Product Manager: Salary, Job Description, Qualifications

What Is A Product Manager??

A product manager is considered as a valuable asset of an organization who is responsible for the development, launch, and management of the entire lifecycle of a product. They perform the task of ensuring that the product meets market needs and is designed for customer satisfaction.

Their tasks include analyzing audience surveys, understanding and defining product vision, prioritizing customer requirements, and developing products that incline to their needs and market trends. Thus we can say that these managers play a very crucial role in the production of products.

Key Takeaways

Understanding the product manager job description.
Getting insights into the skills required by product managers.
Talking about the product manager qualifications
Understanding the product manager career path.

Product Manager Job Description

The product manager is responsible for various things in a company, let us understand the product manager job description where we will get insights into the roles and responsibilities that a product manager performs in his day-to-day life.

Market Research and Analysis: The most important responsibility involves understanding the needs of the user. This can be done by analyzing market trends, conducting market research, and analyzing customer preferences.
Working On Feedback: After conducting this research, the next responsibility includes analyzing the feedback of potential users to improve the quality of your product. Moreover, they should gather information about the current resources of the organization which can be used for designing user-friendly products.
Product Vision and Induction of Strategies: The product managers should be capable of developing a clear vision for the product, its features, and the basic steps required to achieve the desired product. They should be able to build proper strategies and crisp roadmaps for the product’s development.
Project Management: Once the vision is clear they should ensure that the product is developed and completed as desired. They should keep a check on the product timelines and other deadlines. Coordination between different teams should also be maintained by the managers.
Product Launch and testing: After the production of the product, It should be exposed to the market for further action. A proper plan should be made to launch the product, including marketing campaigns and other sales strategies. Regular tests should be conducted to track product performance using KPIs to see the levels of customer satisfaction and net revenue returns.

Product Manager vs. Product Owner

Many people often confuse product managers with product owners, both of these professionals are important for an organization. however, their work might differ slightly.

A product manager defines the entire framework of the product by conducting research, and communicating with all the departments involved in the production process whereas the product owner is the one who is funding the product and works more closely with the development team. He mainly receives regular updates from the development team and is in direct contact with the product manager.

Product Manager Skills Required

There are various soft skills as well as hard skills that are required to be a Product Manager. Here is a list of a few skills that you must have to be a proficient Manager in a reputable MNC.

1. Analytical Skills

One should have the knowledge of Data analytics tools to analyze customer behavior, market trends, and performance matrices. The product manager should be capable enough to analyze all the factors responsible for the sale of a product and should hold expertise in making quick decisions.

The decisions should be such that even if it makes a section of customers dissatisfied, it should hold the interest of the other bigger section and the overall enhancement of sales.

2. Technical Knowledge

Even though as a product manager you don’t need to build the code yourself for a product, you still need to have basic technical as well project management tools knowledge. Your concepts about basic technicalities and tools used in the creation process should be clear so that you can understand the product well and can persuade the customers to buy it.

3. Communication skills

Individuals who are looking for a good career in this field should hold good hold on project management soft skills as you represent your organization and the product as a product manager.

Every day you will be dealing with many people, researchers, stakeholders, dealers, etc. thus, a good grasp of the language and a bit of manipulating skills will definitely give a boost to your personality to work as a product manager.

4. Leadership

As mentioned earlier you practically are the face of the product, hence you should have the ability to lead teams and communicate the idea and vision of the product to your fellow colleagues.

Product Manager Qualifications

If you desire to start a career in product management, then you must have some basic qualifications. If we talk about the educational background then, individuals who have pursued their Bachelor’s in any of the following streams written below can apply for the job profile. These streams include:

Business studies
Administration, Marketing
Computer Science
Engineering
Other related field

A basic graduation degree in these mentioned fields can help you to start a career in this profile. An advanced level post-graduation degree specifically an MBA (Master of Business Administration) is optional for good career growth and in gaining higher-level job positions.

Moreover, you can even get job offers from top multinational companies that too for high-level positions if you have a professional industry-recognized certificate in this field. For this, you can enroll in the PW skills product management course which will provide you with a widely industry-recognized certificate.

Product Manager Career Path

As we have discussed above, individuals from diverse educational backgrounds can apply for a Product Manager job profile. As a fresher, you might start your journey in junior roles like trainees, junior analysts, product analysts, etc, and then get promotions based on your performance in the company to positions like senior analyst, senior product manager, chief product officer, etc. We will further study about this process in detail for a better understanding of the topic.

Entry-Level Roles

Talking about the entry-level jobs in a product management category, as a fresher having good skills and knowledge of all the required concepts and having a good project management interview preparation can help you in getting a job in the positions mentioned below-

1. Associate Product Manager (APM)

Working as an APM your responsibilities would involve assisting senior product managers and helping them by conducting market research to gather customer requirements.

Associate Product Manager Salary Range: According to the recent report of glass door, the salary range of APM generally varies between Rs 7-16 Lakh per annum

2. Product Analyst

This position involves understanding the data analysis, holding customer queries, and monitoring product performance. They also conduct tests and provide information to managers for further improvement of the product.

Salary Range: The salary range of product analyst can vary depending on the company, location and the years of experience you have, according to the recent glass door survey the salary of a product analyst with 0-1 years of experience can range from Rs 7 – 15 Lakh per annum.

Mid-Level Roles

After 2-3 years of experience in the field and based on your performance, you will be then promoted to mid-level roles. Some of the basic mid-level roles along with their average salary range is written below for your reference:

1. Product Manager (PM)

They basically define the product vision and the basic framework of the production process. We have already discussed this term in detail in the previous section of the article.

Product Manager Salary Range: 6-18 Lakh per annum

2. Senior Product Manager (Sr. PM)

Their working is similar to that of a Product manager but they deal with more complex products with larger features. They are responsible for leading product strategy in high-stakes projects and making data-driven decisions to improve the product. They are often responsible for training juniors and fresher trainees.

Salary Range: Rs 11 – 32 Lakh per annum

Senior-Level Roles

After excelling in the mid-level roles and gaining 7-10 years of industry-relevant experience in the field, you will be now promoted to senior-level project management roles. Some of the basic senior-level roles along with their responsibilities and salary ranges are written below for your reference.

1. Director of Product Management

As it is clear from the name, they lead a team of product managers who work collectively under this individual. They are also responsible for managing production budgets and improving overall quality by maintaining product portfolios.

Salary Range: 41-68 Lakh per annum

2. Vice President (VP) of Product Management

This is the second most priority position in this field and is defined as a senior executive who manages the entire product management function within a company. All the decisions and amendments are to be approved by the vice president. They collaborate with other senior leaders and enhance business growth.

Salary Range: 37 – 67 Lakh per annum

3. Chief Product Officer (CPO)

This is the highest-ranking product management position which is responsible for the company’s product strategy and vision. They manage the overall working of the company and are responsible for setting the vision for the product team, and ensuring the product portfolio aligns with the company’s long-term goals.

Salary Range: ₹40 Lakh+ per annum

PW Skills Product Manager Course Online

Enroll In our comprehensive PW Skills product management with AI course to learn all the essential concepts and tools required to become a proficient product manager.

This 6-month-long product manager course is designed to help beginners as well as professionals to learn all the concepts and tools related to product management in a beginner-friendly manner. Starting from the foundational concepts and slowly moving to the advanced ones.

Visit PWskills.com to explore more about course offerings and grab your seat today.

Product Manager FAQs

What is the difference between a product manager and a project manager?

A product manager is considered as an asset of an organization who is responsible for the development, launch, and management of the entire lifecycle of a product. whereas a project manager focuses on the execution of specific projects i.e managing project deadlines , improving the quality of project and optimization of project processes.

Which tools do product managers use?

Product managers use several tools like product road mapping software, customer feedback systems, and management platforms. The usage of these tools depends upon the kind of action which has to be performed. Analytical tools are used for carrying out analysis and research, while other tools are used to develop the process lifecycle.

What is the difference between a product manager and a product owner?

A product manager defines the entire framework of the product by conducting research, and communicating with all the departments involved in the production process whereas the product owner works more closely with the development team and is mainly restricted to the development part only with minimum interaction with the sales department.