Senior Product Manager
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The role of a Senior Product Manager involves guiding the activities charged with product line contribution. The functions attributed to this role are inclusive of efforts to increase the profitability of already existent products as well as the development of new products for the business. The Senior Product Manager aids in the development of new and developed versions of existent products and in the development of new product ideas based on his experience and interactions with consumers and prospective consumers.
The Senior Product Manager in business is usually an individual who possesses a blend of business and technical savvy; a vision, and a drive that transforms that vision into a reality. The Senior Product Manager is a person who is extremely comfortable in the market/field in order to understand the market needs and come up with innovative solutions through the business’s product.
A Senior Product manager must also be very willing and able to communicate across multiple levels within the business. This is because this position requires that one work closely with the engineering department in order to determine product release requirements. The Senior Product Manager also works closely with the marketing department in an effort to determine the best market strategies, offering product positioning advice, as well as target consumer advice.
In addition to this, the Senior Product Manager also serves as an internal and external evangelist for the business’s product, occasionally working hand-in-hand with the sales department.
Objectives and Responsibilities of Senior Product Manager
Product Line Lifecycle: The Senior Product Manager is responsible for managing the product line life cycle all the way from the strategic planning to tactical initiatives. The Senior Product Manager specifies the market requirements in relation to the business’s product. That is both for existent and future products based on market research realized through interactions with the consumers and prospective consumers.
Collaboration: The position of Senior Product Manager demands a great deal of collaboration with numerous departments in the business. The Senior Product Manager works cross-functionally with the engineering, marketing, design, sales, and other departments. He works to develop strong relationships between all these departments that allow for the smooth and efficient flow of product activities and the establishment of trust with crucial partner teams.
An especially vital part of collaboration, the Senior Product Manager works hand in hand with technical departments in order to guarantee that they are constantly meeting consumers’ needs and resolving issues as they emerge and evolve. For example, the Senior Product Manager will work closely with the engineering department in order to ensure that product specifications based on product/market research are followed to completion.
Recruitment: The Senior Product Manager is tasked with the interviewing and training of junior employees in the product line. Further, the Senior Product Manager will in some cases take up the role of planning, delegating, and directing these employees’ work. In cases where the Senior Product Manager will take up this role, he will also be responsible for their performance appraisal, rewarding, and problem resolution.
At this capacity, the Senior Product Manager offers the Human Resource department insight in the hiring process of junior employees in the product management department. The Senior Product Manager also forwards any arising employee issues to the Human Resources department for resolution.
Product/Market Analysis: The Senior Product Manager regularly performs competitive, pricing, profitability analyses, which are used to recommend strategies that will improve the business’s product’s market position, enable cost reduction, and improve quality over product competition. This research enables the product line departments to manage their individual product lines based on accurate and factual information leading to a better execution of their duties/functions.
Product Strategy: The Senior Product Manager is tasked with the setting up of a product’s strategy. At this capacity, he is also expected, through relationships established with other departments, to influence acceptance and adoption of that strategy. These strategies, however, have to be forwarded to the Head of Product Management and Director of Product Management for approval. In addition, at this capacity, the Senior Product Manager is the expected to ensure that the overall business strategies and goals stay in line with the strategies developed.
As such, the Senior Product Manager develops and promotes implementation of a company-wide market plan for the business’s product; again partnering up with all departments for the execution of this plan.
Product Evangelism: The Senior Product Manager also plays the role of product promotion. The Senior Product Manager evangelizes the product’s strong points, in conjunction with the sales department, to the consumers during their interactions; promoting the product’s core functionalities, values, and benefits.
Other Duties: The Senior Product Manager also performs other duties as required by the Head of Product Management or the Employer. For example, attending tradeshows and representing the business and its product.
Required Qualifications of Senior Product Manager
Education: For this role a candidate needs to have a degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Computer Science, or Engineering; preferably masters degrees in the same, or the equivalent in experience.
Experience: The candidate must have an experience of 3-5 years in product management. Additionally, the candidate must have had experience and a proven track record in successful working with SaaS-products and applications. The candidate must also have an understanding of common analyses such as product analysis and competitor analysis.
Communication: The position demands a wide range of interactions as is evident from the functions presented above. Therefore, excellent communication skills are a must; both written and verbal. Communication skills for a Senior Product Manager come in handy during cross-functional interactions, for example, during the presentation of formulated strategies to colleagues as well as seniors. These skills are especially necessary during the routine interactions with the business’s consumers and potential consumers.
Ms Office: The Senior Product Manager must be proficient in Ms Word and the Ms Excel analytical tools. He must also be proficient in PowerPoint for the purpose of creating engaging content for presentations that he is required to deliver to his colleagues as well as to senior managers.
People skills: Besides great communication skills candidates must possess excellent people skills. The Senior Product Manager must have good people skills to facilitate the smooth interactions across various departments and levels of the business.
A senior Product Manager will be required to have persuasion skills supported in their people skills in order able to persuade consumers of the functionality and benefits of the business’s product during their interactions. The candidate must demonstrate an ability to frame presentations depending on the audience at hand with ease as well as an ability to impact people and form long-lasting relations.
Multi-Tasking Skills: Due to the diverse roles incorporated in this role, a candidate will have to demonstrate an ability to comfortably deliver simultaneous and outstanding results to the customers, the product line departments, and the shareholders.
Analytical Skills: The position of Senior Product Manager demands an extremely keen and analytical individual who can develop strategies using lean methods. The candidate must also possess an ability to identify facts or information by breaking down information and analyzing results from which can be used to come up with suitable solutions that can solve product related issues.