How Much Does a Product Manager Earn? A Comprehensive Guide to their Salaries

Product management is an excellent career path with higher-than-average salaries for pretty much every reported country.

They are indispensable due to their pivotal role in the planning, development, launch and overall success of an organisation's product lines.

Things are looking more optimistic than ever for this profession around the world.

43% of companies are hiring more product managers and generous salaries are attracting more talent from every field.

50% of product managers now come from non-product backgrounds. 

What you'll find in this article:

1. What is a Product Manager?
2. What does a product manager do?
3. Average Salary per role
4. The future of this role
5. Conclusion
6. FAQs
   

What is a Product Manager? 

Is a business professional responsible for overseeing the development and launch of a product.

They work closely with teams having different skills, including engineering, design, and marketing, to ensure the product meets customer needs and business goals.

Their role is vital in driving product success by identifying market opportunities, creating product strategy, and making data-driven decisions.

What Does a Product Manager Do?

They identify market opportunities, creates product strategy, and oversees the development and launch of a product.

They work with cross-functional teams to ensure the product meets customer needs and business goals.

And they make data-driven decisions to drive product success.

Let's break down their tasks:

• Conducting market research 
• Gathering ideas and feedback from users 
• Developing roadmaps to present to stakeholders and teams 
• Managing each stage of the product lifecycle 
• Prioritising backlogs and tasks 
• Post-launch responsibilities such as bug fixes and improvements
  

Average Product Management Salary According to Role 

Product managers come in all shapes and sizes, which makes averaging a salary reasonably difficult to narrow down.

Indeed says that the average product manager salary is $109,455 per year, plus an additional $5,000 in annual bonus.

Not too shabby!

But once we factor in the various product management titles and geographical regions, this average fluctuates as expected. 

We’ll break down product manager's salary into different roles and the average salary for each one by country.

Not all regions or countries will have concrete data.

So we’ll use the most popular or commonly reported ones as a guide. 

Starting from the entry level and ascending to senior positions.

Here are the average product management salaries by title and location, pulled from Glassdoor. 

Junior Product Manager 

An entry-level position for emerging professionals.

Junior product managers may have transitioned from an experienced role in a parallel industry.

But will effectively be starting from scratch as they take on the challenges and learning curve inherent to product management.  

In terms of responsibilities, the junior assumes many of the same as their superior.

But the lack of experience means they’ll have less control over the product lifecycle until sufficient knowledge can be demonstrated. 

Junior product manager responsibilities include the following: 

• Researching and gathering ideas 
• Collecting customer feedback 
• Collaborating with the product team to define a vision 
• Developing a roadmap to present to the team and senior management 
• Support with managing resources, KPIs, timelines and product development 

Salary

The average junior product manager's salary is as follows:

• United States - $73,719
• United Kingdom - £35,280
• Germany - €45,926 
• France - €37,927
• Italy - €32,238
• Australia - $77,750
• Netherlands - €33,912

Associate Product Manager 

The natural evolution for juniors is associate product managers, or a person will enter this position by qualifying in a related field.

Associate have more experience than juniors.

Are expected to provide greater support to product managers and senior roles through:

• Competitive research and analysis 
• Planning and collaborating on product requirements 
• Developing product features and improvements 
• Coordinating stakeholder communications 
• Developing product strategies and KPIs

Salary

The average associate product manager's salary is as follows:

• United States - $86,066
• United Kingdom - £40,140
• Germany - €55,059
• France - €49,000
• Italy - €34,254
• Australia - $89,000
• Netherlands - €48,494

Product Manager 

In this role, you are the central figure responsible for managing every stage of the product lifecycle.

They have deep knowledge of the product development process.

They are instrumental in successfully bringing products to market through

• Research
• Planning
• Developing roadmaps for presentation
• Collaborating with engineers and product teams
• Aligning company and customer objectives

In this role your responsibilities include the following: 

• Gathering and curating ideas for products 
• Research and analyse existing and emerging trends 
• Develop product roadmaps for internal and external presentation 
• Define product features for engineering teams 
• Gathers feedback from customers and stakeholders 
• Manages KPIs, and risk and prioritises backlogs

Salary 

The average salary is as follows:

• United Kingdom - £56,943
• United States - $117,512
• Germany - €65,000
• France - €47,142
• Italy - €40,000
• Australia - $120,000
• Netherlands - €65,000

Senior Product Manager 

The senior product manager handles many of the same tasks as the product manager.

However their decisions and interactions carry more weight because of their seniority.

They lead managers while coordinating with various departments like marketing, sales, engineering, design and writing teams.

They ensure smooth collaboration and cohesion.

But they also define a long-term strategy for a product’s post-launch promotion. 

They also help to recruit and train junior product managers. 

Their responsibilities include the following: 

• Overseeing the entire product management process
• Helps with hiring and training 
• Defines long-term product strategies 
• Represents the business at shows and events 
• Deals with legal and high-ranking teams 
• Conducts market research, develops and designs new products 
• Helps promote products to customers 
• Develops pricing, budget and business strategies 

Salary

The average senior product manager salary is as follows:

• United States - $152,932
• United Kingdom - £77,045
• Germany - €84,250
• France - €62,000
• Italy - €55,226
• Australia - $150,000
• Netherlands - €84,183

Director of Product Management 

This is one of the most senior roles in an organisation.

As the director of product management, your role is people based versus product based.

Your responsibilities are focused on managing teams, processes, strategies, managing resources and keeping everything running smoothly for product managers and product releases. 

The responsibilities include the following: 

• Building high-performing product teams 
• Mentoring junior PMs
• Writing the product strategy and case studies 
• Communicating with stakeholders
• Managing and allocating resources 
• Taking a strategic role over the product teams and managers 

Salary

The average director of product management salary is as follows:

• United States - $183,811
• United Kingdom - £111,598
• Germany - €116,641
• France - €103,121
• Italy - €100,195
• Australia - $214,000
• Netherlands - €122,360

VP of Product Management/ Chief Product Officer 

An executive-level position that has more in common with running a business rather than dealing with granular product development processes.

VPs and CPOs deal with high-level business strategy including expansion, company growth and people-based duties.

An example is relaying valuable information to the product teams to enable better products. 

The VP of product management responsibilities include the following: 

• Liaising with the product managers, CEO and other C-suite executives 
• Identifying operational and product development roadblocks to resolve 
• Overseeing product management processes 
• Managing external business partnerships and customer-facing events 
• Focus on operational growth, business expansion and building high-performing teams

Salary

The average VP of product management salary is as follows:

• United States - $202,194

• United Kingdom - £114,390

• Germany - €135,089

• France - €120,000

• Australia - $270,000

• Netherlands - €130,551
  

The Future of Product Management 

For a glimpse into product management’s future, read this report from Product School.

Here you can find out what the landscape looks like for product managers in 2023 and beyond.

We’ve summed up the key takeaways for you below but you can read the full report here. 

1. 26% of product managers are planning to leave their jobs in the next 12 months.

This isn’t as bleak as it sounds.

It's more a reflection of the impact of Covid-19 and the wave of resignations we saw during this time.

Organisations are gearing towards a more product-led approach.

This has driven demand for top talent which in turn, is turning the heads of existing product managers.

And now they are looking for long-term development with companies willing to invest in human capital. 

2. 35% of companies see product leaders driving annual planning. 

Customer experience is now the most valuable commodity in business.

Product-led growth embodies this philosophy and product managers are the people to make it happen.

Companies are reportedly investing 31% higher budgets into product teams in a bid to shape long-term strategies that outpace competitors. 

3. 43% of companies are hiring more product managers. 

Technology has always set the pace for the demand that follows closely behind.

And the last couple of years have only exacerbated this. Companies are actively hiring more product managers to keep up with existing and emerging technologies and consumer trends.

4. Product manager talent pools are diversifying. 

A whopping 50% of product managers are from non-product backgrounds.

This is a sigh of relief for you if you’re on the fence about planning a career move.

If you have the right skills then companies are open to accepting candidates from all paths.

Their unique perspectives can give a much-needed edge in today’s consumer-centric landscape.

It is reported that men still outnumber women 2:1 in product management.

But this should balance out over the next few years as hiring managers seek more diverse backgrounds. 

Wrapping Up

Product management is an excellent career path with higher-than-average salaries for pretty much every reported country.

Aside from the financial gain, product management is a deeply rewarding role in massive demand.

Organisations want talent from non-product backgrounds and product management is super accessible for anyone with a computer.

Wondering what to do next?

Check out our Digital Product Manager Certificate here and get a feel for a career in product management. 

FAQs

Is product management a good career?  

Keep in mind that the demand for product managers is rising, the salary are higher than the average in all the countries and for the levels of seniority. So, yes! There is the potential for a good career. 

What is Product Management? 

Product management is the process of identifying market opportunities, creating a product strategy, and overseeing the development and launch of a product. It involves working closely with teams having different skills, making data-driven decisions, and constantly iterating to improve the product.

Become a Product Manager!

Master the fundamentals of product management as you learn about: 

See the full course overview here.

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