Product Owners evaluate and research market and competitors during product development, develop strategies and tactics while cross coordinating with other departments, establish production processes, prioritization, and overseeing each step of development from conception to launch.
Product Owners can expect to make an average salary of $96,600 annually (or $106,700 in total compensation package). The highest earners for this role can expect to see around $111,000 annually (or $120,600 in total compensation).
Verbal Communications, Leadership, Detail Orientation, Management, Problem Solving, Innovative, Consulting, Organization, Problem Solving/Decision Making, Research/Presenting, Planning, Influencing, Mentorship, Time Management
Has knowledge of the existing customer base and desired customers for the product or feature
Understanding of where the market is headed
Lead Focus group, interview, and survey development
Product knowledge
Technical knowledge
Effective meeting design and facilitation
Ability to establish and evangelize a product or feature vision
Value metrics capability
Exceptional research and communication competencies
Customer and product knowledge
Agile development practices
Validation competencies such as beta testing
Basic data modeling, JSON, XML, working knowledge of relational and non-relational databases. SQL, REST APIs, processing data using Python, etc.
Broad understanding of usability, usability testing, usability heuristics. Ability to communicate to the user experience team using a common language
Working knowledge of applications to support storyboards, personas, and wireframes such as Figma or Miro
Build revenue, pricing, and adoption models
Micro/ macroeconomics
Experiment design and analysis
Experience with various analytics tools, and business intelligence tools. Know what you’re looking for, and where to find it
Conduct effective customer/user interviews
Mapping and understanding complex competitive, partner, and customer ecosystems
Complexity and systems thinking
Domain research
Understanding and identifying competitive advantages
Managing products as a Business
Creating and communicating product or feature vision, value proposition, and validation outcomes
Strategic understanding of how the product or features meets business strategy
Ability to interact with customers to understand business problems
Building business cases
Product marketing competencies
Analytical competencies
The pathway below represents an example career pathway in the ever-changing Digital Innovation Economy.
To be a Product Owner, employers are looking for a Bachelor’s degree in Business or Master’s degree in Business Administration or related experience. Other preferred and/or required certifications for a Product Owner include: Certified Product Owner with scrum.org, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner, Project Management Professional Certification, Certified Power Quality Professional, Salesforce Certification.
Want to try on being a Product Owner? Explore our free virtual work simulation through Forage and gain hands on experience for this role directly from industry: Product Design Work Simulation and Technology Consulting Work Simulation.
Check out our Career Resources Directory to find programs in Indiana that offer opportunities to develop your skills. These include certificate and degree attainment, internship programs, and mentorship to help you prepare for a career in tech.
