What Is A Data Product Manager? A Complete Guide

As businesses expand, their data becomes more and more huge. As the data of a specialized business grows, it becomes difficult to keep it collected and assembled in one place. The data can be useful for designing different data-driven products according to the audience and customers of the businesses. These products may help to scale business on another level.

The background above gave rise to the role of a data product manager responsible for collecting and organizing data into a useful product that can help the business scale. There is still a lot you need to know about data product managers. Continue reading this article to know more.

What is Data Product Manager?

A data product manager is a business professional responsible for creating data-driven products using the data collected, analyzed, and organized by the data product manager.

A data product manager typically works with data scientists, engineers, and other professionals to ensure that data products are developed and deployed effectively using the business’s crucial data. They also work with customers and stakeholders to understand their needs and ensure that the developed data products meet those needs.

In many cases, data product managers also play a role in marketing and sales, as they often best understand the capabilities of the data products they manage. They can often explain those products’ benefits to potential customers and help close deals. Data product managers typically have a background in business, management, computer science, or a related field.

Data Product Manager Vs. Product Manager

Read this data product manager vs. Product manager to have a better understanding of what is data product manager:

Data Product Manager	Product Manager
The data product manager deals with everything from data collection to the organization resulting in data-driven products.	On the other hand, the product manager only deals with product management and doesn’t have a major role in data collection.
The role of a data product manager is to keep a keen eye on the data and collect them in a precise manner to come up with the best data-driven product.	Product managers, on the other hand, focus on the research of the audience and competitors to develop better products according to the audience’s liking.
The data product manager should have strong data collection, organization, and analytical skills.	The product manager should have strong business, communication, and analytical skills.

What Skills Should A Data Product Manager Have?

If you are looking for how to become a data product manager, then the first step is knowing what skills a data product manager must have to be successful in this field. Here is a list of skill sets a data product manager should have:

Should Know How to Handle Data Effectively

The data product manager’s core skill is data collection and analysis. The data collection and analysis can be done in various ways to get the best data-driven product with maximum results. The data collection can be done in various ways such as the data product manager should know about the events and products that proved successful for the business.

Strong Communication Skill

Another must skill that the data product manager should have strong communication skills. These strong communication skills come in handy in interacting with data experts, and data engineers. These communication skills are also used in collecting data from the different resources of a business or a company. Strong communication can also be used to interact with the customer of a specific data-driven product to know about their views and pain points.

Knowledge about the Product Audience

Apart from the data collection and analysis, the data product manager should know about the audience of the data-driven product. Knowing the psychological audience of the specific data and their pain points increases the chances of product success. The thoughts and pain points of the customers can be mastered by comprehensive research, so a data product manager should be a great researcher too.

What Certification Should A Data Product Manager Get?

You can’t expect to be a data product manager over a night. If you are looking to start your career as a data product manager, then here are the data product manager certification you should get to master this field:

You should have a bachelor’s degree in business or related fields
You can also go for a master’s degree in the business or related fields
Diploma in data product management
You can complement the above-mentioned requirement with data analysis, research, and communication courses.

What is Data Product Manager’s Salary?

When it comes to the data product manager’s salary, then, according to Talent.com, the average salary of the data product manager in the United States of America is $140,000 per annul. The salary varies slightly from state to state and experience with an average of $72 per hour.

The salary for a beginner is $112,984, while the salary of an experienced data product manager is $175,000 per year. Still, it is an estimate, and the number could be greater or lesser.

How to Prepare to be a Data Product Manager?

If you are interested in data product manager jobs, there are several ways to pursue your goals. If you have a business or management degree, there are good chances for you to excel as a data product manager.

You can become a professional data product manager through the diploma and data product management courses now offered both physically and online. Here are some of the courses which you can take :

Data Product Manager Certification Course by Product Manager HQ. This course is priced at $499 and is best for beginners without experience in the field.
You can also attend multiple data product management courses from Udemy and Coursera.
The data product manager course by Udacity aims to train students in strong data analysis and product management.
Apart from the sources mentioned earlier, you can also go to Youtube to know more about this field, but we suggest you go with the professional courses and diploma, which offer certification along with the course. The certification comes in handy in building a data product manager resume.

You can complement the courses mentioned earlier with data product management books. Here are the data product manager books which are worth reading:

The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data
Data Science For Dummies
Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data
Product Analytics: Applied Data Science Techniques for Actionable Consumer Insights
Now You See It: An Introduction to Visual Data Sensemaking

How to Get a Data Product Manager Job?

If you think that you have mastered the art of data product management, then the next step is to implement what you have learned. And the only way to do so is to get a job. You can either work as a freelancer to help businesses with data-driven products or work with a business or company looking for a data product manager.

To make sure you get the job, you must have a strong data product manager resume which should depict the following measures:

Degree in business, administration, or management
Specialization in data product management along with relevant certification
Strong communication skills to interact with the data engineers, scientists, and all the company’s resources
Strong analytical skills
Prior experience in data product management or related niche

If you think your resume lacks experience, you can go for an internship or freelance work.

Here are some Data product manager interview questions which are commonly asked of a data product manager and are useful to know to increase your chances of getting a job as a data product manager:

How will you do data analytics?
How to know the right audience and their pain points?
What would be the progress of our data-driven product if we hire you as our data product manager?
What quality of yours insisted you pursue your career as a data product manager?
What will you do if the data-driven product fails?
What is your favorite data-driven product launched by you?

Final Words

Here is everything you need to know about the data product manager and its relevant information. Data product management is an excellent career to pursue due to two reasons: It is high paying, and the competition is comparatively less compared to other fields.

Anyone with a background in business, management, and marketing can easily master this skill if the proper time is invested. We hope our article has helped you how to carve your career as a data product manager.