Last week, The Product Recruiter (division of Martyn Bassett Associates) went LinkedIn Live as your go-to source for everything related to product leadership careers trends and building high-performing product teams in tech.
Whether you’re scaling your team, navigating a career move, or trying to stay ahead of hiring trends, this blog covers the key takeaways from our most recent session.
Meet The Team
Our powerhouse lineup of industry experts who live and breathe product hiring:
- Martyn Bassett: CEO and Principal Founder of Martyn Bassett Associates. With decades of experience, he’s a trusted partner for executive searches in product, marketing, and design.
- Heidi Ram: Product hiring is domain expert who specialize in building world-class product teams for high-growth tech companies.
- Dilsher Singh: A five-year recruitment veteran, specializing in leadership searches for product management, engineering, and technical sales roles.
Understanding Market Trends in Product Hiring
How Important Is Domain Expertise?
One of the biggest hiring debates: Does a product leader need industry-specific experience?
The answer? It depends.
For highly technical industries like fintech, cybersecurity, and healthcare, domain expertise can be critical. But in many cases, companies prioritize growth-stage experience over industry knowledge.
For example, if a company is scaling from $25M to $75M ARR, they often care more about whether a candidate has successfully navigated that kind of growth—regardless of whether they’ve worked in martech, HR tech, or edtech.
Senior Product Leadership Hiring Trends in 2025
The hiring landscape for product leaders is shifting. After the market corrections of 2023-2024, many companies initially cut senior leadership roles as a cost-saving measure. But in 2025, we’re seeing a strong resurgence of VP of Product and CPO hires.
Why? Because companies are realizing that cutting strategic product leadership slows down innovation and growth.
However, mid-level product roles—like Group Product Manager—remain the toughest to find, as companies continue to run lean teams prioritizing individual contributors and executive hires over middle management.
For more Product Leadership hiring trends, check out The Product Recruiter’s latest market trend update.
Industries with Growing Demand
If there’s one major hiring trend in 2025, it’s AI. If a company has “AI” in its name or product positioning, it’s significantly more likely to attract funding and top talent.
We’ve placed multiple product leaders in AI-driven companies in recent months, and the demand shows no signs of slowing down. If you’re a product professional looking to future-proof your career, gaining experience in AI-related projects is a smart move.
The Role of AI in Product Management Hiring
AI is not only transforming how companies grow and attract funding, it also affects how product teams work—reshaping what skills are most valuable in a PM.
With AI automating many technical and execution-related tasks, the most valuable product leaders will be those who excel in:
✅ Product discovery
✅ Business strategy
✅ Customer insights
If you want to stay competitive, focus on strategic thinking and problem-solving—not just execution.
Founder Mode: A New Expectation for Product Leadership
More than ever, startup founders want product leadership who operate in “founder mode”—meaning they take full ownership of the product as if it were their own company.
But here’s the challenge: Many founders say they’re ready to delegate, but in practice, they struggle to let go. One major red flag to watch for in interviews: If a founder says they’re stepping back, but can’t articulate which decisions they’re actually handing off to their new product leader.
Pro tip: If this is of potential concern when taking on a new role, ask to speak with other leaders in the company to understand how much real autonomy they’ve been given in their roles.
Should Product Marketing Report to Marketing or Product?
The age-old debate: Where should Product Marketing sit?
- In most cases, Product Marketing reports to the VP of Marketing—because their work aligns with positioning, messaging, and sales enablement.
- However, in product-led growth (PLG) companies, Product Marketing often reports to the CPO, as product positioning is directly tied to growth strategy.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but if you’re considering a Product Marketing role, it’s important to ask where the function sits and how leadership views its role.
Salary and Equity Trends in 2025
Salaries for product leaders remain competitive, even as the market fluctuates.
While we’re no longer seeing the sky-high signing bonuses of 2021-2022, companies are still offering attractive compensation packages to land top talent.
For most senior-level product leadership candidates, career moves are less about money and more about working on meaningful problems with a strong team. That said, equity negotiations matter—make sure you fully understand vesting schedules, dilution risks, and long-term financial upside before accepting an offer.
Transitioning into a Software PM Role
If you’re a hardware PM looking to move into software, your best bet is to gain software experience within your current company.
Why? Because external moves are tough—recruiters and hiring managers overwhelmingly prefer candidates with direct SaaS experience and in this market most companies are spoiled for choice when it comes to candidate selection.
If you’re serious about making the switch, find ways to work cross-functionally with software teams, take ownership of a digital product initiative, and highlight those experiences on your resume.
Building a Portfolio as a Product Manager
Unlike designers, product managers and executive-level product leadership candidates don’t usually need a portfolio. But if you choose to create one, make sure it adds real value beyond your LinkedIn or resume.
The best approach? Tell compelling before-and-after stories that showcase:
- The problem you tackled
- The strategy you implemented
- The impact you delivered (with metrics!)
For B2B SaaS PMs, hiring managers care far more about business outcomes than flashy portfolios.
Final Thoughts: Key Takeaways
The job market for product leaders is evolving, and those who stay ahead of the trends will have the best career opportunities. Here’s what to keep in mind:
✅ AI is driving hiring trends—if you want job security, gain AI-related experience.
✅ Founder mode is in demand—but be cautious of founders who can’t truly delegate.
✅ Domain expertise is useful, but growth-stage experience often matters more.
✅ Salaries remain competitive, but signing bonuses aren’t as common.
If you have questions about hiring trends, career transitions, or securing your next product leadership executive to drive business growth, connect with us—we’d love to help.