How much do product specialists make?

Product specialists make $79,744 annually, on average. However, total pay depends on the industry, location, and experience. On the higher end, product specialists can make around $120,000. The top-paying industries for product specialists are pharmaceutical (offering six-figure salaries), automotive (around $90,000 range), and finance companies (around $80,000 range).

Is product specialist a good career?

Yes, product specialist is a good career. Product specialists generally have excellent knowledge about a product and work with a business unit to ensure excellent product delivery. Product specialists perform product demonstrations to customers and other stakeholders and assist in their promotions and product releases.

What are the skills required for a product specialist?

The skills required for a product specialist are customer service, communication, and product knowledge. Because the position entails interacting with current and potential customers, it's important to provide helpful and cheerful service to make them feel welcome and return in the future.

What is a product specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Kim Chatani

A product specialist is responsible for a specific product or range of products within a company. They work with the development team to ensure that the product meets customer needs and expectations. They also provide support to sales and marketing teams by creating product training materials and conducting product demonstrations. Product specialists may also conduct market research to identify customer needs and preferences, and they use this information to inform product development decisions.

What general advice would you give to a product specialist?

Kim Chatani

Assistant Professor, Concordia University Irvine

The career path for graduating students is full of unpredictability, as we have seen during this COVID 19 pandemic. In addition to academic excellence, graduates will face challenges that will test their core principles and beliefs. My advice is to view each challenge you meet with a long-term perspective while addressing the immediate concerns in a balanced way. Your career will span decades, and what you may face during the first several years will only be a fraction of your professional career. View how your immediate decision may impact you in the long-term.

ScoreProduct SpecialistUS Average

Salary

6.7

Avg. Salary $85,932

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.9

Growth rate 19%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.13%

Asian 10.59%

Black or African American 5.22%

Hispanic or Latino 12.48%

Unknown 5.01%

White 66.56%

Gender

female 40.17%

male 59.83%

Age - 34

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 34

Stress level

4.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a product specialist?

Pros

Competitive salary and benefits packages
Opportunities for career growth and advancement
Exposure to different aspects of the business
Opportunity to travel for trade shows or conferences
Flexibility in work schedule or location

Cons

High-pressure environment with tight deadlines and high expectations
May require long hours or weekend work to meet deadlines or attend events
May need to handle difficult or unhappy customers or clients
Can be stressful dealing with product issues or failures in the market
Can be challenging to stay up-to-date with industry trends and advancements

Key steps to become a product specialist

Explore product specialist education requirements

Most common product specialist degrees

Bachelor's

64.3 %

Associate

15.2 %

High School Diploma

8.3 %

Start to develop specific product specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	19.12%
Product Knowledge	6.80%
Sales Floor	6.65%
Patients	5.98%
Excellent Interpersonal	3.59%

Complete relevant product specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New product specialists 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 specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real product specialist resumes.

Research product specialist duties and responsibilities

Create and manage RFP responses for potential customers and develop product quotes base on customer requirements.
Manage projects and priorities list of ongoing engineering plans base on ROI and business needs, and relay to operations regularly.
Perform weekly review and update of lead list against opportunities manage in Salesforce.com.
Manage telephone relationships with senior management of client companies to troubleshoot and develop product.

Prepare your product specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your product specialist 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 specialist 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 specialist resume templates

Build a professional product specialist 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 specialist resume.

Apply for product specialist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a product specialist 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 do product specialists rate their job?

5/5

Based on 1 ratings

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Product specialist reviews

5.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019

Pros

TheBeing a Product Specialist your main job description is to work very closely with technical engineers, designer, product analysts and customers to improve company's product inline to customer's feedback or studying or keeping eye on competitor's products to put more and more diversity, more features/options into your product(s) for higher selling points, studying market dynamics to analyze ways for gaining more market share for your product, analyzing day to day digital marketing practices and to implement them in collaboration with sales team for more higher sales. Except this all you would also be given management/monitoring jobs from time to time this might includes managing customer support team, sales team etc.

Cons

The Being a Product Specialist your main job description is to work very closely with technical engineers, designer, product analysts and customers to improve company's product inline to customer's feedback or studying or keeping eye on competitor's products to put more and more diversity, more features/options into your product(s) for higher selling points, studying market dynamics to analyze ways for gaining more market share for your product, analyzing day to day digital marketing practices and to implement them in collaboration with sales team for more higher sales. Except this all you would also be given management/monitoring jobs from time to time this might includes managing customer support team, sales team etc.