On retiring, Fitzmaurice wrote a column for the Irish Examiner. He quickly became involved in team management as a selector with the Kerry senior team under Jack O Connor. An All-Ireland winner in this role in 2009, he later had an unsuccessful tenure as manager of the Kerry under-21 team, a role he fulfilled for one season in 2012, as they lost the Munster final to Cork after an extra-time classic. Fitzmaurice was appointed manager of the Kerry senior team on 27 August 2012, becoming the youngest manager in Kerry's history at 35. At the time it was viewed as being handed a poisoned chalice as Kerry had not won a minor All Ireland since 1994 and had won only one Under 21 All Ireland in the 21st Century in 2008. Many of the successful team of the noughties that reached six All Ireland finals in a row had retired or were on the verge of retirement. He led Kerry to eight major honours in six seasons, including one All-Ireland Championship, six Munster Championships and one National League title. He had an overall win percentage of 64% and had a win percentage of 71% in the Championship. He resigned in August 2018, winning his final game against Kildare as Kerry failed to progress to the All-Ireland semi-finals from the inaugural Super 8 group stage. He is credited with keeping Kerry competitive while guiding them through a transitional period as many legends of the game retired (see table below).