We were recently engaged by a client to conduct a search for a Senior Product Manager. The hire would better define and scale a new product opportunity, which was a working V1 in market with a select group of beta customers.
Our client is a B2B SaaS company whose business is at the center of how utilities are modernizing electricity grid management.
We conducted a highly targeted search across North America, focusing on Product Managers who had experience working for a SaaS business, in the categories of grid management, DERMS, greentech and/or cleantech.
We were seeking the following candidate persona:
- Subject matter expert in EMS or DERMS
- Experience as a B2B SaaS Product Manager
- Outstanding communication skills, necessary for this market-facing, client engagement role
- Successful at delivering outcomes in both startup and large company scenarios
- Comfortable working in a fully remote model and collaborating with global stakeholders and teams
Our client interviewed 5 candidates, all based in major cities across North America:
The Efficient Energy Expert – $160K Base + 15% Bonus + Equity
- 10 years of employment experience
- 7 years of product management experience across multiple product categories
- Pivoted into a product career working in the product category of our client, with a similar customer and user
- Global customer market facing skills
- Experience standing up a 0-1 product that achieved success and scale in market
- Ivy League Masters Degree with follow up studies in green energy
The Great Grid Guy – $160K Base + 10% Bonus
- 15 years of employment experience
- Considered a subject matter expert in energy technology
- Global scope of experiences living and working in multiple countries and managing global customers
- Experienced standing up a net-new (0-1) product opportunity that delivers innovation to how electricity grids are managed
- Masters Degree in Power Engineering & Electricity Management
The Scrappy Solar PM – $190K Base + 20% Bonus
- 10 years of employment experience
- 7 years of Product Management experience and 2 years of Director-level leadership experience
- 7 years of experience working within the greentech/cleantech category but not for a competing vendor of our client directly
- Product experiences included consumer applications and B2B & B2B2C platforms
- Trained and experienced working with ‘best of class’ product tools and frameworks in a modern delivery cadence
- Engineering Degree + Masters
The Eager Energy Executive – $155K Base + 20% Bonus
- 14 years of employment experience
- 3 years of experience as a Product Manager and 3 years of relevant, competitive experience to our client’s business
- Strategic, market facing scope, often engaging with prospects in a pre-sales capacity and working with a similar buyer/user as our client
- Considered an SME in electricity solutions across enterprises and utilities
- End-to-end experience working for a utility
- Engineering Degree
The Hire
- 7 years of full-time employment experience
- All of this candidate’s experiences were in the industry and product categories relevant to our client’s products
- Strategic, platform-level product management experience, delivering value to enterprise B2B customers
- Effective and impactful communicator with market facing product management experience
- Considered ‘top talent’ with a number of progressive promotions
- Environmental Science Degree
To attract and land this candidate, our client offered a $150k USD Base + 15% Bonus
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 all context, what a person has earned in the past, and ad hoc conversations with others in the field.
We’re sharing market insights into current compensation packages for key roles in the tech industry. Our recruiters conduct targeted searches on behalf of our clients, seeking out candidates who fit the requirements of the role and diligently qualifying them to present only the very best talent.
These posts are meant to highlight the contextual elements that makeup compensation, and to help our clients and candidates better understand the current market forces that affect earning potential.
Is your organization hiring Product Managers? Book a consultation with our friendly and knowledgeable team today.