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 Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 1% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 54% |
| Master's Degree | 39% |
| Doctoral Degree | 0% |
| Other | 6% |
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 Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 13% |
| 3 to 5 years | 60% |
| 6 to 8 years | 18% |
| 9+ years | 8% |
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!
- Management, Risk and Analytics Master's Degrees
- Marketing Graduate Certificates
- Operations Research Master's Degrees
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.