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Product manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

6 min read

Quoted experts

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

Bruce Heiman Ph.D.

Some of the most important hard skills a product manager can possess include market research, product strategy, and quality assurance (QA). It's important that product managers also have ample evidence of product management experience on their resume. Product managers may also need the hard skills of experience in managing user interface, depending on the industry.

When it comes to soft skills, product managers should have incredible customer service skills. Product managers need to ensure that a product and its rollout meet customer needs, so customer service skills are crucial.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical product manager skills. We ranked the top skills for product managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 10.8% of product manager resumes contained product management as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a product manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 product 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 managers use product management:

Lead product management through direct management of application engineering, product development planning and strategy, and leadership of development engineering.
Provide ongoing product management support, technical support, oversight of program level enhancements, and evaluation of overall program effectiveness.

2. QA

QA, or Quality Assurance is a procedure that entails all of the steps taken to avoid any errors in the manufacturing process or in the production of the goods that a company produces. It can also include ensuring the consistency of the services rendered. Quality assurance ensures that the quality of the service delivered to consumers meets or exceeds the promised expectations. This greatly aids in the prevention of any complications that might arise after the goods or services have been distributed. It makes sure that customers are satisfied.

Here's how product managers use qa:

Led weekly meetings between engineering, sales/marketing, and QA departments to facilitate communication, collaboration and resolution of product issues.
Compiled detailed functional and technical requirements for projects to ensure efficient development builds and proper QA completions.

3. Product Strategy

Here's how product managers use product strategy:

Gathered and analyzed information to define web-based Performance Evaluation System specifications and communicated product strategy and functionality to the development team.
Prepared military segment business plan including analysis of market opportunity and forecast, product strategy, communications plan and budget.

4. Project Management

Here's how product managers use project management:

Performed extensive project management duties for new customer programs including IT requirements gathering, database setup, administration and data migration.
Fostered project growth through effective project management, financial modeling, and market research to determine project viability and cost-effectiveness.

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 managers use market research:

Tracked competitive landscape, market developments and market research to generate innovative and creative marketing/communication strategies and implement new business opportunities.
Manage the coordination and analysis of in-depth market research to understand customer behavior, product satisfaction, and emerging business opportunities.

6. User Stories

Here's how product managers use user stories:

Partner across functional areas to engage and influence internal and external stakeholders to develop product definitions, requirements, and user stories
Gathered requirements through user interviews and observations, created and prioritized user stories, maintained product backlog, conducted competitive analysis.

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7. Regression

Here's how product managers use regression:

Developed and implemented multiple linear regression models for pricing new and existing products.
Conducted regression analyses to associate game behaviors with desired outcomes.

8. Product Roadmap

Here's how product managers use product roadmap:

Defined and implemented product roadmaps and minimum viable product for each release, prioritized requirements by gaining customer/user and internal buy-ins.
Engaged direct customer collaboration via Request for Enhancement (RFE) program and incorporated customer needs into completely revamped product roadmap.

9. User Experience

Here's how product managers use user experience:

Run both internal and external usability sessions to test new and existing functionality, and ultimately improve the overall user experience.
Improved existing site merchandising functionality to integrate into the relevant product vertical booking resulting in a more consistent end user experience.

10. Scrum

Scrum is a lean structure for communicating, designing, and promoting complex products, with a focus on programming development. It has been applied to a variety of areas, including manufacturing, testing, new technology, and marketing techniques. Scrum is a simple framework that helps people, organizations, and teams generate value by providing many solutions to complicated problems.

Here's how product managers use scrum:

Implemented and directed Scrum methodology for software and algorithm development team through iterative and incremental development cycles with daily Sprint meetings.
Utilized Scrum methodologies for new product and adhered to traditional waterfall methodology for the classic product.

11. Product Specifications

A product specification is a document detailing all the requirements and key features of a product that's about to be built. It's mostly called a blueprint because it's the product in its theoretical form which is also the preliminary stage of product design.

Here's how product managers use product specifications:

Established product specifications, evaluated and qualified potential global supply base through site audits, drove marketing programs for successful introductions.
Researched market requirements, defined product specifications, developed pricing and revenue models and created and delivered marketing programs and materials.

12. Product Vision

Product vision is a vision statement that gives an idea about a product. It tells about what the product is, for whom, and how it will benefit the targeted consumers. It gives the employees a bigger perspective on what they're working on and helps in achieving the long-term mission of a product.

Here's how product managers use product vision:

Developed product positioning & competitive differentiation analysis with product vision and communicated product benefits to customers, partners and internal teams.
Created Competitive Analysis for product (Target Marketer), obtained approval of pricing strategy and product vision/strategy document.

13. 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 managers use customer service:

Managed and monitored day to day project activities; collaborated with vendor management and executive team to ensure appropriate customer service.
Led software development engineers, quality assurance engineers and customer service team members to ensure proper development and implementation of designs.

14. 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 managers use product development:

Managed $50 million outdoor decorative lighting product line inclusive of new product development, price/margin management and existing product rationalization.
Maintained customer relationships with Product Development PhD Chemists and Chemical Engineers at major chemical companies, developing new business opportunities.

15. Jira

Here's how product managers use jira:

Led JIRA Database development to facilitate needed policy and requirements changes in response to stakeholder feedback and management assessments.
Translated unmet user expectations into actionable feature improvement or bug reports using JIRA and other ticket-based systems.

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What skills help Product 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 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 hard/technical skills are most important for product managers?

Bruce Heiman Ph.D.

Professor of International Business, San Francisco State University

-Analytical skills (ability to gather data, clean it, analyze it, write-up results and present on what the meaning of the analysis suggests for action (the last one is most important--"what does it really mean?"

-Some experience and skills with coding in any language (at the moment, Python or C++ are preferred, though Ruby on Rails is also good)

-Deep spreadsheet skills (pivot tables and macros, as examples).

-Relational database skills, including programming (e.g., MySQL)

-Data mining

-AI/Machine Learning experience

What product 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 type of skills will young product managers need?

Dr. Barbara Davis

William J. Atkins Dean, Centenary College of Louisiana

Analysis - Graduates will need to analyze situations, identify the best choices, and seek solutions with the highest benefit to the organization.

Creativity - Graduates will need to possess critical and creative thinking skills.

Flexibility - Graduates must remain flexible to succeed in a highly changing environment.

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

Keith Hassell

Executive Director of Career & Professional Development, Sacred Heart University

Employers are increasingly looking for applied skillsets and additional certifications to set a candidate apart. Sacred Heart University has recently launched a remote work certification, which houses three modules - focusing on the remote worker, the remote team and the remote leader, providing the tools and resources to comfortably leverage and utilize virtual platforms at various organizations. Additional specialized training, certifications and more are great selling tools pending on the specific area of interest. Certifications are common in areas such as project management, sales, IT/network/software, Google application and more. The candidate needs to think, "What can I do that is beyond my coursework to show I am passionate about my field? How do I make myself stand out?" Certifications is an attainable way to do this.
In addition, soft skills continue to be equally important in today's job market. NACE (the National Association of Colleges and Employers) identified seven core competencies that employers seek from entry level candidates which include critical thinking/problem solving, oral/written communication, teamwork/collaboration, digital technology, leadership, professionalism/work ethic, career management and global/intercultural fluency.

What soft skills should all product managers possess?

Dr. Richard Conde Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, University of Houston - Downtown

The need for soft skills are consistent through time. With our societal focus on social media, texting, emojis, etc. It appears to me companies are looking for the following:

- Active listening skills

- Willingness to be self-reflective and accept feedback

- Accept different perspectives. The collision of ideas creates knowledge

- Communicate to the listener (at their level). Flex communicators

- Cultural intelligence. Demographics changes will require better understanding of team member's, boss', customer's, etc. cultural context

Do you want to know more?

List of product manager skills to add to your resume

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

Product Management
QA
Product Strategy
Project Management
Market Research
User Stories
Regression
Product Roadmap
User Experience
Scrum
Product Specifications
Product Vision
Customer Service
Product Development
Jira

API
Saas
Customer Feedback
CRM
Market Trends
Market Analysis
Digital Marketing
Business Cases
Strong Analytical
SQL
Business Development
Product Design
Competitive Analysis
Development Process
Lifecycle Management

Competitive Landscape
Customer Satisfaction
Confluence
Product Portfolio
B Testing
Cycle Management
Pre Sales
UI
A/B
Product Life Cycle
Java
Patients
ROI
Client Facing
Cloud Computing

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

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