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Principal product manager vs product marketing manager

The differences between principal product managers and product marketing managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 8-10 years to become both a principal product manager and a product marketing manager. Additionally, a principal product manager has an average salary of $145,943, which is higher than the $112,220 average annual salary of a product marketing manager.

The top three skills for a principal product manager include product management, QA and product development. The most important skills for a product marketing manager are digital marketing, product management, and project management.

Principal product manager vs product marketing manager overview

Principal Product ManagerProduct Marketing Manager
Yearly salary$145,943$112,220
Hourly rate$70.16$53.95
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs143,985166,047
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age3939
Years of experience1010

What does a principal product manager do?

The duties of a principal product manager depend on one's place or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around overseeing the organization's product roadmap, devising strategies for optimal operations and services, and managing production and marketing communications. They must also coordinate with different research scientists and engineers to develop systems and networks that will increase profitability and assist in meeting consumers' needs. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage teams, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.

What does a product marketing manager do?

A product marketing manager is responsible for managing the company's goods and services, promoting brand awareness, developing effective marketing campaigns to attract existing and potential clients, generating more revenues, and achieving its profitability goals. Product marketing managers must have excellent knowledge of the marketing industry, as well as broad ideas on the current industry trends to meet clients' demands and identify business opportunities. A product marketing manager should be highly communicative and display excellent leadership skills to work with other departments and respond to clients' inquiries and concerns timely and efficiently.

Principal product manager vs product marketing manager salary

Principal product managers and product marketing managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Principal Product ManagerProduct Marketing Manager
Average salary$145,943$112,220
Salary rangeBetween $106,000 And $199,000Between $83,000 And $149,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Bruno, CA
Highest paying stateWashingtonCalifornia
Best paying companyBrexCredit Karma
Best paying industryStart-upTechnology

Differences between principal product manager and product marketing manager education

There are a few differences between a principal product manager and a product marketing manager in terms of educational background:

Principal Product ManagerProduct Marketing Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Georgia

Principal product manager vs product marketing manager demographics

Here are the differences between principal product managers' and product marketing managers' demographics:

Principal Product ManagerProduct Marketing Manager
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 73.9% Female, 26.1%Male, 61.6% Female, 38.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between principal product manager and product marketing manager duties and responsibilities

Principal product manager example responsibilities.

  • Lead an initiative to train technical writers on writing QA tests for documentation examples.
  • Lead SaaS application visibility and performance monitoring in hybrid enterprise to accelerate adoption of cloud.
  • Analyze complex business cases to determine product feasibility, prioritization and project ROI.
  • Define strategic direction and KPIs, make recommendations to leadership and execute on approve direction.
  • Develop product marketing positioning with business team, forecasting, competitive positioning and analyzing ROI.
  • Utilize SQL to support data-driven analysis and decision processes to inform project prioritization, assess feature effectiveness, and troubleshoot issues.
  • Show more

Product marketing manager example responsibilities.

  • Manage IP and IPX VPN solutions, including definition of next generation ipsec-base products.
  • Manage execution of retail signage (POS) and cross promotions for grocery partners.
  • Lead a global team representing the commercial interests of the Americas, Europe and Asia.
  • Define, design and manage next generation intranet product incorporating HTML, CGI, and JAVA.
  • Define the product and manage the development of a line of switch mode power supplies for the PC & general market.
  • Lead product development and business development of emerging mobile and cloud solutions.
  • Show more

Principal product manager vs product marketing manager skills

Common principal product manager skills
  • Product Management, 11%
  • QA, 11%
  • Product Development, 10%
  • Regression, 9%
  • User Stories, 4%
  • Saas, 4%
Common product marketing manager skills
  • Digital Marketing, 7%
  • Product Management, 7%
  • Project Management, 6%
  • Marketing Campaigns, 5%
  • Market Research, 4%
  • B2B Marketing, 4%

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