What is a Growth Product Manager?

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In the past, we’ve talked about the many different types of product managers. For example, this blog post breaks down the similarities and differences between a technical product manager and a product manager.

This time around, we’re going to answer the question of “what is a growth product manager?”

Just the same as any type of PM job, there’s no one size fits all answer to this question. Job responsibilities vary from one company, position, and industry to the next.

In general terms, a growth product manager is responsible for growing the number of product users through growth hacking techniques. That’s not the only thing they do, but it’s the overarching theme. 

With that in mind, you will still have unanswered questions such as:

• What type of experience and knowledge do you need to work as a growth product manager?
• What are your day-to-day responsibilities as a growth product manager?
• What are your short and long-term career goals?
• How do you measure success, both personally and company-wide?
• Which individuals and departments will you collaborate with?

The best way to understand what a growth product manager does is by reviewing current openings. Let’s get started!

Growth PM Qualifications

For many growth PM candidates, a job at Meta (Facebook) is a dream come true. But you can’t realize that dream unless you meet its strict qualifications. Here are three of the top requirements for a recently posted Meta growth PM opening. 

• 8+ years of product management or related industry experience in growth. 
• Experience working in a technical environment with a broad, cross-functional team to drive product vision, define product requirements, coordinate resources from other groups (design, legal, etc.), and guide the team through key milestones
• Experience analyzing complex, large-scale data sets and making decisions based on data.

As you can see, you’re not likely to step into a growth PM position at Meta fresh out of college. It’s not an entry-level position for candidates who are just getting started in the working world. Meta is looking for people with eight or more years of product management and/or growth experience. 

Now, let’s examine some of the requirements for a senior growth product manager for a hypothetical tech startup.

• An experimental mindset: knows how to run both quick proofs-of-concept and A/B tests and can analyze their own experiment results if needed.
• Excellent product skills and techniques, particularly around product discovery, design, delivery, analysis, iteration, and strategy.
• Deep experience on a cross-functional growth team including design, product, engineering, and marketing.

Even though this is a senior-level position, the requirements are similar — if not less strict — than for the position of growth PM at Meta. 

Growth PM Responsibilities

Once you determine that you’re qualified to apply for growth product manager positions, turn your attention to common job responsibilities. This will help you answer questions such as:

• Will you enjoy the responsibilities taken on by a growth product manager?
• Are you confident that your experience has prepared you to succeed in this role?
• Are there any areas in which you’re lacking?

Sticking with the same examples from above, here are some of the many responsibilities of a Meta growth PM:

• Is the primary driver for identifying significant near and long-term opportunities in a large Product area, and driving product vision, strategies and roadmaps in the context of broader organizational strategies and goals.
• Integrate data, usability studies, research, and market analysis into product strategies and requirements to enhance user satisfaction and improve engineer productivity.
• Define and analyze metrics that inform the success of products. Identify and track key performance metrics. Drive decision-making through user insights, quantitative analysis, and AB testing.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the responsibilities at Quit Genius:

• Scale entirely new channels that generate user sign-ups, particularly in our hardest-to-reach demographics that don’t always respond to digital marketing.
• Run experiments and A/B tests that not only get results but help us learn more about what does and doesn’t work in reaching specific demographics
• Work cross-functionally to execute on company goals, running well-defined sprints and maintaining clear roadmaps

These are the types of responsibilities that you’re likely to take on as a growth PM at any company. They’ll vary slightly, but if you feel good about your ability to manage these responsibilities, you’re in a good spot.

Note: it’s worth mentioning again that qualifications and responsibilities vary. So, even if you don’t match the requirements for a growth product manager position at one company, it doesn’t mean this will hold true with all others. 

3 common themes

There are three common themes that you’ll notice in almost every growth PM opening:

• Growth: It’s obvious, but worth mentioning. Your primary goal as a growth PM is to boost the number of users. There’s more than one way to do this, and you’re being hired because you know how to figure out the best path forward. 
• Run experiments and tests: Growth doesn’t happen by luck. Experimentation and testing are a necessity in making informed decisions. 
• Define and analyze metrics: You run experiments and tests to gather data. You must then use this data to define and analyze metrics to work cross-functionally and drive decision-making. 

You can expect to see these themes in almost every growth PM job opening that you find online. They may not be presented in the exact same manner, but as you dig into the responsibilities you’ll realize that they’re there in some form. 

Summary

Are you more excited than ever about chasing your dream of becoming a growth product manager? 

Now that you better understand the general qualifications and responsibilities of this PM position, you can turn your attention to finding openings, applying for those that suit you, and preparing for the interview process.

Don’t wait until the last minute to start prepping for growth product manager interviews. The sooner you get started the more confidence you’ll have. Get up to speed by taking our prep course, reviewing our questions database, and practicing with experienced interview partners.