Any successful SaaS company depends on its products, which is why product managers are very much in demand right now.
Product managers can take on a variety of roles, including generalist, growth, technical, and even platform PMs. PMs seem to be needed by several businesses, each with slightly different qualifications.
Which categories of product managers are in demand right now, given the wide range of job titles available?
One in a million product managers are truly exceptional. They are the ones who can do all of the above as well as create amazing product visions. It is a unique kind of person who is forward-thinking, extremely persuasive, and capable of persuading others despite the lack of evidence. Elon Musk and Steve Jobs come to mind as examples.
We admire these people in particular because it feels good to put a name and a face to a significant achievement. But outstanding products aren’t typically created by a single great thinker 99 percent of the time. They are created by groups of good people who accomplish excellent jobs. The product manager’s responsibility is to provide a distinctive method for supervising that task.
I’ll describe the three categories of PMs in this article’s post-pandemic job market. In order to:
Find out what experience and abilities you already possess, and which PM role best fits your background.
The Generalist Product Manager
The most prevalent position on the job market is that of a generalist PM. Typically, this kind of PM balances market acceptance, delivery, and discovery all at once. They must therefore possess a broad base of stakeholders to cultivate and be well-rounded across a variety of fields.
The following backgrounds are typically best for this position: Business analysts, marketers, project managers, customer success coordinators, salespeople, designers, engineers, and product owners
A good generalist PM should have a good sense of proportion in all areas, with a focus on product strategy and discovery.
Growth Product Manager
Compared to other roles, the growth-focused product manager has the greatest direct commercial influence. A growth product manager (PM) collaborates closely with the growth team and other PMs to create growth flywheels that will drive product acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, and referrals.
PMs who are growth-oriented typically have a broad range of responsibilities. They must work with various products and address issues in various domain contexts. It’s ideal for business-minded people who can deal with a high level of uncertainty.
The following backgrounds are typically best for this position: Ex-entrepreneurs, growth hackers, marketers, consultants, salespeople, general managers, engineers, and user experience designers
To use products to drive market differentiation, the growth PM must be extremely strong in both growth and marketing.
Platform Product Manager
Platform PMs work on platform innovations that benefit both internal and external clients, as the title of the position suggests. They concentrate on the platform’s size, dependability, security, and cost-effectiveness when making high-impact product decisions. No matter what happens in the future, this role will always be in demand because of how important it is. Platform PMs frequently need a very high level of technical knowledge. They need to understand technological architectures, code bases, integrations, databases, and engineering techniques, but they don’t necessarily need to be strong coders.
Garden Academy is launching an online Product Management course that covers this topic and every other topic in product management. The course is designed for everyone who is looking to transition as a product manager or wants to upskill.
To get started right away, go to gardenacademy.io.
