Product Owner Job Description
Overview
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A Product Owner develops, owns and executes the product roadmap for an organization. Their role is to collaborate with cross-functional teams, various stakeholders, global commercial services partners, and customers in order to launch a product. Their responsibilities are to define the self-service user experience, turn data insights into products with actionable outcomes, translate product roadmap features into defined product requirements, develop features, user stories, and acceptance test criteria, and create and maintain appropriate tracking and reporting of product performance post-launch to evaluate future investment.
Steps to take to start your career as a Product Owner and other jobs like it
- Product managers help set the visions and guide the execution for the development of products. To do this, product managers need to be experts in their product areas. They must be knowledgeable of the marketplace, what the current and potential future trends are and a clear understanding of what customers expect from their products. If you have passion for the types of products you are managing, you’ll be better suited to become and stay an expert on your product area.
- While there's no strict educational requirement for becoming a product manager, many professionals in this role have a bachelor's degree in fields such as business, computer science, engineering, or a related discipline. Some employers may prefer candidates with an MBA or other advanced degree. Generally the education background employers are looking for is closely tied to the type of product you’ll be managing. For example in consumer electronics they often are looking for an engineering background while a fintech product tends more toward finance and banking. While not mandatory, obtaining a certification in product management can demonstrate your commitment to the field and enhance your credentials. There are several organizations that offer product management certifications, such as the Product Management Institute (PMI) or the Association of International Product Marketing and Management (AIPMM).
- Product managers need to have expert knowledge of their product space but they also need to get their product built and launched. To do this they need strong communication skills to effectively collaborate with various teams and stakeholders, as well as to articulate product vision and strategy. Being able to analyze data, market trends, and user feedback is crucial for making informed decisions about product features and priorities. Product managers must be adept at identifying and solving problems that arise during the product development process. Having a basic understanding of software development processes, coding languages, and technical concepts can be beneficial for product managers, especially in tech companies.
- Network with professionals in the product management field by attending industry events, joining online communities, and connecting with product managers on platforms like LinkedIn. Networking can help you learn about job opportunities and gain insights into the profession.
- Product management roles often require prior experience directly in that field at a potentially less experienced position but can also include partner teams also engaged with the products like software developers, marketers, salespeople and even finance. Keep an eye out for program management direct roles like internships but also roles in fields you may already have experience with that have direct interaction with product development.
Product Managers
Product managers don't build products. They help design solutions based off of problems that they've discovered.
Product Management Skills
You need to be good at solving problems and thinking analytically. That's probably one of the most important skills you need to have. But it's not like you need an engineering degree or you need a math degree. And one of the other important things is to be able to lead and communicate well because this is a job of influence. You're talking to lots of people, from the CEO to customer support to your customers. And you have to be able to talk with them on a one-on-one basis and switch context really easily. Another big requirement is just understanding how software is built. And you don't have to be a computer science major, but you have to have a passion for realizing that software is a series of programs or steps that accomplishes a task. And understanding what those steps are is really important so you can help guide in the development of software.
Common Pathways to Product Management
There's folks that come into the job from lots of different backgrounds. About 80% of people come through one of two paths. Either they were some sort of engineer by training, or they had some sort of business background by training. Another large segment of people study this concept called human-computer interaction, which is what product managers are doing. They're trying to understand how can humans interact with computers and technology in their everyday life.
Tips to Get Into Product Management
There's no real training. Anybody can do it. You just have to want to think analytically and solve other people's problems.
Just starting to network and join tech communities. You could do that online or you could do that in person. And then start working on a project of your own. Look at a simple webpage to make. Look at doing an internship for free online, working for a company five hours a week, designing an email for them. Do something simple. A simple place where you can deliver a product or an experience and measure success.
It's also really important to know that in this job, data is important, but you've really gotta go on your gut and try to be creative. So it's a combination of what the data tells you, but also what your get tells you about how you can solve a problem for your customers.
One of the things that's really important about this space is learning about all the new technologies that other people are developing. And so I spend about an hour a day reading about new technologies that are coming out and thinking about, huh, that's a cool thing I could do for my customers. Maybe I can bring that technology into my company and help my customers do something a little bit easier than they were doing in the past.
- Product Owner - 5416739AccentureCharlotte, NC, United StatesPosted: Sep 7, 2024
- Sr Product OwnerT-MobileAtlanta, GA, United StatesPosted: Sep 7, 2024
- Technical Product Owner- HybridGeorgia Institute of TechnologyAtlanta, GA, United StatesPosted: Sep 7, 2024
- Digital Product OwnerCetera Financial GroupSaint Cloud, MN, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Product OwnerStandard CharteredChennai, IN, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Product Owner IIClayton HomesMaryville, TN, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Analytics IT Product OwnerMillikenSpartanburg, SC, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Agile Software Force Operations Product OwnerIntrepidHuntsville, AL, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Product Owner IIUniversity of South FloridaTampa, FL, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Product OwnerParsons Commercial Technology Group Inc.Colorado Springs, CO, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Lead Technical Product Owner, Entity Technology So...Chick-fil-AAtlanta, GA, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Systems Engineer Product Owner (Engagement Operati...Cintel, Inc.Huntsville, AL, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Product OwnerKoch Industries, Inc.Lisle, IL, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Product OwnerCACI International Inc.Saint Louis, MO, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
- Senior Product Owner, Clinical ManufacturingGlaxoSmithKlineCollegeville, PA, United StatesPosted: Sep 6, 2024
Education you need to become a Product Owner
These are the most common degrees or certificates earned by Jobtrees users prior to becoming a Product Owner
There may be other required degrees or certifications needed for this job. The below info shows you the most commonly desired education level from employers when hiring for this job.
- Master of Science (m.sc.) in Computer Information Systems
- Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- Master Degree in Industrial Design
- Master Degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- Associate Degree in Psychology
Annual Pay Estimate for Product Owner and Other Important Info
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Career Paths for Product Owner
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