Product Management is one of the most powerful careers in the corporate world - every decision you take as a Product Manager can influence the behavior of millions of people using your product. Given the nature of the role and the huge brand names seeking Product Managers, it doesn't come as a surprise that such a heavyweight job function attracts massive paychecks and makes Product Management one of the most well-paid and revered job functions in the corporate world. So what kind of salaries do PMs draw in India and outside of India? Which companies are the best pay-masters when it comes to PM roles? And what is it that PMs do that makes their job so well paid? Let's take a look.
Who Are Product Managers? What Do Product Managers Do?
McKinsey & Company calls Product Managers mini-CEOs. "Product Managers are the glue that binds the many functions that touch a product—engineering, design, customer success, sales, marketing, operations, finance, legal, and more. They not only own the decisions about what gets built but also influence every aspect of how it gets built and launched."
A Product Manager wears many hats in a company and possesses knowledge about various functions that allow them to bring together cross-functional teams. As opposed to individuals in teams with specialized skill sets, a Product Manager leverages the skills of others to produce a very high-quality product.
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There are reasons why Product Managers are called mini-CEOs, one of them being that Product Management as a career also serves as a training ground for future CEOs. Do you know what Indra Nooyi (CEO of PepsiCo.), Susan Wojcicki (CEO of YouTube), Stewart Butterfield (CEO of Slack), Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft), Marissa Mayer (Ex-CEO of Yahoo), and Sundar Pichai (CEO of Alphabet) have in common? They were all Product Managers at different levels of seniority at some point in their careers.
What Does It Take To Become A Good Product Manager & Get Hired By Top Companies?
Julia Austin, who until June 2020 taught Product Management at the Harvard Business School, says a Product Manager must master baseline core competencies like conducting customer interviews and user testing, performing market assessments, pricing, and revenue modeling, etc.
She emphasizes that a good PM should have a high EQ, that is the ability to empathize with customers as well as have a strong relationship with their organization that would enable them to navigate both internal and external hurdles to ship a great product. Julia provides some invaluable insights into what it takes to become a Product Manager.
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Now let's get down to the brass tacks of this article and why you decided to read it, by answering the question...
How Much Do Product Managers Earn?
To put it simply - a lot! Depending upon the organization you end up working with, Product Management is one of the highest-paying jobs in the corporate world. An Indian MBA graduate can earn a median base salary of ₹ 15.2 lakhs per annum, excluding other salary components like bonuses. But this is just an overview. How much do top companies hiring Product Managers to pay? Which industry pays Product Managers the most? How much do Product Managers outside of India in countries like the US earn?
Given below is data, obtained from LinkedIn and compiled by Team AltUni, which in 4 tables answers all of the aforementioned questions to provide a crystalline picture of salaries that Product Managers earn in India and the United States of America.
Please note that the salary data provided below is not filtered by educational qualifications. Also, note that this salary data is for the job title 'Product Manager'. 'Senior Product Manager' and 'Directors of Product Management' etc. are higher level roles that pay even more than what Product Managers earn in a year! You can conduct your own independent research on salaries for these job roles using LinkedIn, Glassdoor, PayScale, and Indeed.com data.
Salaries Offered By Top Indian Companies For The Job Title 'Product Manager'
The top five companies offering the highest median base salaries for Product Management jobs are Flipkart, Myntra, Walmart, Amazon, and PayTM. These are all companies that regularly hire from India's top MBA campuses; in fact, Amazon is one of the top recruiters across most top-ranked business schools in India!
At these top-10 companies, a Product Manager can earn up to ₹ 38.00 lakhs a year and can expect to earn a minimum of ₹ 16 lakhs a year as a base salary. This excludes any bonuses and perks that are usually offered by these top organizations.
The table below also shows the diversity of industries from which companies are willing to hire PMs, including companies from the Hospitality, E-Commerce, Telecom, Aerospace, Architecture, and IT sectors.
Salaries Offered For The Job Title 'Product Manager' Based On Industry
It's common knowledge that tech companies hire PMs most aggressively and as is clear from the data above, they're also the best paymasters when it comes to these roles. But did you know that Product Managers are also in demand (and very well paid) in sectors like Real Estate, Travel, Airlines, Architecture, etc? PM in the airline industry, it is reported that they earn a median base salary of ₹ 24.00 lakhs a year, which can go up to ₹ 40.00 lakhs a year, as per ambitionbox.com.
Salaries Offered For The Job Title 'Product Manager' Based On Experience
At the entry-level, Product Managers have reported earning a median base salary of ₹ 12.00 lakhs a year, going up to ₹ 25.00 lakhs a year. The latter salary figure, we suspect, is for top-tier MBA grads + top-tier engineering/non-engineering graduates.
As expected, as you gain more work experience as a PM, you can expect higher salaries due to increments. At this stage, it's also important to note that by way of lateral hiring or internal promotions, you can become a Senior Product Manager (or higher) and earn an even greater base salary.
Outside of India, the country where Product Managers are paid a bomb is the United States of America; particularly the San Francisco Bay area a.k.a. the Silicon Valley. Top companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple, EY, etc. that are headquartered in Silicon Valley pay hundreds of thousands of American dollars to Product Managers.
Given below is the list of the top 10 companies in the US based on the median base salaries offered for PM roles.
Salaries Offered By Top Companies In The US For The Job Title 'Product Manager'
$191,000 - that's what Meta pays its Product Managers as a
base salary. As of October 2022, this translates to ₹1.5 crores per year, and this doesn't even include the massive signing bonuses and other perks that companies like Facebook offer their employees.
So, How Are You Going To Get A Product Management Job?
AltUni's Certificate Program in Product Management is one of our most popular programs and has garnered a rating of 4.6 out of 5 from our participants! So here we are, with another batch of the program, designed & crafted by experts to help you maximize your chances of building your dream career in Product Management.
What’s In It For You?
- 80+ hours of live sessions with industry experts from Booking.com, Flipkart, Amazon, SDN India, etc.
- Get invaluable industry exposure by working on 2 Live Industry Projects.
- Jump into a Management role by learning in-demand Product Management topics like Product Roadmap & Strategy, UX, Wireframing, A/B Testing, Design Thinking, etc.
- Learn to work on tools & frameworks like Design Thinking, Balsamiq, MURAL, Wireframing, etc.
- Learn by analyzing unique Product Management case studies & real-life examples.
Additional Benefits That Help You Crack Any PM Interviews!
- Ace any Product Management interview with AltUni Career Services; 1-on-1 sessions for CV editing, mock interview, & profile building.
- Get Interview Opportunities from our Hiring Partners.
- Get 3 industry-recognized certifications by AltUni & Live Project partners.