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Marketing and Public Relations | Product Manager

Product Manager

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

Manages and coordinates all the processes involved in creating a product. Oversees work involved with product design, production, distribution, marketing and sales.

Job Outlook

There were 2049 Product Manager job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 69801 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Product Manager industry, which includes the Product Manager career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2012:

Salary

Many new Product Manager jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $94,721.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $92,364.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Product Manager postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $84,551.

Education and Experience

Posted Product Manager jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree1%
Bachelor's Degree54%
Master's Degree39%
Doctoral Degree0%
Other6%

Posted Product Manager jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years13%
3 to 5 years60%
6 to 8 years18%
9+ years8%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Product Manager positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Communication Skills (49%)
  • Teamwork / Collaboration (46%)
  • Planning (28%)
  • Research (26%)
  • Problem Solving (24%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Product Management (77%)
  • Product Development (36%)
  • Project Management (22%)
  • Market Research (14%)
  • Product Marketing (12%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Product Sales (14%)
  • Budgeting (12%)
  • Customer Service (12%)
  • Business Development (10%)
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (10%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Business Case Analysis (6%)
  • Category Management (6%)
  • Product Design (5%)
  • Articulating Value Propositions (5%)
  • Pricing Strategy (5%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Product Manager skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Senior Product Manager
  • Category Manager
  • Associate Product Manager
  • Product Manager Remote

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Product Manager jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • Amazon (2041)
  • Humana (1085)
  • eBay (915)
  • Dell (886)
  • General Motors (712)

North Carolina

  • Lowe's Companies, Inc (138)
  • Hanesbrands, Inc. (53)
  • IBM (36)
  • Lenovo (33)
  • Humana (27)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!