We were recently engaged by a client to conduct a search for a VP Product Management. Our client is a B2B SaaS vendor whose marketing platform is used by some of the world’s largest enterprises to power customer engagement and drive growth. At the time of our engagement, our client was Series-C funded and employed approximately 200 employees across North America.
We conducted a very targeted search on their behalf, seeking Product Management leaders from a curated list of companies. Their ideal profile was a product leader who had scaled that function for a successful Product Led Growth (PLG) business. The revenue and scale of the business had to be significantly greater than our client’s business which already had a large product team and was profitable with significant revenue growth.
We presented 5 US based candidates:
The Nor-Easter – $240K USD base + bonus + equity
- 20 years of employment experience, 14 spent in Product Management and 9 years working for our client’s largest integration partner
- Product experience included: SaaS solutions across CRM, marketing tech, market places and digital portals
- Also had Big 5 consultancy experience
- Engineering Degree + MBA
- Boston based
West Coast Winner – $240K USD base + bonus
- 18 years of employment experience, all spent in Product Management roles, and 3 years working in martech with one part of a solution stack being a PLG acquisition model
- Product experience included: SaaS solutions for ecommerce, marketplaces, CRM and adtech
- Also had Exit experience
- Business Degree
- California base
The Southern Gentleman – $230K USD base + bonus + equity
- 21 years of employment experience, 7 spent in Product Management, and 5 years leading and building Product Management for a successful martech organization who was a key integration partner of our client
- Built a PLG business model, scaling the team from 1-40 Product Managers and Designers
- Grew revenue from less than $5M to almost $80M
- Masters in Chemistry
- Atlanta based
Patent Perfection – $230K USD base + bonus + equity
- 23 years of employment experience, 14 spent in Product Management and 5 years working in a PLG business model
- Experience leading products for global tech giants in the categories of CRM, martech, streaming services and ad tech
- Experience working with a large distributed team of 45-50 people to ship products used by millions of people globally
- Computer Science degree from an Ivy League School, Kellogg MBA, CSPO & awarded multiple patents
- Atlanta based
The Hire
- 28 years employment experience, 18 spent in Product Management and 8 years in a PLG business model
- Championed Product for 4 years for one of the original Product Led Growth tech companies in California
- Most recently a VP Product for a Bay Area vendor with a PLG model. They inherited a product team of 18 and scaled it to 14 direct reports and a total team of 95 employees
- Experience with 2 Exits
- Bachelor of Science degree from an Ivy League school & PM certifications (PMI, PMC, CSPO, CSM)
- California based
To attract and land this candidate, our client offered a $250K USD base + 50k bonus and options.
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 key c-suite executives to drive your growth? Book a consultation with our friendly and knowledgeable team today—we live and breathe the tech talent ecosystem every day, and can help you understand the market for the talent you need.