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What Is a Senior Director of Product Management?

A Senior Director of Product Management is one of the highest levels of Product Management positions available. The Senior Director oversees the entire duration of a Product, as well as the fulfillment of a company’s overall strategies and goals to be positive. There are many requirements to become a Senior Director of Product Management, mainly either an MBA or equivalent in years of experience.

However, for lower-level Product Manager positions, you don’t require an MBA to land. To learn more about why refer to our article discussing MBAs and Product Manager positions. Here’s what sets the Senior Director apart as a leading member of a product team.

Senior Director’s Role Within a Company

The Senior Director of Product Management is a quintessential role within a company and focuses primarily on the leadership skills of the individual. They oversee the activities of the Junior Product Manager, the Product Manager, the Senior Product Manager, and the Head of Product Management. They make sure their work is all accounted for and that the team is running effectively.

This means that the Senior Director is in charge of most of the other Product Managers within a company, with only the CPO (Chief Product Offer) being above them in status in the Product Management ladder.

Collaboration Requirements

The role of a Senior Director of Product Management requires high collaboration skills, especially cross-functional. This is in the same nature as a regular Product Manager. The Senior Director would hold meetings and conferences with other directors of respected fields within a company, such as the Director of Engineering, Director of Marketing, and Director of Sales. The Senior Director should require a general report from the directors in order to allow summarizations of what difficulties are being faced by each department, obstacles in the roadmaps, their possible tasks and solutions, and what they require to achieve these solutions. 

Proposals from Junior Product Managers

This responsibility stems from the lower levels of Product Management — reaching down to the Junior Product Managers. The Junior Product Managers analyze and give reports to the Senior Director in regards to issues within certain fields, and possible solutions. These reports, or otherwise known as proposals are presented, and the Senior Director is then expected to evaluate each proposal, and see the benefits or decrements to the company. 

Consistent Communications to the Higher Levels

As mentioned previously, the only Product Manager role above the Senior Director is the CPO. However, just as much does the Senior Director have to keep the CPO on time with each task, and be up to date with what’s going on with the products, the Senior Director have to report to Stakeholders and Executives as well. The task is to keep the Stakeholders, and the Executives up to date on the progress of a product as well.

Roadmap Creation

Similar to other Product Managers and Directors, the Senior Director must keep an up-to-date roadmap clear and envision the future of the company’s products. The Senior Director must oversee roadmaps on a more grandeur style — they should monitor what the customers need, what the company needs and has, and what the current situation within the market is. 

Consumer Engagement

The Senior Director should also keep consistent lines of communication with consumers. This is vital to gain first-hand insights on the product experience from consumers who are unbiased towards the product. This can provide realms of data and statistics that can be used to further improve upon the product. 

Senior Director of Product Management: Overall

Overall, the Senior Director of Product Management has a substantially finite amount of responsibilities to adhere to with the company that they’re employed at. This makes the role of Senior Director of Product Management extremely taxing and tiring, but fulfilling.

If you’re interested in pursuing a career as a Senior Director of Product Management, we’d love to help you take the first step! We’re offering free career coaching sessions with our in-house team: 20-minute spots are limited; check it out now!