2. Product Management Career Path

In this section, we'll dive into the career trajectory within Product Management. It’s a path of progressive responsibility, expanding from more detailed and specific roles to broader strategic leadership positions.

Career Progression in Product Management

A typical Product Management career starts with the Business Analyst (BA) role. The BA focuses primarily on specification, detailing exactly what needs to be done. This is the most junior role in the product management career ladder. The next step is the Product Owner (PO), whose responsibilities include both specification and prioritization. Prioritization inherently involves specification, meaning the PO role encompasses the tasks of a BA.

The third step is the Product Manager (PM), whose responsibilities extend beyond specification and prioritization. A PM also oversees the vision and strategy of the product or feature they manage. This is the natural progression in the product management career.

In many companies, including those I’ve worked with recently, I’ve merged the roles of BA and PO into a single role called Associate Product Manager (APM). The APM is a junior product manager responsible for both specification and prioritization.

What Comes After Product Manager?

Once you’ve reached the Product Manager level, the next step depends on the growth of your team and product portfolio. Let’s first recap the key roles in a product team:

• Engineering: Focuses on what is technically feasible.
• Product Management: Focuses on what is viable from a business perspective.
• UX/Product Design: Focuses on the desirability of the product.

A typical product team or squad is made up of two to four engineers, one designer, and one product manager. As the need arises to expand into additional squads, there are two potential approaches:

1. Reallocate engineers to a second product theme and divide the product manager and designer across both themes.
2. Bring in additional product managers and designers to work on the second product theme and create a new team altogether.

As teams grow and split into multiple squads, the need for product leadership arises. This is where the Group Product Manager (GPM) comes in.

The Role of a Group Product Manager (GPM)

A Group Product Manager leads other product managers. Initially, the GPM may still handle hands-on tasks within their squad while guiding other PMs. However, as the organization grows, the GPM will gradually shift away from hands-on work to focus entirely on leadership. In addition to leading PMs, the GPM oversees the vision and strategy of a group of products or features.

The Next Step: Chief Product Officer (CPO) or Head of Product

The next level beyond GPM is often referred to as Chief Product Officer (CPO), Head of Product, or sometimes VP of Product. This person is responsible for the vision and strategy of all products within the company. The CPO is the most senior product leader and may go by different titles depending on the organization. For example:

• At Locaweb, I was called Director of Product, overseeing several PMs, who in turn managed other PMs and POs.
• At ContaAzul, my role was CPO, and I led PMs who had POs and BAs reporting to them.
• At Gympass, I was CPO (also known as VP of Product), and the product leaders of various product tribes were called Directors of Product (GPMs).
• At Lopes, I was Director of the Lopes Labs, managing GPMs.

The title itself is not as important as the structure and the clarity of responsibilities within the organization. What matters is that everyone understands their role in the team.

Reporting Structure

Typically, the CPO or Head of Product reports directly to the CEO or, in some cases, to another C-level executive. It’s common for the CPO to report to the CTO (Chief Technology Officer), although I’ve seen instances where the CPO reports to the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) or even the COO (Chief Operations Officer). In rare cases, the CPO may report to the CFO (Chief Financial Officer), but this is uncommon.

The UX team may report to the product leadership or remain independent, depending on the company structure. In smaller teams (up to around 80 people), the entire product development team—comprising product, design, engineering, and data—typically reports to a single leader. Beyond this size, the team may be split between different leaders, but the goal should always be to operate as a unified product development team.

Seniority in Product Leadership

In terms of career growth, what defines seniority? Many people look at two primary dimensions:

1. Time: Seniority often correlates with years of experience in a given role.
2. Knowledge: Seniority can also be defined by the depth of knowledge gained over time.

However, I like to add a third dimension: behavioral seniority. As you advance in your career, demonstrating certain behavioral traits is essential. Behavioral seniority includes qualities such as:

• Adaptability: The ability to adjust to changing situations.
• Vision: Seeing beyond your immediate responsibilities and understanding the bigger picture of the company and industry.
• Alignment: Clarity of purpose, goals, and values that align with the organization.

This behavioral aspect is crucial for leadership roles, requiring the ability to navigate complex environments and guide teams effectively.

CPO vs. CTO: Understanding the Difference

The CPO focuses primarily on the business side of product development. Their concerns include:

• The overall vision of the product.
• Where the product is headed and its future direction.
• Customer satisfaction and ensuring the product meets customer needs.
• How the product strategy aligns with business goals.

On the other hand, the CTO is responsible for product development. Their key areas of concern include:

• Whether the team is producing at the required speed and quality.
• The technical stability and performance of the product.
• Ensuring the product’s infrastructure is reliable and scalable.

There are also shared responsibilities between the CPO and CTO, such as defining the structure of the product teams. For example, the product structure might include Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), data teams, and security teams, which are foundational to product development. The CPO and CTO need to work together on these foundational aspects to ensure the product team operates effectively.

This concludes our overview of the product management career path. From APM to CPO, the journey involves growing responsibilities, a shift from hands-on work to strategic leadership, and the development of essential behavioral traits for effective leadership.