Six Levels of Product Management

 
As is true with any organizational role, your product management talent is looking to be a valued part of the team and pursue a path of achievement. 

Many manufacturers don’t have a strong job description for product managers or have clear expectations of what success looks like for the individual. This can be frustrating for an employee who wants to perform at a higher level but feels their role is misaligned with the business objectives. To be proactive, manufacturer leaders need to start with a framework for their product managers to be successful, including a clear path to advance through professional development. 

Ready to build a strong product team? Explore the Product Team Builder Series for detailed role descriptions that help drive your team’s success.

In this article, I’m laying out a simple hierarchy of product management roles. I’ve written it to help manufacturers identify and define every level of product manager and the product management skills that the individual should have at each level. If product management is new to your organization, this will help you with the first steps of adding product managers, creating a structure and casting a vision for the future organizational structure.

This may look different in your organization depending on the size of the company or the quantity of product managers. Take a look at this hierarchy. How does it compare to your organizational setup? Where do your product managers land? Are they on their way to the next level?

Associate Product Manager:

The Associate Product Manager is an entry level position for individuals who are just starting their career and still working to accumulate their product management skills. They gain experience by supporting senior product managers or leaders by performing product analysis, conducting market research or supporting projects.

Product Manager:

The next level is a Product Manager. These product management responsibilities include product strategy, development and management of a specific product line. They show a level of leadership and ability to focus an organization on meeting the needs of customers with successful new products. Their product management skills? They lead market research, define product features, prioritize the product roadmap and work closely with cross functional teams.

Senior Product Manager:

The next level is a Senior Product Manager who is responsible for more complex or larger product lines. Product management skills include a proven track record with a higher level of experience, demonstrating leadership capabilities across the organization and providing strategic input at a higher level. They are great at mentoring junior product managers on steps to take to be successful and, and they collaborate seamlessly with sales, marketing and engineering teams.  

Director of Product Management:

The Director of Product Management may take on multiple product lines within a specific business unit. There may be multiple Directors of Product Management, each one focusing on a specific product portfolio. Their focus is aligning the product strategy to the business objectives and meeting goals through successful new product launches. They are effective with managing the product lifecyle of existing products along with creating a strong innovation pipeline that strengthens the portfolio long term.

Vice President of Product Management:

The VP of Product Management is responsible for raising the performance of all product managers with clear job descriptions, objectives and training on the best product management frameworks and tools. They work closely with the C-Suite on the product strategy that delivers a clear benefit that strengthens the market share.

Chief Product Officer:

At the highest level, the Chief Product Officer is responsible for the entire product portfolio of the company across multiple divisions. They play a key role in setting the product strategy and ensuring that it aligns with the company’s vision and goals. They are accountable for the actions of the product managers and help navigate internal challenges across the organization and external threats that risk relevancy with customers.

Using this framework, evaluate your need to add product managers or create a department to lead product management based on the size of your organization. Begin exploring types of product manager training that can help your valued staff achieve and transition to their highest levels of potential.

Define your product team with clarity.
Discover all six roles in our Product Team Builder Series.

Posted in Start Product Management  | Tagged Leadership, Management, Skills

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