Product management is a critical role within any company. A great product manager ensures that the company’s products support the overall strategy and goals. They are responsible for delivering a product to the target market that is not only differentiated and addresses a customer need but can be supplied within a viable and profitable business model.
The product manager oversees a product throughout its lifecycle from ideation to end-of-life. They are integral to all the processes and functions that are required to support a product. Product managers must have exceptional communication and collaboration skills because they have to coordinate and facilitate activities with many groups and specialists such as designers, developers, quality assurance, supply chain, operations, manufacturing, engineers, product marketing managers, project managers, sales professionals, and many others.
Finding the best product manager for your product is a tall order, but BeamJobs is here to help. We have great examples and advice on how to create excellent job descriptions, so you can attract and hire the right people.
Job details: Mobile & Media Masters is an up-and-coming mobile app and media development company that is looking for someone to make an immediate impact by jumping in to enable the creation of a brand-new app for our already rapidly growing audience. The product manager (mobile) is perfect for someone with a passion for building convenient and helpful products and developing and continuously improving user interfaces and new content to generate and expand a highly engaged user base.
What you’ll be doing: The mission of this role is to create exceptional mobile products that attract and grow an established audience.
Benefits: We offer a competitive compensation plan with salary and bonus, health insurance, 401(k), option plan, and unlimited vacation policy.
Qualifications:
About the company: Mobile & Media Masters was founded in 2016 in the lovely town of Watertown, South Dakota, and is a quickly growing mobile app and media development company. We have a library of mobile apps with millions of downloads, own a number of other digital properties, and provide apps to other media providers. Our company is a small, hard-working, and family-oriented team that has created one of the fastest-growing portfolios in its vertical. We want you to join our family and help us expand into 2022 and beyond!
Job details: Big Funky Flip Phones is a small, but quickly growing producer of unique cell phones and cell phone products. We are seeking a technical product manager who will be both a technology expert and a product owner. The TPM is key to developing and enhancing our products to be the best and unique in the industry. We need someone who is creative, innovative, industrious, and not afraid to take risks and make bold choices.
Responsibilities: You are the product expert and the person who spearheads new development and enhancements for existing products.
Benefits: Our compensation packages are very competitive, commensurate with experience, and include salary and bonus, full coverage insurance, and vacation time.
Qualifications:
About the company: Here at Big Funky Flip Phones in San Antonio, Texas, we care about providing reliable products with the functionality that our customers need in an easy-to-use package that delivers outstanding value. We are a small but growing company looking for outstanding talent who can help expand our product lines and boost our business to the next level. If you are looking for a great opportunity with plenty of room to grow, then this is the right job for you.
Job details: The Giant Robotic Machines company is looking for a senior product manager to propel our production of industrial robotic machinery ahead to new levels of success and profitability. The senior product manager is a key leadership position that guides and drives multiple products and product lines. We are looking for someone with outstanding leadership capabilities, strategic vision, and a broad skill set to independently oversee a major portfolio of multi-million dollar products.
Role: Drive product strategies and develop and execute plans to achieve success.
Benefits: Our compensation plans are very competitive with salary and bonuses, full benefits, including health insurance, 401(k), an option plan, and an unlimited vacation policy.
Qualifications:
About the company: Giant Robotic Machines is a major producer and supplier of industrial robotic machinery and is an industry leader in high-tech production. Our offices, located in Washington, Missouri, are looking for someone who can take charge and continually keep our product lines on the cutting edge of technology while building on a profitable business strategy. If you think you have what it takes to pioneer innovative robotic machines, then we are the company for you!
Creating an effective and complete job description for a product manager can be challenging. The role is very expansive, and it is all too easy to get carried away and end up writing a very lengthy description of what you expect from your product manager hire. In order to make sure your candidates read and comprehend the entire description of the job, you need to keep it as brief as possible without missing any key content. The focus should be on selling the job and your organization to as many qualified applicants as possible.
Your job requirements need to include critical success factors for the role, but you don’t want to have too many. Statistics demonstrate that having a long list of job requirements will discourage diverse candidates from applying. Having a long list of qualifications and requirements also increases the risk of including biased wording or language, which is also a big problem.
A product manager has to be able to manage a lot of complex activities simultaneously. They must be able to quickly and efficiently identify key objectives and boil things down to critical path tasks. Your job description has to do the same thing. Being clear and concise is key. If you need guidance in this area, we suggest reviewing a reputable style guide like Stanford’s Engineering STEM Style Guide.
Making your job description easy to read and understand will prevent you from losing candidates. Too many large words and acronyms will also make your job description hard to understand. Difficult-to-read complicated descriptions will get your job listing skipped faster than anything else. Another resource for learning how to write effectively is the article "Simple rules for concise scientific writing," which explains how concise writing is better able to connect with the audience (Scott Hotaling).
The best way to convey what a job or role encompasses is by using examples of issues that your product manager needs to be able to solve. What gaps does this hire need to fill? Why are you hiring in the first place? If you have a specific current challenge they will need to address, then use that. If you need to expand resources and/or capacities, then talk about the types of work that need to be done. Be specific, but keep it short.
Below is an outline that covers all the items for all product manager job descriptions:
Job details: This is where you instantly sell the role and the organization. You need to very briefly give the what and why of the job. Give candidates a good taste of what your company is about, and remember the goal is to encourage them to join your organization (not scare them away).
What you’ll be doing: You may also title this section “Roles” or “Responsibilities” or “Requirements.” Provide a bulleted list of all the pertinent tasks that the job involves. If there is anything that is not typical for a product manager, then make sure to include that. Obviously, you cannot list every single task, but make sure to list all the major and crucial work. The best practice is to always use active verbs, avoid jargon and filler words, and be as specific as possible.
Qualifications: One of the most important sections is the qualifications. Applicants will quickly determine if they are right for the job by reading this section. Make sure you include education, experience, and specialization requirements. Leverage applicable personality words such as “innovative,“ “self-motivated,” “organized,” and “dependable,” but be careful not to overuse them. Product management has a lot of standard requirements, but it also covers a wide range of skill sets. You must make sure this section contains any special and non-standard qualifications your company may require. As with every section of your job description, be brief and clear.
Benefits: You can place this part anywhere in the middle sections of your product manager job description. Placing this section higher up may be a good idea if you really want to stress the outstanding benefits your organization offers. You definitely want to include anything that differentiates your company benefits from other companies. Make sure you mention all the benefits and be as specific as possible.
About the company: We recommend placing this section at the end. This is where you tell your audience what your company does and why they should want to work there, and while this information is, of course, important, what candidates really want to know right away is whether they can handle the requirements for the job. Wherever you place this section, a product management professional is interested in knowing what the company’s vision and mission are. You should, in a sentence or two, give them a very brief synopsis of what the company is trying to achieve, and how the PM role fits in.
Focus on the things that make your company and/or the role different from a typical product manager job with another company. Since a product manager role requires exceptional vision and a strategic mindset, you have to frame the job in those terms. You want to explain the expectations, but you also want to positively promote the job and get their attention.
Avoid generic descriptions. Vague statements are boring; they make people stop reading and skip to the next job opening. Product managers like to solve problems. Leverage that in your job description. Give them some examples of what challenges they will be overcoming. Make is motivating, but be truthful. And, again, keep it brief and brilliant.
A product manager wears a lot of different hats. Below, we have provided some of the most important areas that a product manager must master. These are key things a product manager does for your company and are what you need to advertise as part of the role to ensure you get the best product manager resumes, product manager cover letters, applications, and, ultimately, the best candidate for the job.
Concept
Vision
Define Success
Ownership
Stakeholder Management
Collaborate with the Product Owner