While the field of product management tends to dominate post-MBA career and recruiting conversations, there are several other functions integral to the success and operations of a technology company. As most technology roles tend to be highly cross functional, there is a likelihood that in your career you will interact with stakeholders from across the organization in various positions. While organizational structures differ from company to company, the following roles are commonly hired for at startups and large technology companies alike.
Product Management
Product managers, or PMs, are responsible for a product or a product feature across its entire life cycle. Core responsibilities include defining product vision, setting product strategy and executing on it by delivering new functionality that meets customer needs and supports business goals. Product managers usually work directly with a team of engineers by gathering requirements and providing the team with well-defined features. PMs also may work closely with product marketing, product design, and sales departments to align on feature development and launch.
Product Marketing
Product marketing is the process of bringing a product to market from conceptualization to launch. Product marketing managers, or PMMs, determine the product’s positioning and messaging, determine a go-to-market strategy and conduct market research with the aim to drive demand and usage. Product marketing managers often work closely with product managers, sales, and product designers to align on the product’s use cases and value proposition. This position can also be highly analytical, as PMMs prioritize hitting KPIs related to trial, growth, adoption, revenue, and churn.
Product Design
A product designer oversees the design of a product from inception to completion, with a focus on both user needs and business goals. Responsibilities include exploring product problems, developing design solutions to solve these problems and implementing changes based on the users’ feedback and the product’s business strategy. Product designers often work closely with product managers to build a product experience that solves a user problem. roduct designers commonly use tools like the design software Figma and wireframing product Balsamiq.
Product Strategy
Product strategists identify new opportunities, assess product performance and develop long-term strategic plans for current and future product lines. Product strategists also conduct analysis on product performance and user behavior to make recommendations across product, design and engineering. The difference between product strategy and product management roles is that PMs oversee the product development stage whereas product strategists do not.
Sales
Tech sales workers are responsible for selling technology products or services to businesses, with a focus on helping a business or customer solve an issue to motivate them to make a purchase. Responsibilities include researching and identifying potential accounts, providing product demonstrations and providing technical information and explanations. Since products are often subscription-based, sales teams build relationships and work on helping buyers see long-term product value. This position can be lucrative, especially for products with multi-year expensive licensing fees.