What are some skills a Consumer PMM needs to move up the ladder to a Director level role? What are the criteria of evaluation?

It’s difficult to define growth by titles since titles vary greatly by company and company maturity. Also, more and more companies are shying away from title heavy culture. When you consider growth and trajectory, I encourage you to evaluate it based on your goals, what you want to learn, and what you want to do next vs. a title. Focusing on obtaining a title can be short sighted and may result on you being lost after you achieve it. That said, with career progression top of mind, here are some ...Read More

This varies across every organization, but if you’re looking to move up from your current role, I’d recommend bringing it up with your direct manager in your 1:1 even if you think the leveling up is a ways away. Starting the conversation will allow you both to focus on the skills you need to work on in order to get there. In most medium or larger sized organizations there is a competency framework that is used for calibrating levels which has requirements for each role. More broadly speaking, th ...Read More

Moving up the ladder from an IC or manager role into a director role is typically dependent on a few factors, some of which individual PMMs are very much in control of, some of which they are not unfortunately. At a high level, some of the requirements needed to progress include the following: Clearly defining your team's purpose and strategy and clearly articulating how your strategy aligns with the overarching company objectives. I will start by saying I am fully in the camp that the words 'st ...Read More

The specific skills and criteria may vary depending on the company and industry. If you are unsure what these are in your specific role, it's a conversation to have with your manager to understand the leveling rubric in your org. With that here are a few key skills or focus areas that grow in importance as you grow in your pmm career,  - Leadership and Management: A director is often overseeing their own initiatives and the work of direct reports. Experience managing a team and providing mentors ...Read More