We were recently engaged by a client to conduct a search for the company’s first Head of Product.
Our client is an international B2B software and services company whose enterprise grade solutions are used by some of the world’s largest companies.
The mission for this hire was to launch the business into a new solution category which was expected to drive global growth at scale.
We conducted a targeted search across North America, focusing on senior product leaders who had worked on the launch and build of a new product-led line of business.
Our client interviewed 7 candidates:
The Multilingual Marvel – $180K Base + Bonus + RSUs
- 25 years of employment experience and 12 years of Product Management experience
- All of this candidate’s employment experience is directly related to the industry our client’s solutions are designed for
- Experienced in international business, market facing customer engagement and multilingual
- Working at a VP Product level, reporting to a CEO
- STEM Degree + MBA
The Versatile Veteran – $225K Base + Bonus + Options
- 25 years of employment experience and 20 years of Product Management experience
- 4 years of experience launching net-new products with a similar use case as our client’s new line of business.
- Working at a VP Product level, reporting to a Founder/CEO
- STEM Degree
The Global Genius – $200K Base + Bonus + Equity
- 28 years of employment experience and 25 years of Product Management experience
- 20 years of experience working on a number of different enterprise grade solutions used by global companies
- 5 years in the startup world, bringing net new SaaS products to market from the discovery ideation phase to a working MVP
- Working at a VP Product level, reporting to a Founder/CEO
- STEM Degree
The Project Professional – $200K Base + Bonus + Equity
- 30 years of employment experience and 20 years of Product Management experience
- Experience includes early product development to find product market fit and subsequent scaling of the business to achieve an exit
- Working at a VP Product level, reporting to a Founder/CEO
- STEM Degree + MBA
The Senior Strategist – $180K Base + Bonus
- 30 years of employment experience and 20 years of Product Management experience
- Experience includes product and market opportunity discovery, business case development and early product development
- North American business scope, working with large complex enterprises and public sector clients
- Working at a Senior Director Product level, reporting to a CEO
- STEM Degree
The Clever Competitor – Base $300K + Equity
- 17 years of employment experience and 12 years of Product Management experience
- Was previously employed by our client’s competitor and understood their solution category at a level deeper than any other candidate
- Currently working for a venture backed startup where they took the company’s founding product idea (a literal napkin drawing) from 0-1 and launched the MVP
- Working at the Head of Product level, reporting to a Founder/CEO
- STEM Degree + MBA
The Hire
- 25 years of employment experience and 10 years of Product Management experience
- Experience includes building product led businesses from 0-1
- International business scope, multilingual, and market facing with global clients
- Conference speaker as a SME (subject matter expert) about the industry our client is building a solution for
- STEM Degree + Masters + PhD
To secure our candidate, our client offered a $205K base + $40K guaranteed first year bonus + annual bonus + equity.
As you can see, compensation for these candidates varies significantly based on the length and scope of experience, as well as their ability to thrive in similar environments.
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For organizations and job seekers alike, it can be challenging to understand what a particular position should pay. Often, it’s a calculation between salary surveys that lack context, what a person has earned in the past, and ad hoc conversations with others in the field.
These posts are meant to highlight the contextual elements that make up compensation and help our clients and candidates better understand the current market forces that affect earning potential.
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