatibility with the office, death or expiration of the term of the legislature. The prime minister, together with the minister tasked with the particular field of government, can sign resolutions and ordinances to take effect as executive orders the moment they are published in the Monitorul Oficial, the official gazette of the Romanian state. Such ordinances must be sent to the appropriate chamber of Parliament, where they are discussed urgently, and they are then sent to the official gazette. In case the noticed chamber does not discuss or approve said ordinance after 30 days of its arrival, the ordinance is officially adopted and published in the gazette. An emergency ordinance cannot modify a constitutional law or concern the functioning of the fundamental institutions, rights, or liberties.

Unlike in the president-parliamentary semi-presidential systems, such as Russia, the Romanian prime minister is not a subordinate of the president, as he cannot outright dismiss the prime minister. The president can attend the government meetings debating upon matters of national interest concerning foreign policy, country's defense, maintenance of public order, and, at the invitation of the prime minister, in other instances as well. The president will always chair the government meetings he attends.

In addition to his constitutional roles, the prime minister is, generally, the leader of the major party in the majority coalition that supports the government, although this is not always the case.