Outgrown your Product Manager title? 28 interviews and 3 offers

For years, this client had been a Product Manager at one of the biggest FinTech companies in the world.

The problem was that she had already outgrown her title. She wanted bigger problems, broader decision-making authority and a role that reflected the scope she had already grown into.

She was managing a portfolio of five product areas with only four people in her team, running work end to end while also taking on strategic responsibility. But when she started looking outside, companies often evaluated her like a generic PM.

She told us, “I’m saturated with being a product manager. I don't intend to be a product manager anymore.”

Why the search was frustrating

What made the search frustrating was that she was actually getting some conversations. Meta reached out, but the role eventually shut down. She interviewed with Visa, only to realize afterward that she had accidentally applied for a role that was too junior. A senior director at JPMorgan Chase reached out directly, but that conversation stalled.

Meanwhile, the roles where she was genuinely well aligned weren't responding at all.

And when she did get into interviews, she had another problem. As she put it, “My biggest struggle is they start the interview as a generic PM, not as an infra PM.”

So the search needed to solve two things: create enough opportunities with the right companies, and make sure those companies understood the scope she was already operating at.

28 interviews and three Director+ offers

Over the course of the search, she generated 28 interviews with companies including Apple, Netflix, Adobe, MongoDB, Palo Alto Networks, NetApp, Walmart, Visa and Salesforce.

Then the search started producing offers.

She received three Director+ offers from Salesforce, MongoDB and NetApp before ultimately accepting an Executive Director of Product role at $285K base and $500K+ TC at yet another FinTech firm.

Why she didn't take the highest-paying offer

Interestingly, it wasn't even the highest-paying offer.

She chose it because she would get to oversee the Product side of a global-scale Data Platform for one of the largest banks in the world.

If you're a senior Product leader who knows your current title doesn't tell the full story anymore, book a call with my team. We'll show you how we can build your interview pipeline to get to the level you deserve.