Product Lead vs. Product Manager: What’s the Difference?
MISSING FEATURED IMAGE
Interested in learning the difference between a product lead and a product manager? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
It’s easy to confuse a product lead with a product manager because both play a management role. However, their key difference is experience, expertise, and focus.
For the most part, a product lead is an experienced product manager. They oversee and lead the development of new products.
Meanwhile, a product manager is responsible for taking care of existing products. That includes identifying customer needs and how to meet business objectives, among other things.
In this article, we go a little deeper into the role of a product lead and product manager.
Let’s get started.
Product Lead vs. Product Manager: What do They do?
Product leads are product managers who have ample experience with the development team. It’s safe to say that they already have ample product management experience.
They need to be on top of the product development process, collaborate with the engineering team, and oversee the product team.
On the other hand, a product manager’s job involves working with analysts, marketers, and researchers to find ways to fulfill customer needs. They work with a product owner, the sales team, and other internal stakeholders to achieve customer success.
Think of them as a bridge between UX, technology, and business needs. Let’s take a deeper individual look into both roles.
What Does a Product Lead do?
As experienced and trustworthy professionals, product leads already have a deep understanding of product management.
However, companies that put up job posts for product leads are ones that are in the process of developing a new product. The product lead works with the product director, group product manager, and others to lead the development of a new complex product.
That’s why it’s common to see a product lead position when software development is a necessity.
For the most part, large companies hire product leads. When large companies launch a new product, they prefer hiring product managers who understand the product niche, industry, and company.
However, one important thing to keep in mind is that product leads do not manage product managers. They are individual contributor product managers who manage products and lead development.
That said, at times, they are responsible for mentoring and coaching product managers.
Furthermore, it’s also possible that a large corporation has a different name for the same role. Other names for the product lead role include senior product manager, group product manager, lead product manager, and even principal product manager.
What Does a Product Manager do?
The product manager role is a multi-level role that includes overseeing a product throughout its entire product lifecycle.
That means they oversee the product, service, design, and more. They oversee everything from the product launch to product vision, and product maintenance.
A great product manager understands product strategy and has excellent communication skills to manage product teams.
They decide how to build products, add new features, and what changes to make. The end goal is to make a product better based on customer feedback and business objectives.
In essence, the product manager researches the target audience to maximize customer value. Meanwhile, they solve problems, introduce product features, and spend time shaping the product roadmap to improve business impact.
They play a key role in distributing important information to both internal and external stakeholders. For example, conducting research isn’t a product manager’s primary job, but they do need to communicate any research findings to product teams and other PMs.
How do Product Leads and Product Managers Work Together?
It’s possible for product leads and product managers to work together. Product leads are product leaders who, at times, have the same responsibilities as product directors and other senior roles.
However, product leads do not have any direct authority over product managers. They manage other team members, including the development, engineering, and marketing teams.
Therefore, product leads help with the development of new products and features. Meanwhile, product managers work on improving the customer experience and adjust goals to meet business objectives.
At times, their job description overlaps. However, there is a clear difference in most technology companies and computer science products.
Who Earns More: Product Lead or Product Manager?
According to Glassdoor, the average product lead salary in the US is $133,394 per year. On top of that, the average salary range is between $77,000 and $270,000. However, the average base pay is $116,607, and $16,787 in additional pay. The additional pay includes things like commissions, cash bonuses, and profit-sharing incentives.
On the other hand, according to Glassdoor, the average product manager salary in the US is $113,903 per year. Furthermore, the average salary range is between $64,000 and $257,000. The typical base pay is around $96,479, while the additional pay is $17,423.
Looking at the average, product leads earn more than product managers. However, it’s possible for a product manager at a large company to earn more than a product lead.
Other factors that matter are location, experience level, and your portfolio.
Becoming a Product Lead vs. Product Manager
Now that you have a good idea about the difference between both roles, let’s differentiate them based on career paths, skills, and certifications.
Career Path
The career path for both roles starts with an entry-level product role. Based on your education and skills level, it’s possible to get a product manager job as a start.
Furthermore, it also depends on what kind of product manager you are. For example, a technical product manager has a different career path.
In any case, here’s what a typical product lead’s career path looks like.
- Associate/Junior Product Manager
- Product Manager
- Product Lead
- Senior Product Lead
- VP of Product
- Chief Product Officer
On the other hand, a product manager’s career path is not that different from that of a product lead. Here’s a typical product manager’s career path.
- Associate/Junior Product Manager
- Product Manager
- Senior Product Manager
- Product Director
- VP of Product
- Chief Product Officer
Both roles start from the same entry-level position and end at the same executive roles. In some cases, the job title might be different.
For example, instead of a product lead, it’s possible for a large company to have lead product managers.
Regardless, a product lead is a senior product professional. All that changes is your focus. If you focus on the development stage more, you move towards a product lead position.
However, focusing on customers and product-led growth, you move towards a senior product manager position.
Skills
Since both the product lead and product manager begin with the same roles, their skills are similar. However, after a product manager becomes a product lead, they need specialized knowledge and expertise in their particular product niche.
They need to start understanding the entire product organization and target audience, and lead product development based on that.
If a product manager decides to become a senior product manager, their responsibilities and the required skills differ. That’s because a senior product manager is responsible for managing a complex product with several individual components. However, the product lead is the one who coordinates all the work in this case.
That said, the following are some educational requirements and skills of a product lead.
- Bachelor’s degree and above in a relevant field
- At least 3-5 years of product management experience
- Leadership and communication
- Understanding of web development
- Problem-solving
- Understanding of product technology
- Informed decision making
- Budgeting
- Marketing
On the other hand, here are some product manager skills and qualifications.
- Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field
- 1-2 years of product management experience
- Excellent communication skills
- Ability to manage a team working in different departments
- Market research
- Basic technical writing
- Knowledge of user experience practices
- Analytical skills
- Critical thinking
- Time management and prioritization
- Ability to work with several product managers within the same product line
Both roles have almost the same required skillset but the difference comes when taking their focus into account. For example, a product manager’s focus is on the end users and that’s why they need an understanding of UX, need to understand how to do market research, and require analytical skills.
That said, since product leads have product management experience, they have all the skills of a PM.
Certifications
Certifications and courses play a huge role in improving your credibility in the product community.
A lot of product managers end up in product management as a career change. While working in different departments gives them a unique insight, they still need to prove it.
That’s why you need to commit to completing certifications from renowned product organizations. Meanwhile, doing courses helps you build relevant knowledge, keeps you up to date with the industry, and offers you insights.
When it comes to certifications for product leads and product managers, there’s not much of a difference.
Doing advanced product management courses and certifications is a surefire way of improving your credibility as a product lead.
Take a look at the following certifications to get you started.
- Product Manager Certification – This works for both product leads and product managers.
- Technical Product Management Certification – This is for product managers who are looking to either become technical PMs or product leads.
- Data Product Manager Certification – This is ideal for aspiring product leads.
Regardless of whether you’re a product lead or product manager, it’s advisable to complete as many certifications as possible to build a strong product profile.
