How do you make the jump from senior manager to director level in product marketing?

I started as an IC and was working on a product that was on the verge of being deprecated. Fast forward three years, and I got a promotion and was managing a team of 9 people. How did I do it? Well, the short answer is that I delivered results. I saw an opportunity to grow the product I was assigned to, and sought out other people who had the same vision. We all worked together to turn that product into a success. Once the product started succeeding, I was given a small team. Then, I was called ...Read More

There is no one path but let’s unpack what it means to be a director. It isn’t that the directors know exponentially more or they suddenly become better decision makers. When we all start our careers, we search for the right answers. In fact, we are judged by our ability to find the right answers. However, as we grow, we acknowledge that we don’t and won’t know the answers to all the questions asked of us. At that point, the ability to ask the right questions (of yourself and of the team) takes ...Read More

Promotions! A topic that's on everyone's mind. 😄 If you are just interested in the title, you can move to a smaller company and get the title today. Nothing wrong with it, go for it! And in fact, it may help you gain more experience/skills as well. If you are interested in moving up the ladder within your current company, then you may need to work on your skills a bit more. My answer below is for this second path. Let's first understand the difference between a Sr. Manager and a Director. Regard ...Read More

Advancing to a director level can happen as an individual contributor when the scope of the role is expanded, and more responsibility is given to you—for example, leading product marketing for a product line or multiple product lines. You can also step into a people manager role. No matter what path you choose, transitioning into a director role means graduating from product marketing execution into designing a strategic product marketing roadmap that aligns with company goals and the needs of t ...Read More

I am more about roles than hierarchies, and Sr. Manager or Director may mean different things at different companies depending on their size and level of development / maturity of the company. I would be more focused on the role, increasing responsibilities and impact than titles so you can write your own story in terms of career progression. That said, in any company you will need to be already performing at the next level to make the jump. So I would look at the Director of Product Marketing j ...Read More

Be it as an individual contributor, or in a managerial role, moving to become a director requires ownership, impact, and managerial skills. Here's what this means: Ownership: The difference in managerial levels often comes down to scope, but even without massive scope increases, can come with a higher level of independence in operating. To advance from a senior manager to director level, you need to show ownership of your scope, end-to-end from project planning, execution, measurement, results-s ...Read More

I made this jump and it wasn't easy - here's my guidance based on experience. Find a leader who believes in you. Very often people don't tell you this one thing - Promotions are personal in the sense that someone is taking the risk that you will succeed at an unproven level. The assumption is you already have the base-skills as your peers who also qualify for that promotion Take Risk politically in medium/large orgs - Demonstrate that you can lead a project, an idea and market ALL aspects of it. ...Read More