What does a product support manager do?
Product support managers are management professionals who are responsible for managing the activities related to product support for an organization. These managers must lead a team of professionals to meet all the objectives of the organization by ensuring product quality control and rectifying any potential issues. They are required to attend and participate in business meetings so that they can suggest innovative support strategies to increase the recognition of their products. Product support managers must also assist in resolving customer complaints by facilitating the communications between their clients and the organization.
Product support manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real product support manager resumes:
- Manage BOM reviews, assuring that all components are approved or on product road map.
- Lead ETL development team to design, code, test and implement quality software, mentoring team members as appropriate.
- Perform UNIX administration while training and managing other administrators.
- Manage aircraft delivery, in-service maintenance, logistics and supply chain management of twenty-six AAC customer fleets totaling fifty-six aircraft.
- Create and maintain employee payroll timekeeping in PeopleSoft.
- Develop ad hoc and automate reports through SQL and native application queries.
- Prepare ROI, NPV, payback and cash flow analysis for all deals
- Maintain retention tracking protocols as a SME on various U.S. utility supplier protocols.
- Conduct technical training seminars for field force and marketing clients to utilize CRM software.
- Catapult efficiency and time savings through implementation of company's first SaaS CRM system.
- Create cost models to determine new product profit margins, ROI and operating budgets.
- Explain all differences between legacy and new payroll systems by processing several parallel and live payrolls.
- Work with and support clients and customers that implement systems ranging from Linux to HP-Unix, and Microsoft products.
- Administer SQL architecture in support of litigation projects.
- Improve customer-facing system availability to consistently exceed SLA targets.
Product support manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Product Support Managers are proficient in Customer Service, Customer Support, and Customer Inquiries. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Listening skills, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Product Support Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 12%
Directed Technical and Customer Service Departments, Warranty Administration, Quality Control, and designing and implementing sales/service programs.
- Customer Support, 7%
Enhanced customer support through implementation of web-based customer ticket-tracking application with integrated online knowledge base across Client Services organization.
- Customer Inquiries, 6%
Led teams in problem resolution and consistently exceeded turnaround time for customer inquiries.
- Post Sales, 6%
Led post sales and system modernization activities; Prepared and presented sales proposals to customers Professional Profile (Continued).
- Technical Support, 5%
Developed and delivered classroom/hands-on training program to customer engineers which significantly reduced the number of technical support calls for our product.
- Continuous Improvement, 5%
Developed software tools to analyze equipment logs for troubleshooting customer issues and evaluate equipment performance for continuous improvement initiatives.
Common skills that a product support manager uses to do their job include "customer service," "customer support," and "customer inquiries." You can find details on the most important product support manager responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. One of the key soft skills for a product support manager to have is customer-service skills. You can see how this relates to what product support managers do because "computer support specialists must be patient and sympathetic." Additionally, a product support manager resume shows how product support managers use customer-service skills: "control customer escalations and critical issues with engineers, strategy and development team to ensure positive customer support experience. "
Listening skills. Another essential skill to perform product support manager duties is listening skills. Product support managers responsibilities require that "support workers must be able to understand the problems that their customers are describing and know when to ask questions to clarify the situation." Product support managers also use listening skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "communicated quality problems to the responsible manufacturing groups resulting in quick problem resolution and corrective action implementation. "
Speaking skills. product support managers are also known for speaking skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to product support manager responsibilities, because "support workers must describe the solutions to computer problems in a way that a nontechnical person can understand." A product support manager resume example shows how speaking skills is used in the workplace: "represented rational customer support as voting member on multiple offering teams ensuring supports issues were raised to the larger team. "
Writing skills. A big part of what product support managers do relies on "writing skills." You can see how essential it is to product support manager responsibilities because "strong writing skills are useful for preparing instructions and email responses for employees and customers, as well as for real-time web chat interactions." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical product support manager tasks: "reduced warranty claims by assisting vehicle manufacturers in rewriting system and component test procedures. "
Problem-solving skills. Another common skill required for product support manager responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." This skill comes up in the duties of product support managers all the time, as "support workers must identify both simple and complex computer problems, analyze them, and solve them." An excerpt from a real product support manager resume shows how this skill is central to what a product support manager does: "integrate application and pbx solutions for customer support trouble duplication efforts and provide data aggregation results. "
The three companies that hire the most product support managers are:
- Oracle143 product support managers jobs
- Proofpoint68 product support managers jobs
- Change Healthcare51 product support managers jobs
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Compare different product support managers
Product support manager vs. Supervisor, technical support
A supervisor of technical support oversees the technical support operations in a company, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. It is their duty to set guidelines and timelines, monitor the daily operations of staff, coordinate with managers and engineers, delegate tasks among teams, and liaise with potential business partners. There are also instances where they assist clients through calls and correspondence, assisting them with their concerns and inquiries. Moreover, a technical support supervisor must lead teams while enforcing the company's standards and policies.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a product support manager are more likely to require skills like "post sales," "technical support," "continuous improvement," and "project management." On the other hand, a job as a supervisor, technical support requires skills like "performance reviews," "pcs," "performance appraisals," and "desktop support." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Supervisors, technical support really shine in the finance industry with an average salary of $90,464. Comparatively, product support managers tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $99,506.On average, supervisors, technical support reach lower levels of education than product support managers. Supervisors, technical support are 6.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Product support manager vs. Manager
Managers are responsible for a specific department, function, or employee group. They oversee their assigned departments and all the employees under the department. Managers are responsible that the department they are handling is functioning well. They set the department goals and the steps they must take to achieve the goals. They are also in charge of assessing the performance of their departments and their employees. Additionally, managers are responsible for interviewing prospective candidates for department vacancies and assessing their fit to the needs of the department. Managers also set the general working environment in the department, and they are expected to ensure that their employees remain motivated.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real product support manager resumes. While product support manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer support," "post sales," "technical support," and "continuous improvement," managers use skills like "payroll," "food safety," "financial statements," and "management."
On average, managers earn a lower salary than product support managers. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, managers earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $71,781. Whereas product support managers have higher pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $99,506.In general, managers achieve lower levels of education than product support managers. They're 6.1% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product support manager vs. Support
A support employee is responsible for assisting the business operations and responding to customers' inquiries and concerns regarding its goods and services. Support logs all customers' interaction and escalates potential complaints to the appropriate department. They also help with implementing strategic procedures to improve operations and reach maximum productivity. A support employee must have excellent communication and customer service skills, ensuring clients' satisfaction with the services and maintain good feedback to boost the company's brand, attract more clients, and increase revenues.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a product support manager is likely to be skilled in "customer support," "post sales," "technical support," and "continuous improvement," while a typical support is skilled in "cash management," "ladders," "basic math," and "math."
Supports make a very good living in the professional industry with an average annual salary of $50,563. On the other hand, product support managers are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $99,506.Most supports achieve a lower degree level compared to product support managers. For example, they're 7.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product support manager vs. Systems support
A systems support agent is responsible for resolving system applications and network issues, performing technical configuration, and upgrading systems infrastructure. A systems support representative conducts regular maintenance and diagnostic tests on the computer applications to ensure its optimal performance and efficiency to support business operations and avoid delays in deliverables. They also assist the technology team in designing backup systems and improve existing networks according to business requirements and specifications. They write resolution reports for reference to prevent the reoccurrence of system malfunction and inconsistencies.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between product support managers and systems supports, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a product support manager might have more use for skills like "customer inquiries," "post sales," "continuous improvement," and "project management." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of systems supports require skills like "troubleshoot," "provides technical support," "desktop support," and "end user support. "
The professional industry tends to pay the highest salaries for systems supports, with average annual pay of $72,760. Comparatively, the highest product support manager annual salary comes from the technology industry.systems supports reach lower levels of education compared to product support managers, in general. The difference is that they're 5.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of product support manager
Updated January 8, 2025
