This article is part of an ongoing series that will take a deeper look at the jobs featured in our annual Austin Tech Salaries Guide.
The average salary range for product managers in Austin is between $80,000 and $100,000, according to the latest data collected by Built In.
Job Outlook
"The only thing that matters is getting to product/market fit," Marc Andreesen said. "Product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market. Lots of startups fail before product/market fit ever happens."
Once a startup finds the right product/market fit, product managers play key roles because they oversee the development, strategy and execution of both existing and future products that will keeps customers happy and businesses viable.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects advertising, marketing and promotion manager positions to experience 9% growth from 2014 to 2024, which is faster than the average for all other occupations.
Our job board has numerous openings from Austin startups and tech companies looking for product managers and specialists —and the listings are growing everyday.
Related: View open product manager jobs
Austin vs. National Average
Career website Glassdoor recently listed product manager as the eighth "Best Job in America," citing the national median salary as $106,680.
CyberCoders, which released its 2016 salary guide earlier this month, places the average salary nationwide at $105,781.
Built In Austin’s salary range of $80,000 to $100,000 is based on a survey of hiring managers at local tech companies. Salary is dependent on company size, employee experience, and the negotiating ability of the employers and applicants.
Skills Required
Good product managers are market-driven, holistic thinkers who act as the "CEO of the product." It is their job to maintain the vision and integrity of the product, while also working with engineers, designers, other managers, marketers, sales and analytics to receive input.
Product managers have a deep understanding of the core consumer and focus on innovating and improving the existing product, but also look for opportunities within the vertical to create new things that customers need.
Defining the development process, making key strategic decisions about which features are must-haves and which are not, effectively reducing the amount of time it takes a company to get to market, is also a key component of the job.
It's not easy.
"Being a good product manager is so hard that most product managers at most companies fail to be good—and instead are bad," Ben Horowitz and David Weiden wrote in their famous "Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager."
"Because product management is a highly leveraged position, a bad product manager leads to many other bad consequences, generally including the wrong product being built, which generally has a significant impact on revenue, morale, and reputation—of both the product manager and their company."
