Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Product line manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

7 min read

Quoted experts

Davide , Ph.D. Bolchini Ph.D.,

Matthew Lopresti

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical product line manager skills. We ranked the top skills for product line managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 7.2% of product line manager resumes contained product management as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a product line manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 product line manager skills for your resume and career

1. Product Management

Product management is a part of an organization's function that deals with product development, planning, pricing, forecasting, launching, and marketing the product.

Here's how product line managers use product management:

Complete product management/ life cycle responsibility for all Bravo family desktop computers, worldwide.
Supervised analysts and rate filing specialists within Product Management department.

2. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how product line managers use customer service:

Educate customer service coordinators, regional managers and sales representatives on product lines and direct technical questions as appropriate.
Presented quarterly manufacturing training meetings to new Customer Service Representatives and visiting International Customer Service Representatives.

3. PLM

PLM stands for "product lifecycle management." This process is the management of a product's entire lifecycle, from when the product is first conceived and developed to when the product is sold and, eventually, disposed. A company may use PLM for a variety of reasons, most commonly to reduce the amount of errors in the manufacturing process and to ensure the product is sold more quickly.

Here's how product line managers use plm:

Support the Product Line Manager (PLM) in the day to day leadership and management of the product line.
Increased sales by 20% over during three year tenure as Global PLM while maintaining gross margin above 60%.

4. Project Management

Here's how product line managers use project management:

Project Management and report organization for open purchase orders, budget concentrations, and project implementation.
Project management - translated compliance regulations into product requirements, managed delivery and testing of requirements.

5. Market Research

Market research is a collective effort to collect information related to a consumer's needs and wants. It is a systematic approach that involves recording and analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data. Market research helps a business to identify a target market correctly and identify the gaps in potential consumer's expectations.

Here's how product line managers use market research:

Perform comprehensive market research for current and future products, including field visits to existing and potential customers/distribution channels.
Constructed and operated special makeup business processes entailing market research, product development, and significant sales presentations.

6. Market Trends

Here's how product line managers use market trends:

Analyzed and interpreted the competitive landscape and market trends, and identified competitive advantages.
Manage business objectives, including P&L management and product profitability, identifying market trends and product gaps.

Choose from 10+ customizable product line manager resume templates

Build a professional product line manager resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your product line manager resume.

7. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how product line managers use product development:

Developed and presented product development status reports to managers on key projects as well as recommendations for technical and alternative solutions.
Restructured market channel agreements and developed initiatives for OE marketing activities and Product Development in order to meet growth objectives.

8. Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is an ongoing process of improvement of products, services, and processes with the help of innovative ideas. It is an organized approach that helps an organization to find its weaknesses and improve them.

Here's how product line managers use continuous improvement:

Directed Continuous improvement teams in Lean workshops, implementation of Best Practices, and root cause analysis.
Promote the continuous improvement in resources, processes and products through the application of continuous improvement methodologies.

9. Business Development

Business development is the ideas or initiatives that work to make business work better. Selling, advertising, product development, supply chain management, and vendor management are only a few of the divisions involved with it. There is still a lot of networking, negotiating, forming alliances, and trying to save money. The goals set for business development guide and coordinate with all of these various operations and sectors.

Here's how product line managers use business development:

Led competitive analysis, unprecedented customer segmentation and cross teaming with finance, sales, marketing and business development.
Collaborated, coordinated, and partnered across the organization, especially with sales/business development.

10. Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis is the process of assessing your competitors to determine their strengths and weaknesses, It is a part of strategic management that enables one to identify the opportunities and threats a business can face in the market.

Here's how product line managers use competitive analysis:

Prepared business cases for new product opportunities and performed competitive analysis to ensure the correct positioning of new products.
Defined strategic plans including product positioning, financial goals, competitive analysis, target customers, and go-to-market strategy.

11. Product Strategy

Here's how product line managers use product strategy:

Utilized knowledge to create product strategy that addressed unique performance characteristics for Asia golfers.
Evaluated competitive offerings and accountable for adjusting product strategy, pricing and features.

12. Customer Satisfaction

Here's how product line managers use customer satisfaction:

Demonstrated consistent growth in revenue and customer satisfaction by preparing presentation for manager to present to executives.
Cloud-based monitoring/support provided increased services MRR through the dealer channel, and improved customer satisfaction.

13. Product Life Cycle

Product lifecycle is an important concept in marketing that describes the process, phases, and stages that a product goes through from its initial stage to its end, or is withdrawn from the market and is no longer sold.

Here's how product line managers use product life cycle:

Program Manage the international core team comprised of engineering, sales, marketing and operations departments throughout product life cycle.
Achieved a 100% customer retention rate during transition to newer generations of products during end of product life cycle.

14. R

R is a free software environment and a language used by programmers for statistical computing. The R programming language is famously used for data analysis by data scientists.

Here's how product line managers use r:

Team of 5 R S M, of the Year, 2 x's.

15. Product Roadmap

Here's how product line managers use product roadmap:

Developed content for and present demonstrations and product roadmaps to financial executives.
Developed product roadmap and marketing plans to secure customers in existing and new SMB segments and generate higher margin returns.

5 Product Line Manager resume examples

Build a professional product line manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 5+ resume templates to create your product line manager resume.

Create my resume

Build a professional resume in minutes using this template.

What skills help Product Line Managers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on product line manager resumes?

Davide , Ph.D. Bolchini Ph.D.

Professor and Chair, Director, Human-Computer Interaction Program, Indiana University

In my experience, our most successful MS HCI graduates (https://soic.iupui.edu/hcc/graduate/hci/masters/) take the time to put together a compelling online portfolio that showcases their project experience and skill set in action, as applied to specific research opportunities they had with faculty or projects they worked on during their UX internships in the industry. The personal brand of UX junior professional can be greatly enriched when the portfolio includes not only what the student has done, but why and what was the design rationale behind the process and the results, what was the larger context and goal of the project (especially in large collaborative projects), and what was the specific role and contribution of the student. The discussion about the portfolio of a candidate has become a key ingredient of the interview for UX jobs, besides other important activities such as UX design exercises or remote assignments.

What product line manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Matthew Lopresti

Associate professor of Philosophy and humanities, Hawaii Pacific University

Captains of industry are often asked about the traits they look for in new hires. Critical thinking is always a must, as well as excellent written and oral communication skills.

These are the core competencies of the discipline of philosophy. Top-notch communication abilities begin with a depth of ability to understand nuanced, complex details, and then turn around and clearly communicate these complex ideas in easily digestible bits of information. It is no coincidence that students who graduate with philosophy degrees repeatedly dominate graduate and law-school entrance exams like the GRE and LSAT; they are often the sharpest thinkers with the quickest minds

What technical skills for a product line manager stand out to employers?

Patrick Lindsay

Assistant Lecturer, Miami University

Most all employers expect full competency in creatively using technology for communications. By that I don't mean mobile devices or social media usgae. I mean a widespread working knowledge of technology tools (apps, software, etc). Employers are seeking those candidates who can convey thoughts, ideas, responses in a multi-faceted way. Basic competency in written correspondence is no longer enough. Employers want to see daily business communication not only contain demonstration of good writing (grammar, syntax, formatting) but also being able to create embedded images, video, and relevant web links to better communicate. And not just for a big fancy client presentation, but consistently in regular communication. Further, they want words supported by data; support words with numerical evidence. As such, advanced excel skills and real experience in data sources and extraction stand out to employers.

Similarly, they expect professional virtual audio-visual communication. It is not enough to just be on the Zoom call. The expectation is to be prepared, to be engaged, to be aware of the audio and video angles and backgrounds. To demonstrate active listening as well as enthusiastic, energetic, even animated talking. Body language and facial expression are even more enhanced in virtual communications.

If there was a positive outcome from being thrust into an academic world that was all virtual, it was the need to learn new technical skills, not only for classwork, but also for social interaction. This will not only be appreciated by employers, but for many, expected.

Do you want to know more?

List of product line manager skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a product line manager resume and required skills for a product line manager to have include:

Product Management
Customer Service
PLM
Project Management
Market Research
Market Trends
Product Development
Continuous Improvement
Business Development
Competitive Analysis
Product Strategy
Customer Satisfaction
Product Life Cycle
R
Product Roadmap
Product Design
Product Portfolio

Cycle Management
Global Product
Trade Shows
Revenue Growth
Business Cases
Pricing Strategy
Gross Margin
Lifecycle Management
Product Launch
Business Plan
Cost Reduction
Market Strategy
Product Line
Technical Support
Product Training
Infrastructure Management
Product Specifications

Java
Market Analysis
RF
ROI
On-Time Delivery
Sigma
Sales Tools
IP
OEM
Customer Support
Virtualization
VOC
Product Quality
Competitor Analysis
Executive Management

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse executive management jobs