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What is a product director and how to become one
The product director oversees a product's lifecycle and ensures that development teams have all the tools they need. They may also define the product's requirements, create a vision, and align the product with the business' overall strategy.
The day-to-day of product directors varies depending on the industry and product. However, a typical business day may include meeting with other team directors like engineering, marketing, and sales to discuss product parameters and expectations. They may also check for product viability, discuss alternatives to current goals, and contribute to design details. Product directors often have to keep end-users in mind and strike a balance between achieving the business' goals and creating products that users will enjoy.
To become a product director, you need a bachelor's or advanced degree in product engineering or a field related to the industry. Some employers may require up to five years of relevant work experience to fill this role. Necessary skills include collaboration, product design, and people skills.
What's a day at work look like for a product director?
Sachin Tuli
Director, International Business Major, Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Avg. Salary $148,910
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate 10%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%
Asian 8.15%
Black or African American 3.04%
Hispanic or Latino 8.67%
Unknown 5.32%
White 74.58%
Genderfemale 27.61%
male 72.39%
Age - 38American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 38Stress level is high
7.1 - high
Complexity level is advanced
7 - challenging
Work life balance is poor
6.4 - fair
Product director career paths
Key steps to become a product director
Explore product director education requirements
Start to develop specific product director skills
Skills Percentages Product Management 9.63% Product Strategy 5.56% Project Management 5.53% Product Roadmap 4.65% Product Design 4.32% Complete relevant product director training and internships
Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New product directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a product director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real product director resumes.Research product director duties and responsibilities
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- Utilize SQL to support data-driven analysis and decision processes to inform project prioritization, assess feature effectiveness, and troubleshoot issues.
Get product director experience
Generally, it takes 8-10 years to become a product director. The most common roles before becoming a product director include product manager, senior product manager team lead and project manager.Prepare your product director resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your product director resume.
You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a product director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
Choose from 10+ customizable product director resume templates
Build a professional product director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your product director resume.
Apply for product director jobs
Now it's time to start searching for a product director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
How did you land your first product director job
Are you a product director?
Share your story for a free salary report.
Average product director salary
The average product director salary in the United States is $148,910 per year or $72 per hour. Product director salaries range between $104,000 and $212,000 per year.
What am I worth?
How do product directors rate their job?
Product director reviews
Solve tough problems, work on agile teams, outlet for creativity,
high expectations, constantly evolving technology, broad range of topics to learn (product management specifics, industry, technology, software development methods
Its not a specific job, As a product manager your job responsibilities cover many different areas and that's what i love about it.
all other teams think that they are doing a task for you instead of thinking that they are part of a team on a project
Agendas
Making strategic decisions in product development is pretty exciting for me
Updated January 8, 2025
