What does a commercial product manager do?
The commercial product manager focuses on determining consumers' wants and needs and drafts a product plan for the business to tweak their product development to take advantage of the demand. The commercial product manager works with the marketing team on ensuring existing products and newly developed items fare well in the market. This position is tasked with monitoring product performance, determining weaknesses in the marketing strategy, and providing suggestions and recommendations to improve sales. The added responsibility of a commercial product manager is to help in conceptualizing product designs and marketing strategies.
Commercial product manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real commercial product manager resumes:
- Lead cross-functional team in pioneering the application/game download ecosystem with the implementation of Java games and generating significant new revenue stream.
- Utilize SQL to support data-driven analysis and decision processes to inform project prioritization, assess feature effectiveness, and troubleshoot issues.
- Provide statistical analysis and technical responses to customer RFQ.
Commercial product manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Commercial Product Managers are proficient in Treasury, Product Line, and Product Development. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Creativity.
We break down the percentage of Commercial Product Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Treasury, 15%
Manage Treasury Management products from idea through implementation.
- Product Line, 12%
Establish product line direction for existing products and develop additional target markets.
- Product Development, 8%
Managed all aspects of product development from idea initiation, engineering, certification, sourcing and manufacturing.
- Product Strategy, 7%
Worked cross-functionally with Deposits Operations, Business Technology and other third parties to support product initiatives and execute on product strategy.
- Product Roadmap, 5%
Collaborated with customers on creating strategies to develop business-critical systems by defining 5 year Product Roadmaps.
- Cash Management, 5%
Teamed with relationship/sale, identified leads and structured cash management solutions.
Common skills that a commercial product manager uses to do their job include "treasury," "product line," and "product development." You can find details on the most important commercial product manager responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a commercial product manager to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." Additionally, a commercial product manager resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "provided technology direction, global product council reviews, supply chain efficiency, retail market analysis, and project progress/management. "
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling commercial product manager duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." According to a commercial product manager resume, here's how commercial product managers can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "provide product line communications by defining product marketing communication objectives. "
Creativity. This is an important skill for commercial product managers to perform their duties. For an example of how commercial product manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a commercial product manager: "increased lead generation by 40% by producing creative marketing materials and developing a direct mailing plan. ".
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what commercial product managers do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to commercial product manager responsibilities because "managers must deal with a range of people in different roles, both inside and outside the organization." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical commercial product manager tasks: "possess strong analytical, communication and interpersonal skills. "
Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in commercial product manager job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what commercial product managers do. Commercial product manager responsibilities rely on this skill because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." You can also see how commercial product manager duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "assisted in the development and production of three distinct sleepwear brands assumed responsibilities of product development manager through various organizational changes. "
The three companies that hire the most commercial product managers are:
- EFI Global52 commercial product managers jobs
- Old National Bank10 commercial product managers jobs
- Advance Auto Parts9 commercial product managers jobs
Compare different commercial product managers
Commercial product manager vs. Product lead
A product lead is responsible for monitoring the development of new products and services of an organization, starting from brand conceptualization to official market release and distribution. Product leads identify effective product management by conducting data analysis and evaluating market statistics of customer demands. They coordinate with the clients on their specifications and requirements, including the budget limit and timely deliverables. A product lead manages the brand promotion on media platforms, creating content that adheres to the target audience.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a commercial product manager are more likely to require skills like "commercial banking," "logistics," "cash management," and "competitive analysis." On the other hand, a job as a product lead requires skills like "product management," "project management," "architecture," and "digital marketing." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Product leads tend to make the most money working in the hospitality industry, where they earn an average salary of $129,039. In contrast, commercial product managers make the biggest average salary, $112,365, in the pharmaceutical industry.product leads tend to reach higher levels of education than commercial product managers. In fact, product leads are 6.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Commercial product manager vs. Product director
The duties of a product director depend on one's place or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around overseeing the product development operations to ensure smooth flow and efficiency, devise strategies to improve processes, gather relevant data such as sales and customer feedback, and coordinate with different departments in developing new products and services. Furthermore, as a director, it is essential to lead and encourage departments to meet goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations, including its mission and vision.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, commercial product manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "treasury," "commercial banking," "logistics," and "cash management." Meanwhile, a product director has duties that require skills in areas such as "product management," "project management," "product design," and "software development." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Product directors may earn a higher salary than commercial product managers, but product directors earn the most pay in the internet industry with an average salary of $155,810. On the other hand, commercial product managers receive higher pay in the pharmaceutical industry, where they earn an average salary of $112,365.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Product directors tend to reach higher levels of education than commercial product managers. In fact, they're 6.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Commercial product manager vs. Web manager
Web Managers are responsible for managing websites for organizations. Their duties include managing website upgrades, testing for website performance, implement a strategy to increase web traffic and subscribers, troubleshooting website issues, and responding to security breaches. They create content audits as well as ensuring the website has brand strategy alignment. A Web Manager ensures website compliance with all regulations and keeps abreast of the best practice of the industry. They must possess good problem-solving skills and knowledge in search engine optimization.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a commercial product manager is likely to be skilled in "treasury," "product line," "product development," and "product strategy," while a typical web manager is skilled in "digital marketing," "wordpress," "html css," and "b testing."
Web managers typically earn similar educational levels compared to commercial product managers. Specifically, they're 2.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Commercial product manager vs. Media manager
Media managers oversee the department that works on the different communication needs of the company. They execute the communications strategies of the company. They are expected to be updated with the current trends on media platforms. They should also be very familiar with the company and are attuned to the company's brand and image so that they can create relevant communications campaigns. Media managers oversee content creation on different media platforms. They manage the research related to the content they are working on. They develop materials and ensure that these materials are engaging and relatable to the target audience.
Types of commercial product manager
Updated January 8, 2025
