Product Manager
Snapshot
Product managers are responsible for managing the lifecycle of a product. They research and develop new products in addition to managing existing ones through market research and strategic planning. Product managers perform marketing and planning activities to increase profits.
As a product manager, you're the champion for a product’s success. Your days involve a dynamic mix of research, planning, and collaboration. You'll analyze market trends, understand customer needs, and translate those insights into a product roadmap. You’ll work closely with engineering, marketing, and sales teams to ensure the product meets both user expectations and business objectives. It’s a role that requires both analytical rigor and creative problem-solving.
- • Conducting market research and competitive analysis to identify opportunities.
- • Defining product vision, strategy, and roadmap.
- • Prioritizing features and managing the product backlog.
Where this occupation is in demand
Reported labour shortages and surpluses, by year. Published for occupation groups, not for individual job titles.
Figures cover Administrative and commercial managers — 69 jobs including this one.
In shortage: Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and 2 more.
Longest-running shortage: Netherlands, 4 years.
Select a place on the map to see its figures.
About this source›
Source: ELA/EURES labour shortages and surpluses. Readings are published at occupation-group level, and cover Europe. Editions differ in annex layout and country coverage, so a change between years does not always mean the labour market changed. Countries in grey were not reported, which is not the same as being in balance.
What these words mean
The four things this section reports
- Reported demand
- Whether employers report needing people in this job — a judgement published by a national or EU body, not a count.
- Where it is heading
- Which way employment in this job is expected to move over the coming years, from an official projection.
- Openings
- Roughly how many openings arise — from growth and from people leaving the job.
- Typical pay
- What people in this job typically earn where the source publishes it. Blank does not mean unpaid; it means nobody publishes it for that place.
A measure is left out when nobody publishes it for that place, rather than shown as zero.
Which way the market leans for you
- In your favour
- More openings than people looking — employers are competing for candidates.
- Balanced
- Openings and candidates are roughly matched.
- Competitive
- More people looking than openings — expect to compete.
- Mixed evidence
- Sources disagree, or the same occupation group is short in one part and oversupplied in another.
Every source resolves to one of these four, so there is a single vocabulary to learn. What differs is the evidence behind it, which is printed underneath each verdict — a measured ratio of openings to jobseekers, or an assessment published by a national body.
How this job compares with other jobs in the same country
- Strong
- Among the strongest in that country
- Good
- Stronger than most jobs in that country
- Mixed
- About typical for that country
- Weak
- Weaker than most jobs in that country
This is a rank within one country, not a score you can carry across borders — the registers behind two countries count different people, so the same number means different things in each. It is also why a job can be among the strongest in a country and still show as Competitive: it leads the field in a market that is crowded overall.
Where these come from
Every figure is published by a national statistics office, a public employment service or an EU body, and each card names its source and the period it covers. Some places are counted monthly, others assessed once or twice a year, so two places on the same map can be describing different moments — the date is always shown.
None of this predicts one person’s chances. It describes a market.
Reported demand · Typical pay · Where it is heading (United States, Ireland, Australia, Malta, United Kingdom)
| Reported demand | Typical pay | Where it is heading | |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Not reported | $166,790 2025-05 | +6.6% 2024–2034 · BLS 2024-2034 |
| Ireland | Not reported | — | +5.4% 2023–2035 · Cedefop 2026 * |
| Australia | Assessed as balanced Jobs and Skills Australia 2025 * | — | — |
| Malta | Shortage reported ELA/EURES 2024 * | — | +22.3% 2023–2035 · Cedefop 2026 * |
| United Kingdom | Not reported | £54,857 2025-provisional | — |
* Published for occupation groups, not for individual job titles.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS)
Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Open Government Licence v3.0
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Future Outlook for product manager
The outlook for product manager reflects a balanced mix of automation exposure and durable, human-led work.
How are these scores calculated?
The Resilience Score (0–100) estimates how structurally protected this occupation is from automation and AI disruption, based on task-level analysis. Higher scores mean more human-judgment-intensive tasks. AI Exposure shows the estimated percentage of task hours that current AI capabilities could affect. These are model-derived structural indicators, not predictions about individual job security.
How could product manager change as AI adoption grows?
Several task areas may shift toward AI-assisted workflows, so reskilling becomes more important.
Illustrative scenario based on task automatability — not a forecast. Values are rounded the further ahead you look.
Several task areas may shift toward AI-assisted workflows, so reskilling becomes more important.
Illustrative scenario based on task automatability — not a forecast. Values are rounded the further ahead you look.
Model-based estimate. Use it as a planning signal, not a guarantee.
Compare this to your profile
How AI may change this role
Deterministic, model-based interpretation of current role signals — not a guarantee of replacement.
What still depends on people
- manage the customer experience
- oversee quality control
- define technology strategy
Where AI may become a co-pilot
- combine business technology with user experience
- analyse economic trends
- analyse consumer buying trends
Tasks most exposed to automation
- prepare market research reports
Vital Signs & AI Vectors
AI Exposure Vectors
0-100%Exposure to content generation, creative augmentation, and large language model tools
Exposure to AI-assisted analysis, pattern recognition, and predictive modelling tasks
Exposure to workflow automation, decision-support software, and process digitisation
Exposure to physical automation, robotics, and sensor-driven task displacement
Technical Details
NexFuture v3.0 estimates automation exposure natively from ESCO essential-skill groups, weighted by skill mass and calibrated against expert anchors. Scores are probabilistic estimates, not guarantees. See the NexFuture Methodology White Paper for full details.
Measures automation exposure. It does not measure pay, demand, or how many jobs exist near you.
What people in this role usually do
Management & Entrepreneurship
A typical day as a product manager
09 09:00 · Morning define technology strategy
10 10:30 · Mid-morning develop business plans
12 12:00 · Midday organise participation in local or international events
14 14:00 · Afternoon combine business technology with user experience
15 15:30 · Late afternoon develop new products
17 17:00 · Wrap-up develop product design
Task order is illustrative. Individual days vary.
What you need to do this work
The skills, knowledge and tools this role calls for — and the traits and rewards that come with it.
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combine business technology with user experience
Analyse and exploit the points where technology, user experience, and business meet in order to create and develop new products.
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make data-driven decisions
Collect data such as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for an organisation and use the information to formulate actions and strategies.
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define technology strategy
Create an overall plan of objectives, practices, principles and tactics related to the use of technologies within an organisation and describe the means to reach the objectives, taking into account analyses and relevant regulations.
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develop business plans
Plan, write and collaborate in the implement business plans. Include and foresee in the business plan the market strategy, the competitive analysis of the company, the design and the development of the plan, the operations and the management aspects and the financial forecast of the business plan.
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draw conclusions from market research results
Analyse, draw conclusions and present major observations from the results of market research. Suggest on potential markets, prices, target groups, or investments.
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perform market research
Gather, assess and represent data about target market and customers in order to facilitate strategic development and feasibility studies. Identify market trends.
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analyse economic trends
Analyse developments in national or international trade, business relations, banking, and developments in public finance and how these factors interact with one another in a given economic context.
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analyse consumer buying trends
Analyse buying habits or currently prevalent customer behaviour.
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develop new products
Develop and generate new products and product ideas based on market research on trends and niches.
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develop product design
Convert market requirements into product design and development.
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persuade clients with alternatives
Describe, detail, and compare possible alternatives that clients could take about products and services to persuade them to take a decision that benefits both the company and the client.
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analyse market financial trends
Monitor and forecast the tendencies of a financial market to move in a particular direction over time.
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plan product management
Manage the scheduling of procedures which aim to maximise sales objectives, such as forecasting market trends, product placement, and sales planning.
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develop communications strategies
Manage or contribute to the conception and implementation of an organisation's internal and external communications plans and presentation, including its online presence.
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manage the customer experience
Monitor, create and oversee customer experience and perception of brand and service. Ensure pleasant customer experience, treat customers in a cordial and courteous manner.
design management
The way in which design principles are incorporated to help achieve business objectives, create products and services, obtain new customers, and support marketing activities.
product life-cycle
The management of the life-cycle of a product from the development stages to the market entry and market removal.
cost management
The process of planning, monitoring and adjusting the expenses and revenues of a business in order to achieve cost efficiency and capability.
market pricing
Price volatility according to market and price elasticity, and the factors which influence pricing trends and changes in the market in the long and short term.
product comprehension
The offered products, their functionalities, properties and legal and regulatory requirements.
sales strategies
The principles concerning customer behaviour and target markets with the aim of promotion and sales of a product or a service.
- industrial research and development
- market research
- circular economy
- consumer goods industry
- pricing strategies
Path to become a product manager
What it typically takes to qualify: education level, where it is a regulated profession, and where to study.
Master's or equivalent level
The closest officially recognised professional qualification in the Flemish qualification structure:
- Productmanager Flemish level 6
A closest match, not an exact equivalent: a qualification is often narrower than the occupation. Source: AHOVOKS, Flemish government (Kwalificatiedatabank), reused under the Flemish Open Licence for free reuse.
650 programmes in 26 countries teach the core skills of this job. Plus 289 short courses that build single skills.
A few examples, taught in the language of this page:
Master of Science in Product Design Control
Technological University of the Shannon · Ireland
Diploma in Corporate Direction (Food Business)
University College Cork · Ireland
MSc STRATEGIC MARKETING (FT)
Maynooth University · Ireland
Master of Science in Business, Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship
South East Technological University · Ireland
Postgraduate Diploma in Science in Marketing
Dublin Business School · Ireland
These are 6 of 939.
Sources
- 1. Source: Europass Qualification Dataset Register (European Commission)
- 2. Irish course data from Qualifax (qualifax.ie), run by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI).
Growth Pathways & Similar Roles
Explore typical career progression paths, adjacent skills, and similar roles to plan your next transition.
Where does product manager fit?
Similarity scores based on skill overlap from ESCO data.
For organisations
The data on this page, working for your students, clients and staff.
Frequently asked questions
What skills are most important for a product manager?
How does the role of a product manager differ from a project manager?
I'm considering a career change – is product management a good fit for someone without a technical background?
Is there a shortage of Product Manager in Europe?
How much does Product Manager pay in the United States?
Sources: ESCO O*NET ELA/EURES Cedefop BLS Data updated October 19, 2026 About our data