When a client sends us a product manager job description, our first conversation is usually about what the description leaves out.
Most descriptions cover discovery, prioritisation and working closely with engineering and design, and most of them cover it well enough. The gaps tend to be elsewhere: which part of the product the person will look after, whether they are building something new or running something that already works, who they will report to, and what the role pays. Those are the details a product manager checks before deciding whether to reply, so a description that answers them early usually does better than one that is polished but vague.
This template is written with that in mind. It covers mid-level and senior roles, and it works best once a few decisions have been made.
Before you start writing
The most useful thing you can do is name the product area the person will own. "Own the product" tells a candidate very little. "Own onboarding for our small business customers" tells them what their first six months will look like, and lets them judge quickly whether their experience fits.
It also helps to be honest about the stage the product is at. A product manager joining a settled team with a clear direction is doing a very different job from one joining a business still working out who the product is for. Both are good roles, but they suit different people, and the description should make it obvious which one this is.
Salary is worth including even if it feels uncomfortable to publish. In our experience, product managers who have stayed with one employer for several years may well be below the current market rate, and a range helps them see straight away whether the move makes sense. Leaving it out tends to mean fewer applications and harder conversations later.
Office days matter more than they used to. Our analysis of 109,839 UK and European tech adverts found three days a week is now the most common requirement where one is stated. Asking for more than that can shrink the pool quickly. On one recent search in Austin, a five-day office policy nearly stopped the hire altogether. Once the client moved to be more flexible, the search closed.
Finally, it is worth putting the interview process in the advert. Good product managers are often talking to more than one company, and a clear, short process can be the reason they choose yours.
The template
Replace everything in square brackets, and cut any line that isn't true of the role. A short, accurate description of the real job usually reads better than a long list of everything a product manager could do.
About the role
We're hiring a [Senior] Product Manager to own [product area or customer journey]. You'll work with [number] engineers, [a designer] and [a data analyst], and report to [title]. [One or two sentences on where the product is now and what this person is here to do next.]
What you'll do
- Own [product area] and decide with your team what to work on next, and why.
- Spend regular time with [customers / users / clients] and bring what you learn back into the team's decisions.
- Use data from [e.g. Amplitude, Looker, SQL] alongside research to decide what to test and to judge whether it worked.
- Work with engineering and design to break problems down and release in small steps.
- Keep [sales / customer success / leadership] up to date on what's coming, and bring their feedback into product decisions.
- [Something specific to this role, e.g. pricing, a platform migration or a regulatory change.]
What you'll bring
- [Number]+ years in product management, ideally in [B2B / B2C / platform / marketplace] products.
- Experience taking an idea through to a product people use, and being able to explain what changed as a result.
- Comfort working with data yourself rather than waiting for reports.
- [Domain knowledge that genuinely matters, e.g. payments, regulated products, developer tools.]
- The ability to explain decisions clearly to engineers, designers and senior stakeholders.
Nice to have
- [Experience that helps but isn't required.]
- [Experience building AI features or using AI tools in day-to-day product work, if relevant.]
Practical details
- Salary: [range], plus [bonus / equity / benefits].
- Location: [city], [number] days a week in the office [on fixed days, if any].
- Interview process: [number] stages, [what each involves], usually completed within [timeframe].
Adapting it for a senior product manager
Senior product manager is one of the more loosely used titles we see. In some companies it means a product manager with a few more years behind them. In others it means someone setting direction across several teams and coaching the product managers around them.
In most senior roles, the problems are less clearly defined. A mid-level product manager usually works within a direction that someone else has set. A senior one is often helping leadership decide what that direction should be. The scope tends to be wider as well, covering several teams or work that crosses into other departments, with more regular contact with the leadership team and sometimes with key clients.
If that describes the role, add lines like these under "What you'll do":
- Work with [Head of Product / CPO] on where [product area] should focus over the next [six to twelve months].
- Lead product work across [number] teams and keep their priorities joined up.
- Coach and support [number] product managers.
If the person will be responsible for the product function as a whole, the role is closer to a Head of Product, and it is worth writing it as a product leadership hire instead.
A few things to leave out
Phrases like "rockstar", "hit the ground running" and "fast-paced environment" have been used so often that candidates skim past them, and some read "able to work under pressure" as a warning about poor planning. Gender-coded words such as "aggressive" or "dominant" can put people off applying. The same goes for a long list of must-haves: the more requirements there are, the more capable people rule themselves out. Keep the must-haves to what someone genuinely cannot do the job without, and treat specific tools as a bonus rather than a requirement, since most product managers pick up new software quickly.
If AI is part of the product, or part of how your team works day to day, say so. It is increasingly something product managers ask about, and for roles where AI is the product itself, our page on AI product managers covers what to look for.
Help with the brief
A job description is much easier to write once the role itself is clear, and that is usually where we start. We recruit product managers at every level across the UK, Europe and the US, and we can help with scope, level and salary before the search begins. Send us a brief, or read our guide on how to hire your first product manager.
Filed under