Navigating a ship across the ocean takes specialized skills, knowledge and tools. Not only do navigators need to know where the vessel is going, but they also need to plan the best route to get there — and understand what resources and limitations are involved. Success in these endeavors can result in recognition and promotions.
In the same way as the navigator, a product manager (PM) must steer their product’s journey toward success and chart their own career development in the process.
An ambitious PM can further succeed if they chart a uniquely effective course to their product’s proverbial port. Self-starting PMs with a focus on self-improvement might even find themselves ahead of the curve — especially if they are employed at a company that nurtures their skills and rewards their achievements with opportunities for growth. But with so many open roles, where should job seekers start?
Built In LA sat down with five companies who have made space for PMs with drive and ambition to grow their careers for the long term. Product managers from Nordstrom, Inspire, SimplePractice, Sure and ProducePay spoke about the forward momentum in their careers — and their plans for navigating the next six months to even greater success.
What are the biggest projects or challenges your product management team is working on in the next six months?
We want Nordstrom to be our customer’s destination for fast and frictionless connection to inspiring products, content and experiences. To achieve this, we need to constantly learn new fashion trends and customer interests and quickly apply that knowledge across the Nordstrom websites, apps and stores. We accomplish this by leveraging AI to understand customer intent as well as our products and content in more flexible ways that evolve past traditional, rigid fashion taxonomies to taxonomy-free reasoning. We are focused on delivering a more intuitive and personalized customer experience that enables us to meet our customer needs while being flexible and scalable for our business.
What opportunities exist at your organization for ambitious PMs?
At the start of the pandemic, we saw a surge of customers seeking work-from-home products and inspiration. In the past, we relied on manual effort to first detect this need, followed by human curation to build the right assortment of products and content. And, unless the customer knew exactly where to look or how to ask, they might miss the opportunity to find relevant work-from-home items.
We are leveraging AI to better inform the decisions we make about products and content that enhance our customer experience. This technology enables us to better personalize the digital customer experience by serving up relevant product, content, search and outfit recommendations that consistently deliver on the needs of the customer.
Nordstrom is responding to rapidly evolving customer expectations and retail trends by developing technology that intelligently harnesses data so that we can make better decisions — to help empower our people to make our customers feel good and look their best. To bring this to life, we need product managers that are passionate about driving innovation and excited by the opportunity to make a big impact.
We need product managers that are passionate about driving innovation and excited by the opportunity to make a big impact.”
How have you been able to grow your career within your company?
In my nine years at Nordstrom, I’ve continuously had new ways to challenge myself and advance my career. I started in operations, then found new opportunities in marketing and analytics until I finally connected with a career path that I love in product management. I’m now a manager of product management, which gives me a rewarding opportunity to invest in other product managers — as well as stretch my own skills. Nordstrom is a place where I’ve always felt excited about what’s next, encouraged to take chances and empowered to lead my work and my career.
What are the biggest projects or challenges your product management team is working on in the next six months?
Retention services’ primary objective is to maximize retention opportunities and provide a seamless fulfillment experience for our members. We do this by managing internal retention products and supporting related initiatives aimed at improving our core business practices. A big focus for us right now is stripping down workflows and reimagining what they look like in an ideal state to set our business and stakeholders up for long-term success. Two current projects I am excited about are the improvement of our case management system and the implementation of a new marketing communication platform. These bodies of work are critical building blocks to ensure retention-focused teams have the tools they need to maximize efficiency, reduce member churn and provide a robust communication member experience.
What opportunities exist at your organization for ambitious PMs?
Currently, most of our product roles live under our member operations umbrella, a relatively new team at Inspire. We are growing this team across three disciplines: acquisition, retention and pricing services. The strategy behind this is to have subject matter experts focusing on fundamental parts of our business. I think there’s always an opportunity to challenge norms in how we acquire, retain and price our members, including the cross-functional collaboration needed to get there.
Ambitious PMs, as well as all Inspire employees, have the ability to challenge our status quo and bring innovative solutions to the table. Something I’ve always loved about Inspire is that employees are encouraged to try things that have never been done before. They are also pushed to find creative solutions — no idea is a bad idea. It’s how we continue to grow as a company and become leaders in our industry, both with our product offerings and cultivating a unique, inclusive workplace for employees.
Ambitious PMs have the ability to challenge our status quo and bring innovative solutions to the table.”
How have you been able to grow your career within your company?
I’ve been at Inspire for about five and a half years and have held six different roles! Originally hired as Inspire’s first sales quality associate, I have been supported through cross-collaborative roles in project management and ultimately into a product-focused role. Forming relationships rooted in trust and authenticity with my peers and leaders has been a huge contributor to my success. Inspire is a great place to find your passion and work with leaders to craft a career path you are excited about.
What are the biggest projects or challenges your product management team is working on in the next six months?
Over the next six months, my team will be focusing on building the foundation that will support the next evolution in our company’s offerings. This work will help us provide an even more delightful and seamless experience for our customers across our full suite of products to manage not only their private practice but their entire professional journey. We’ll also be empowering them to make informed business decisions by making their practice data easier to access and understand while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance.
What opportunities exist at your organization for ambitious PMs?
At SimplePractice, an ambitious product manager has the opportunity to enact positive change not only on the products they build but also within our product organization. We’re always exploring new ideas and workflows to uncover how we can be more efficient and effective as well as provide an exceptional customer experience. We’re always happy to welcome PMs who strive to take more ownership over the products they’re building and who truly want to put the customer first.
We’re always happy to welcome PMs who strive to take more ownership over the products they’re building and who truly want to put the customer first.”
How have you been able to grow your career within your company?
I’ve spent my time at SimplePractice deeply focused on understanding our customers’ needs and pain points. I’ve also taken ownership over my work, which has earned the trust of my peers and managers. We’re a growing company where opportunities often become available for those who show they can help our product and team get to the next level. It’s hard work, but it’s easy to remain motivated because of the mission behind SimplePractice. The work our customers do is essential — it feels good to say that I work at a place where we get to support the health and wellness professionals who have a positive impact on people’s lives every day.
What are the biggest projects or challenges your product management team is working on in the next six months?
At Sure, we have fantastic partners and get to work with the best companies out there. Within the next six months, our product team is focusing on expansion from both the product availability level as well as the number of product specialists we have. We have ambitious goals, but we also have the right people to take those on.
What opportunities exist at your organization for ambitious PMs?
Aligned with our product principles, our product management division provides an area of practice unmatched by any other company. We are a group of like-minded product experts that teach, share and support each other throughout our product life cycles. We also have teams outside of the product division that do the same.
We are a group of like-minded product experts that teach, share and support each other throughout our product life cycles.”
How have you been able to grow your career within your company?
Yes! I have been working at Sure for a while now and have only seen opportunities for growth. As we grow as a company, we continue to need our team members to take up new career journeys. These new responsibilities are designed in a way that promotes self-growth in addition to propelling the company forward.
What are the biggest projects or challenges your product management team is working on in the next six months?
ProducePay is currently a proven financing company in the fresh produce industry, with considerable venture-backed funding and a strong revenue source. Our next big initiative is to take our success in the financing space and parlay it into building a marketplace where buyers and sellers of fresh produce can trade significantly faster and easier. This end-to-end marketplace will take a user from onboarding through the fulfillment process of completing an order — it has incredible potential to change the lives of farmers and the agriculture industry as a whole.
What opportunities exist at your organization for ambitious PMs?
We embrace true product management where strategy is key, and squads are aligned on achievable and ambitious outcomes. At ProducePay, you will find an environment that paves the way for product managers to succeed within a triad model where PMs drive the goal-setting process. Our team strives to be the domain experts in our problem areas, mitigate risks and have a strong collaboration with our peers in engineering and design. We are built to start with problems and take bets to drive towards measurable outcomes.
Here, you don’t just read books on product best practices thinking they’re a pipedream. Instead, you will join a world-class team built to make a difference based upon some of the best minds in the space including Marty Cagan, Teresa Torres and Tim Herbig.
Here, you don’t just read books on product best practices thinking they’re a pipedream.”
How have you been able to grow your career within your company?
I’m new at ProducePay, but each time I’ve been given an opportunity to grow in my career, it has been because I had a mentor take a bet on me, giving me the chance to either succeed or fail. I believe the best work is done under those circumstances and I look to pay it forward. I work best with PMs eager to prove themselves and are hungry to make a positive difference.
Growth will come by focusing on leveling up one’s self and the team through servant leadership, which will lead to business outcomes. With product-market fit, we are looking to scale the organization and will need passionate team players focused on the success of the entire group.
