Wanted alive and kicking: The new-age product manager

livemint.com:

MUMBAI : At the annual campus hiring ritual at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) this year, the rather ubiquitous profile of product manager stood out but with a more evolved job definition. Software companies, consultancies, consumer firms and startups prowled premier engineering and business schools for potential product managers who can go beyond the traditional requirements of the role.

New product manager hires from the IITs are being offered annual salaries of ₹25-45 lakh, according to their placement officers. Companies hiring senior PMs from rivals or other sectors pay ₹1.5 crore, or even more, said executives at recruitment firms.

What’s driving the increasing demand is that over the past coUPLe of years, companies have been pushed to come up with niche product lines that can help them stand apart in clogged markets, say recruiters. What this means for a new generation of product managers is that they are also required to be data mining experts, able to evaluate social-economic trends and behaviour patterns of consumers, and estimate likely changes in purchasing power.

The role’s demand has amplified as companies now need managers who can work around how consumption patterns in India are changing with exposure to global products and availability, said recruiters. Product managers also need to have AI and full-stack domain knowledge.

“Depending upon the sector they are picking up, innovative approach and domain knowledge with a fair understanding of operational processes are important skills that firms are looking for," said Brajesh Singh, president at consulting firm Arthur D Little India, which was among the companies that beelined to the IITs this year to recruit product managers. In a consulting