How do I shape my job title for a pivot into product?
To pivot into product management from partnerships/bizdev, you first want to think about performing a role in partnerships that requires you to work closely with product management, and then determine what the title is. There are three main focus areas for partnerships that I commonly see: SI (system integrators/implementation partners); channel (resellers/marketplaces); and technology partners. As you can probably imagine, the latter is where you will have the most touch points with product, so landing a job in partnerships doing something along those lines is the best. (By the way, my background is B2B; B2C partnerships are a totally different ballgame.) Titles that I've seen are along the lines of technology alliances manager, technology partnerships manager, etc. The more technical you are in the role, the more valuable you are -- though I would stay away from purely partner integration roles where you are essentially a sales engineer.
Once you land that role, figure out how you can add value to product management. If the product requires a robust ecosystem of very similar integrations, for example, help out a product manager by bringing your knowledge & experience to help them prioritize which partners to tackle first. PMs not only need to know the difficulty of the integration (that's often straightforward to figure out) but also the friendliness of that partner -- how easy they are to work with, what competitive/co-opetitive dynamics look like, etc., which you are uniquely positioned to provide. And always keep your eye out for partnerships that could turn into a more formal alliance, or even M&A. Good luck!
As a product leader, I've seen successful transitions from partnerships to product. While titles matter, your actual experiences and demostrated skills are more crucial. Some beneficial titles could be:
Strategic Partnerships Manager
Product Integration Partnerships Manager
Partner Solutions Manager
For example, in a B2B SaaS environment, partnerships roles can develop key PM skills:
Technical Integration: Managing API integrations with partners builds technical understanding.
Pricing Strategy: Negotiating partnership deals hones pricing and value proposition skills.
Collaboration: Working across teams (sales, product, engineering) mirrors cross-functional PM work.
Influence: Aligning partner and company goals develops stakeholder management abilities.
Based on your question, you already realize that title is a very small part of making this transition. If you want to move to product, start thinking about the types of projects that you take on that get you working with the product team closely - on partnerships, its better to focus on tech partnerships for example, which work more closely with product teams.
Become the partner liaison to the product team or to a part of the product so you can take on projects that help you see what good product management looks like and get you some experience closer to the function you'd like to move to.
Most importantly, if you have the time and ability, I'd highly encourage you to take on a project or two that helps the product team in some way, no better way to learn a job than by doing it. You can obviously also learn through mentors, buddies, trainings etc, but I find that product management is learned best through apprenticeship and by doing.
Top Product Management Mentors
