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What does a Senior Product Manager do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
What does a Senior Product Manager do

A senior product manager oversees the workflow and workforce involved in product and service development, ensuring a high return for its investments. They are primarily responsible for assessing and providing recommendations, producing review and reference documents, and obtaining feedback from consumers and high-ranking company personnel. Furthermore, as a senior product manager, they must lead a group of product managers, motivating and supervising them in their joint effort to accomplish goals according to the company's standards and policies.

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Senior product manager responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior product manager resumes:

  • Manage and lead pipeline visualization project team to successful presentation at annual customer event.
  • Research reimbursement and payment/coding policies with manage care plans and Medicare for new services.
  • Manage customer CRM implementations, upgrades and customer relationships (at all client levels) with sales team as SME.
  • Manage the PLM and PDM product quality data metrics to review process successes and deficiencies enhancing existing product delivery work cycles.
  • Lead SaaS application visibility and performance monitoring in hybrid enterprise to accelerate adoption of cloud.
  • Manage requirements capture, engineering and QA schedules, feature stability and iterative feature revisions.
  • Create customer presentations in PowerPoint with product information market trends and analysis.
  • Cross functional process creator / owner for ERP application integration process.
  • Implement use of JIRA for tracking all tasks associate with product build and testing.
  • Use of SQL to write large database queries to uncover client-relate and industry trends and insights.
  • Design new product brochures, catalog pages and other materials for all assign products Microsoft PowerPoint.
  • Function as a resource on care management concepts, principles and strategies, healthcare management and delivery.
  • Define and lead the creative direction for new product concepts focuse on healthcare systems integration and medical device connectivity.
  • Implement a reporting process to analyze the call volume, top issues, incident resolution time and other important KPIs.
  • Help lead the charge in defining the value of the mobile channel, market position, product differentiation and KPIs.

Senior product manager skills and personality traits

We calculated that 11% of Senior Product Managers are proficient in Product Management, Cloud, and Product Strategy. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Creativity.

We break down the percentage of Senior Product Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Product Management, 11%

    Developed and championed a product management discipline leading to effective enhancements of a SaaS lead-generation solution for residential real estate agents.

  • Cloud, 6%

    Content integrated private cloud messaging and technical capabilities to convey differentiated value and capabilities of System Center 2012 Infrastructure Management.

  • Product Strategy, 4%

    Worked cross-functionally with Deposits Operations, Business Technology and other third parties to support product initiatives and execute on product strategy.

  • User Stories, 4%

    Conceptualized user stories, created acceptance criteria and guided developers in successful completion of multiple epics to extend product functionality.

  • Product Vision, 4%

    Presented and promoted the product vision across multiple business units, internal technical teams, external development partners and executive leadership.

  • Product Roadmap, 4%

    Ensured prioritization of the highest business value projects by establishing a structured methodology for translating business objectives into a product roadmap.

"product management," "cloud," and "product strategy" are among the most common skills that senior product managers use at work. You can find even more senior product manager responsibilities below, including:

Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a senior product manager to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." Additionally, a senior product manager resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "renovated the ui, optimized the website flow and a/b testing to make decisions based on data with bi teams. "

Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling senior product manager duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." According to a senior product manager resume, here's how senior product managers can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "created company's first business plan for unified communications product line. "

Creativity. This is an important skill for senior product managers to perform their duties. For an example of how senior product manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior product manager: "improved operational efficiency, reduced inventory, and simplified product line ordering process. ".

Interpersonal skills. A big part of what senior product managers do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to senior product manager responsibilities because "managers must deal with a range of people in different roles, both inside and outside the organization." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical senior product manager tasks: "possess strong analytical, communication and interpersonal skills. "

Organizational skills. Another crucial skill for a senior product manager to carry out their responsibilities is "organizational skills." A big part of what senior product managers relies on this skill, since "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." How this skill relates to senior product manager duties can be seen in an example from a senior product manager resume snippet: "worked closely with a client on the product roadmap, resource planning, and organizational development infrastructure. "

Most common senior product manager skills

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Compare different senior product managers

Senior product manager vs. Director of product development

A Director of Product Development supervises and implements product development policies, initiatives, and objectives. They conduct market research to determine consumer needs and identify competitors.

The annual salary of directors of product development is $6,639 higher than the average salary of senior product managers.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both senior product manager and director of product development positions are skilled in product management, product strategy, and product roadmap.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior product manager are more likely to require skills like "cloud," "user stories," "product vision," and "sr." On the other hand, a job as a director of product development requires skills like "software development," "fda," "product quality," and "product launch." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

Directors of product development earn the highest salaries when working in the manufacturing industry, with an average yearly salary of $142,193. On the other hand, senior product managers are paid more in the start-up industry with an average salary of $156,609.On average, directors of product development reach similar levels of education than senior product managers. Directors of product development are 4.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Senior product manager vs. Product developer

A product developer is responsible for creating the designs of an industrial product based on the client's specifications and budget requirements. Product developers work closely with the whole design team to strategize and execute plans within the agreed timeframe. Product developers must be updated with the current industry trends, developing designs that would be competitive in the market, boosting the company's brand image to attract potential clients, and generate more revenues. A product developer should have excellent knowledge of the technology industry, as well as utilizing various software tools to create high-quality designs.

A career as a product developer brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a senior product manager. In fact, product developers salary is $45,239 lower than the salary of senior product managers per year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Senior product managers and product developers both require similar skills like "product management," "project management," and "market research" to carry out their responsibilities.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior product manager responsibilities requires skills like "cloud," "product strategy," "user stories," and "product vision." But a product developer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "html css," "c++," "c #," and "plm."

Product developers may earn a lower salary than senior product managers, but product developers earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $90,358. On the other hand, senior product managers receive higher pay in the start-up industry, where they earn an average salary of $156,609.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Product developers tend to reach lower levels of education than senior product managers. In fact, they're 8.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Senior product manager vs. Product director

The duties of a product director depend on one's place or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around overseeing the product development operations to ensure smooth flow and efficiency, devise strategies to improve processes, gather relevant data such as sales and customer feedback, and coordinate with different departments in developing new products and services. Furthermore, as a director, it is essential to lead and encourage departments to meet goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations, including its mission and vision.

An average product director eans a higher salary compared to the average salary of senior product managers. The difference in salaries amounts to product directors earning a $15,042 higher average salary than senior product managers.senior product managers and product directors both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "product management," "product strategy," and "product vision," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, senior product managers are more likely to have skills like "cloud," "user stories," "sr," and "product specifications." But a product director is more likely to have skills like "software development," "program management," "lean six sigma," and "product delivery."

Product directors earn the best pay in the internet industry, where they command an average salary of $155,810. Senior product managers earn the highest pay from the start-up industry, with an average salary of $156,609.When it comes to education, product directors tend to earn similar degree levels compared to senior product managers. In fact, they're 2.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Senior product manager vs. Product lead

A product lead is responsible for monitoring the development of new products and services of an organization, starting from brand conceptualization to official market release and distribution. Product leads identify effective product management by conducting data analysis and evaluating market statistics of customer demands. They coordinate with the clients on their specifications and requirements, including the budget limit and timely deliverables. A product lead manages the brand promotion on media platforms, creating content that adheres to the target audience.

Product leads average a lower salary than the annual salary of senior product managers. The difference is about $15,040 per year.While both senior product managers and product leads complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like product management, cloud, and product strategy, the two careers vary in some skills.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A senior product manager uses "product vision," "sr," "kpis," and "digital transformation." Product leads are more likely to have duties that require skills in "architecture," "continuous improvement," "c++," and "c #. "product leads enjoy the best pay in the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $129,039. For comparison, senior product managers earn the highest salary in the start-up industry.The average resume of product leads showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to senior product managers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 2.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.0%.

Types of senior product manager

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
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.

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