How to Write a Data Product Manager Resume [+ Examples]
Are you hoping to land your dream job with a great data product manager resume? Are you ready to expand your career horizons?
This article is especially important for you if you’re entering the job market as a data product manager for the first time, this article is especially important for you.
Whatever career stage you’re in, writing a great data product manager resume is a skill. Between a variety of formatting options and an array of possible keywords, it’s hard to know where to start.
At first glance, there should be no doubt that you have the skills and training that fit the job. On top of that, data product managers need to show that they are confident, personable, and able to think on their feet.
The good news is that resume building is much easier when you have a road map. Once you have a clear outline and a good sense of what you need to touch on, you’ll craft a resume that serves you for a lifetime – with a few tweaks as you continue in your career. So let’s simplify the process, one step at a time.
How to Write a Data Product Manager Resume: An Overview
A great resume for a data product manager captures the applicant’s unique skills. Not only that, but those very skills should dovetail with the expectations of the job. You need to show how your particular experiences make you better than most applicants.
It’s easy to chalk a resume up to nothing more than the jobs we’ve had in the past. It’s important to undo that idea. Thinking about a resume that way has the potential to be helpful for some and limiting for others.
When writing a resume, many successful data product manager resumes refrain from using certain words. These words include:
- Managing multiple projects
- Stakeholder relationships
- Team collaboration
- Succeeding in a fast-paced environment
- Market research
Try to avoid buzzwords, keywords, and other common topics. Repetition is not the way to stand out, so try to be more specific. What defines your skillset in particular? What experiences make you the best candidate for the job, over and above other data product manager applicants?
In outlining your skills, try to offer a bit of detail. An example, explanation, or brief elaboration works well. Capture your unique relationship to these skills in a vivid way, so you stand out.
Consider what companies and employers want their data product manager applicants to do.
Aim to do the following:
- Emphasize business intelligence
- Mention experience with and knowledge of data analysis or data analytics experience
- Indicate your experience with cross-functional teams
- Illustrate a deep understanding of product marketing and product management
- Mention work you’ve done with agile development methodology and the agile development process, including user stories
Try to be as specific as possible. Think about how to capture who you are, what you know, and how you’ll implement your skills and knowledge in a distinct way. Remember that companies need you too.
They’re looking for a bright spark who understands the why behind what they do. That might seem hard to convey in a resume. Yet all you need is alignment between the position description, your skills, and experiences, and the way you express your relationship to those experiences.
What is the Best Data Product Manager Resume Format?
Hiring managers love resumes that display achievements that fit the job description. To grab the attention of hiring managers, you’ll need to make sure that you nail down the formatting of your resume.
This is because the right format is eye-catching. It indicates that you care about your application and that you are detail-oriented. Oftentimes, what you say matters as much as how you display what you have to say.
In general, resumes should use white space, easy-to-read fonts, and well-crafted layouts. The same goes for any data product manager resume, which should follow these core rules.
Make sure headings are clear and bold, especially when delineating sections. Keep a Word and a PDF version handy. The former is editable, and an employer might request the latter for an application.
Also, consider the chronology of your resume. Reverse chronological order is often best, as this allows you to put your most recent accomplishments at the top of the page. The world of tech is fast-paced and ever-changing. For this reason, recent accomplishments are often the most relevant.
That said, these are the possible options to select from in terms of structuring your resume.
The chronology of your resume can be:
- Reverse chronological order (see above)
- Combination
- Functional
Keep in mind that combination is ATS compliant, whereas functional is not. ATS stands for applicant tracking software. Today, an enormous amount of companies make use of ATS to filter out resumes. In other words, no one even glances at it when ATS banishes your resume based on its non-compliance.
So, it’s important to ensure that your resume is up to ATS standards. Companies use the job description to plug a set of words into an ATS system. A smart move is to comb through the job description and try to discern relevant words or phrases that get you through. It’s a small move, but it helps you beat this frustrating system!
Don’t make your resume too long, either. Longer resumes aren’t as impressive as the average data product manager may imagine. Showcase the extensiveness of your background in data product management in a concise way.
Too much fluff throws those reading your resume off.
A data product manager resume that is both comprehensive and concise is the sweet spot. Balance is key. You should keep your resume between one and three pages depending on your skill level. One page is plenty, especially if you’re starting out.
Overall, an excellent product or project manager resume shows an applicant’s expertise in a swift fashion. Hiring managers shouldn’t have to sift through a long, unwieldy piece to determine if you’re the right person for the job. In an ideal case, you want them to feel it in their bones at first brush.
How to Structure a Data Product Manager Resume
What does that formatting mean for structure? How should you divide your resume up into sections? A resume builder helps you get a sense of what to include and in what order. That said, here are some additional must-haves for a standout data project manager resume:
Data Product Manager Professional Header
In your header, you should include all personal information that makes identifying and contacting you easy.
You should include your full name, title, and phone number. A LinkedIn profile address or URL highlights your online networking presence. This is a great move, especially for a data product manager who should be tech-savvy. If you have an online profile link, this is also the place to put it on your resume.
Include your address and email address as well. For the sake of safety and confidentiality, you might not want to list a full address. In that case, putting a city and state is more than okay. What matters is that you’ve listed all other relevant contact information like an email address and phone number.
Experience Section
This is your moment! Time to make yourself look good on paper by listing your professional experiences. Remember that you should do this in descending order, starting with the most recent date and moving backward in time from there.
Try to discern which experiences you need to highlight, especially if you have worked many jobs. The top of your resume is the kick-off point, and it should offer a quick overview of your experience so it comes across as competitive and relevant to the job you’re applying for.
Cut out aspects of your professional experience that are irrelevant to the job you’re applying for. This is why it’s a good idea to keep your resume editable. The more it pertains to a job description, the better. In terms of the experience section, less is more.
Consider the following as you decide which jobs to include:
- Are you able to locate why your past job is important to the job you’re applying for?
- Did you spend a lot of time working in this role? If so, why? Is that reason important?
- Are there experiences that are relevant to the job you’re applying for? Try to rank them by importance.
Note that the last bullet trumps the middle one every time. Even if you’ve spent a small amount of time in a data product manager role, that’s the one you should try to bring the most focus to. Employers usually want to avoid having to teach their employees a role. The more you illustrate in your resume that you won’t need to learn the ropes, the better.
If you don’t have direct experience with the position already, then don’t feel disheartened. You control the narrative of how to present your experience in the best light. You have a lot of creative control here, so lean into it.
A word to the wise: don’t compromise on specificity. Give a clear overview of what your aims are for the future and how your experiences get you there. This is also an opportune moment to give a prospective employer insight into who you are.
Flesh out the nuances of those experiences to match the expectations of the job. While you want to keep things brief, try to express key takeaways these experiences gave you. The best resumes show how you’ve gained the hard and soft skills to allow you to excel in a job.
Outline what each experience provided you with in terms of expertise. This applies to jobs, internships, and volunteer work as well. Depending on the requirements of the job, you might want to mention some of them.
These can include:
- A proven track record of any kind in your previous employment
- Experience developing a product roadmap
- Product strategy development experience
- The extent to which you have a technical background
- Your background in data science or data procession
- A deep understanding of competitive analysis
- Strong knowledge of business analysis
- Experience working with development teams
- Software development experience
These sorts of skills and experiences are especially relevant, speaking to what an employer wants their data product manager to have experience in. For example, take data science and product management. These are an ideal combination for a project management position. The importance of data science in one’s background is key to the resume. Proven track records, as another example, help illustrate that you’re in it for the long haul and act as a reliable figure within a company. So if you’ve got it, flaunt it! That goes for any of the bullet points included above.
Junior Data Product Manager Resume Experience Examples
If you’re starting your professional career or are redirecting your trajectory, you might feel a little intimidated. Do you have credibility? Have you done enough to put data product management on your resume?
No matter how small your experience is, there’s always a creative, inventive way to sell it. In fact, that’s a skill on its own! Your capabilities and reflections on your experience may be as valuable as the experience itself.
It may be intimidating to throw your resume into the mix of a competitive environment. Confidence is competence.
Some ways you might make the best case for yourself as a data product manager, include detailing:
- The sorts of situations and problems you’ve dealt with
- How you’ve responded to those problems
- How you’ve dealt with key stakeholders and clients
- What aspects of your character and abilities proved to be the most valuable in that position
Self-reflexivity and reflection show a willingness to grow and emotional intelligence. Above anything, though, they also show competence. There are plenty of ways to slip in an acknowledgment of your abilities and expertise, no matter how long you’ve stayed in a relevant position.
Employers trust those who vouch for themselves in a gentle but also confident way. Sometimes, showing that you’ve made a real contribution in a short space of time makes you all the more employable.
The mark of a product manager is a willingness to grow, develop, and adjust. Flexibility and motivation help to fill in resume gaps and sets the resume apart.
Senior Data Product Manager Resume Experience Examples
Alternatively, you might have had many years of experience with data product management. Whether you’ve remained in the same place for long, or moved around, there are ways to highlight that.
Here are some things to think about:
- Avoid listing all your accomplishments, especially if you have moved around a lot
- Pull out and highlight the most relevant experiences.
- Ensure that you maintain consistency of job titles across mediums. This includes LinkedIn, your website, and your resume.
- Take extra care with ATS compliance.
Depending on what sort of job you’re applying for, you’ll pick and choose what to highlight. Make sure it’s easy to make changes to your resume by keeping a full, comprehensive one on hand. That way, you may remove the more irrelevant experiences and keep the rest. Make small tweaks that keep your resume relevant to each job.
Skills Section
There are benefits and drawbacks to a skills section on your resume. On the one hand, it draws attention to its pertinent information.
On the other hand, it helps you illustrate the relevance of your skills. The impact of your skills is as important as the skills themselves.
What sort of skills are important? Here are a few for you to place in your data product manager resume:
- Soft skills
- Communication skills
- Strong analytical skills
- The ability to handle data-related questions with ease
- The capacity to handle technical support
- Analytics functions skills
- Skills in handling external customers and responding well to customer feedback
- Internal stakeholders and key stakeholder engagement skills
- Relevant data analysis, data mining, and data quality skills
- A competence in detecting and working with industry trends and key metrics
- Market strategy skills
- Skills that help with ensuring strategic alignment
To decide which skills to incorporate, think about what the employer needs. The next step is to speak to those requirements.
Education
Product management education should definitely make its way onto a resume. A Bachelor’s degree or relevant undergraduate classes are typical. Regardless, incorporate what is most relevant; instead of listing all your education, incorporate what is most relevant.
Conciseness and relevance are key ingredients!
Demonstrate what it is about that education that prepares you for this job. Rather than listing the title of a degree, also list particular classes, honors, or even a thesis focus.
Where and How to Apply with a Data Product Manager Resume
Data product management is something organizations have come to rely on in a busy, information-heavy world. That said, it is tough to procure a job in a competitive industry like this one. The ability to transfer your skills to different areas or to work with other professionals in similar positions is ideal. For example, you may work as an online data product manager or a market data product manager, for example.
Regardless of what path you choose, here are some final tips for your application:
- Draft a cover letter that is fresh and new for every job you apply to.
Using a template helps, but also little things like mentioning the company’s name and speaking to a position description. Job applications take time. Still, it’s that time and dedication that gets you ahead of the pack. - Make sure you keep your product management resume up to date.
Update your resume depending on the job you’re applying to and your most recent experience. Like a cover letter, your resume gives a sense of the contribution you’ll make. - Link to your professional online presence.
Networking is an important part of the hiring process. The approval of others in the industry demonstrates your reliability. So much networking nowadays takes place online.
If an employer likes your resume, they may do a deeper dive. In so doing, it’s great if they find collaborating information online.
Credit: Resume Worded
Crafting a resume with care, thoughtfulness, and intention is a major stepping stone on the path to being a successful product manager. With all these tools under your belt, though, know that you’ve got this.
It’s time to land that data product manager job!
