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Do you have a passion for product development and strong leadership skills? If yes, a career as a Product Manager could be suited for you.

Product Managers play a crucial role in the planning, design, execution, and optimisation of established and new products. They oversee product development from conceptualisation to its implementation and distribution.

To become a product manager in Australia, you need a university degree in business, product management or a related field. Additional professional certifications are an advantage.

This blog discusses the product manager's duties, skills and experience, qualifications, average salary, the best product management training courses, career paths, and the steps to becoming one.

1. What Is A Product Manager?

Product Management is taking an idea of a new product or service to market. Product Managers play a vital role in product launch, development, and company success.

They come from various backgrounds, including marketing, engineering, business, arts, and communications. 

They have skills across analytics, management, leadership, and creative fields that help them drive every stage of a product's lifecycle, from concept to sales.

2. Product Manager Skills

Do you want to know what it takes to be a good product manager? 

A product manager must master hard and soft skills due to his multi-faceted role involving product lifecycle management, product optimisation, data analysis, stakeholder management, and more.

Below are the most desirable skills for a product manager:

Technical Skills

• Customer research skills

• Ability to identify market opportunities

• Able to carry out road mapping, and product modelling

• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office and specialised software

• Solid understanding of the company's finances

• Familiarity with different stages of product development

Soft Skills

• Strategic thinking 

• Solid leadership skills 

• Proficiency in oral and written communication abilities 

• Emotional Intelligence

• Able to work to deadlines

• Great attitude when working with other managers and in a team 

• Strong business acumen

• Good interpersonal skills to build and nurture meaningful business relationships with clients, and vendors 

• Strategic thinking

• Curiosity to come up with new product marketing ideas and solutions.

• Able to make intelligent decisions that positively impact the company

• Good Commercial awareness concerning the company's target market, market demographics, major product features, sales statistics, and value propositions

• Analytical skills to develop sound product plans and pricing outlooks

• Project management and coordination skills

• Creative Problem-solving skills

• Strong presentation skills to make concise and engaging presentations.

• Good collaborative and motivational skills to lead a team and liaise with investors and other shareholders.

• Cool-headed and able to work under pressure

3. What Does A Product Manager Do?

The core responsibilities of a Product Manager include the following:

• Research customer requirements 

• Articulate the product vision and create a product roadmap

• Create budgets, gauge costs, and form financial performance reports

• Define targets and objectives to fulfil consumer's demand 

• Oversee each stage involved in the product life cycle, such as creation, delivery, and distribution.

• Liaise between diverse teams across various departments to ensure the product is customer-centric and fulfils deadlines

• Supervise the production of products and ensure to follow strict safety standards.

• Develop and launch a product distribution plan 

• Ensure newly developed products are customer-driven and aligned with the company's revenue goals.

• Oversee the budget for the project

• Leading a cross-functional team comprising researchers, engineers, salespeople, designers, and marketers

• Discuss with business stakeholders to understand potential drivers for the product

• Create profitable products that fulfil the distinctive needs of consumers

• Take stock of inventory, and order new supplies whenever required

• Recruit, manage and oversee members of the product development team

• Delegate tasks to team members and review staff performance

• Train existing and new production workers concerning specific technology and equipment rules and use.

• Manage expenses incurred on product management and create performance reports regularly

• Develop training materials, sales strategies, and effective product plans to boost overall sales

4. What To Study To Become A Product Manager?

To become a Product Manager, you need a university degree in business, business management, product design, or a related field to enter this role. 

For those who want to know how to become a product manager in tech product development, a computer science and engineering degree can help.

Additionally, you should complete a product management certification or short course to develop relevant practical skills like leadership. Most companies look for candidates with 10 to 15 years of experience. Proven managerial experience in a related role is desirable. 

5. Steps To Become A Product Manager In Australia

If you are interested in the work profile and want to pursue this profession, then here is the roadmap to becoming a product manager:

Step 1: Earn A Product Management Degree

Complete a four-year bachelor's degree in business, business administration, or marketing. 

It will give you the knowledge and skills to conceptualise, identify market segments, and build and promote consumer products in various industries.

Step 2: Complete A Product Manager Course

A product manager must have a good knowledge of technology, business, and user experience. A Product Manager course is the most effective way to learn product management fundamentals and technical skills.

You gain a deep understanding of your customer base and marketplace, the entire product lifecycle, usability testing, UX design, software development lifecycle methodologies, your business goals and more in a structured learning environment.

A good product management certification course develops your technical skills and high-level thinking to identify user needs and market opportunities. 

After completing the course, you will be confident to oversee the entire product lifecycle, create a distribution plan, and manage diverse teams.

Step 3: Work On Your Soft Skills

Like technical skills, social skills are equally necessary for a product manager role. You must demonstrate strong communication, leadership, and storytelling/presentation skills to communicate ideas concisely and effectively to external teams and stakeholders.

Consider taking soft skills courses that can refine your soft skills and give you a competitive edge. 

Step 4: Gain Relevant Work Experience

The world's biggest companies, like Google, LinkedIn, Yahoo, and Facebook, hire product managers yearly to manage their vast range of projects. 

Suppose you aim for these big firms and want to know how to become a product manager at Google. In that case, you need a good amount of experience in product management that sets you apart from the intense competition.

So, after completing relevant certification courses, look for on-the-job training opportunities with local companies. Working under a senior product manager with years of experience in product development will acquaint you with the product manager's duties. 

It will help you understand market regulations, consumer needs and purchase behaviour, and essential job skills.

Step 5: Create A Portfolio

The next step is creating a portfolio to show your talents to potential employers. Include all that you have practised on your own, products you have worked on with a team, and relevant work experience from your previous jobs.

Ensure your portfolio focuses on the projects that emphasise your contributions, best qualities, obstacles faced, and the solutions you have innovated to overcome them. Whether in UX design, coding in multiple programming languages, or successfully managing diverse teams.

Step 6: Do Networking

Attend conferences, meetups, and mixers to network with product management professionals. It could present you with professional development opportunities and stay updated with industry news and trends.

Create accounts on social media and online job portals like LinkedIn and Indeed Jobs Board to expand your professional network and find new job openings.

Step 7: Apply For Product Manager Roles

After graduation, begin looking for entry-level product manager roles such as junior-level product designer and associate product manager. Working in these roles may pave the path to progressive opportunities in a managerial position.

Create or update your resume to include your abilities, work history, and competencies. Also, write a cover letter that highlights your skills, experience, and expertise and what makes you the ideal candidate for the role.

6. How Much Do Product Managers Earn In Australia?

The average product manager's salary in Australia is AU$ 87,789 per year or AU$ 27.43 per hour. 

The factors determining the salary include employer, size and location of the business and years of work experience. 

Many Product managers work in the tech capitals of Australia – Sydney and Melbourne.

Product Manager Salary Based on Experience

• Entry-level Product Managers (< 1-year experience): AU$70,385 

• Early career Product Managers (1-4 years of experience): AU$80,587 

• Mid-career Product Managers (5-9 years of experience): AU$92,625 

• Experienced Product Managers (10-19 years of experience): AU$104,740

Top Paying Australian Cities For Product Managers

• Canberra ACT: $257,970 per year

• Sydney Central Business District NSW: $146,926 per year

• Macquarie Park NSW: $133,812 per year

• Parramatta NSW: $133,125 per year

• Brisbane QLD: $130,086 per year

• Sydney NSW: $127,956 per year

• Melbourne VIC: $114,742 per year

7. Is It Hard To Become A Product Manager?

To become a successful manager, you must complete a relevant degree, apply for a junior role to gain industrial exposure, and work towards opportunities to achieve a product manager position.

Thus, becoming a product manager may take several years of determination and consistent efforts; however, if you are passionate about product development and learning more about this industry. In that case, you will be able to realise your career goals.

8. How To Become A Product Manager Without Experience?

Many product managers start their careers with yet-to-gain product management experience. Some come from diverse qualifications and a range of professional backgrounds. In other words, you can become a Product Manager without prior experience in product management.

However, many employers prefer candidates with relevant qualifications and industry experience. You will need to showcase related job skills and education to secure a Product Manager position.

Getting an informal experience can help you acquire soft skills and specific technical skills to make a solid start in this profession. Consider Volunteering with local social enterprises or startups within your city.

Next, with pre-existing experience, pursue a certified online course specialising in product management. These courses cover the basics and give you an overview and up-to-date information about the industry.

It will help you become capable of working on various product management challenges. These include assessing market conditions, finding opportunities, understanding the product users' interests, and developing a business plan.

By learning the technical competencies related to the product development process, you can develop small projects and add them to your portfolio.

9. Job Outlook For Product Managers In Australia

Product Management is a thriving field bridging the worlds of business, technology, and design. Product managers are critical to products and a business' success.

They work to build and deliver higher-performing, well-designed products for the market.

The product manager is among the highest-paid professions in the tech industry and one in short supply in Australia. The demand and average salary for qualified Product managers have grown exponentially over the past few years.

Thus, if you want to capitalise on these opportunities and future-proof your career, you should consider learning Product Management.

10. Top Places To Find Work As A Product Manager

Though you can find Product manager jobs virtually anywhere, some of the top recruiters for this position are:

• HubSpot

• Southern Cross Austereo (among the largest media companies in Australia)

• Xero (Cloud-based accounting software platform)

• Freelancer.com (hires both Product Manager and Junior Product Manager)

• Meta

• Twitter

• Google

• PayPal

• Atlassian (Enterprise software company that develops software like Jira and Trello)

• Canva (a fast-growing startup in Australia)

• Yahoo7 (Australia's largest TV network and among the world's largest tech firms)

• Oneflare (an Australian digital marketplace that connects businesses and customers)

• Finder.com.au (the largest comparison site in Australia)

11. Product Manager Courses In Australia

A career in product management requires investing years in education and skill development. 

Receiving formal training through professionally structured courses or informal learning via resource centres and blogs can help you develop/refine your skill set.

We have prepared a list of courses that can boost your chances of job success:

Product Management courses are available in 3 online formats:

• TRANSFORM courses – 24-weeks part-time 

• ELEVATE courses - 24-weeks part-time or Self-paced

• FOUNDATIONS courses - Self-paced

Partnered with Credly, this Sydney-based institute provides digital credentials to all its course graduates.

Brainmates is a Melbourne-based training institute that offers a 3-day intensive course that teaches the basics of product management. 

The interactive and in-depth course is ideal for beginners who want to create a solid foundation in this field and refine their product management skills.

Hosted by an industry professional, this course is for beginner-level students with varying professional experiences. 

Learn essential tools and concepts behind the end-to-end Product Management process, and get hands-on experience to solve real-world problems for users.

It is an eight weeks (5-8 hours per week) course that teaches the fundamentals of Product Management to prepare students to deliver desirable and commercially feasible digital products.

This 6-hour Online course facilitates a smooth transition from your current role to a product management role. By taking the course, you will learn the following:

• Different types of product management roles

• The attributes of great product managers

• About the phases of the product lifecycle

• How to translate an idea into a product strategy and time-tested strategies to take your product to market

• How to test a product idea with customers

• How to draft a perfect product manager resume and tips to crack a product management interview

12. What Is The Product Manager's Career Path?

When having accumulated junior product management experience, the following could be a career path for you:

• Associate Product Manager

• Product Manager

• Senior Product Manager

• Director of Product

• Vice President of Product

• Chief Product Officer and beyond

13. What Tools Do Product Managers Use?

Product Managers manage the development of a product within an organisation. 

They do the following: develop new products, conduct market research, analyse consumer buying behaviour, set product release budgets, build project concepts, monitor manufacturing, approve product labelling designs and coordinate with marketing teams to develop promotional materials.

The following tools make up the product manager's toolkit to help them perform in their role:

Product Road Mapping Tools

They are used to develop, communicate, and follow the route to market product delivery. These tools have in-built features for visualisation to build flexible roadmaps to share across the team.

• ProductPlan 

• Aha!

• Asana

Flowcharting Tools

They are used to lay out a clear product plan for how the process will work.

• Microsoft Visio

• OmniGraffle 

Product Research Tools

They ease the understanding of the market and user testing.

• Peek

• Google Forms

• User Testing

Wireframing Tools

They help to develop product blueprints and prototypes and facilitate their fast development.

• Axure

• Mockingbird

• Balsamiq

Analytics And Measurement Tools

They help generate feedback on the user experience, including bug fixes and the effectiveness of new features. 

These tools track users' behaviour on their websites or software and collect data based on the user experience:

• Google Analytics

• Optimizely

• GoodData

• Google Surveys

• SurveyMonkey

• Pollfish

• Typeform 

• Pendo 

• Mixpanel 

• Amplitude

UI, UX, and Design Tools

They help develop a user-friendly and beautiful product.

• Sketch

• GoodUI

• Empty States

Project Tracking and Management Tools

They help stick to the roadmap by helping track different tasks and their current statuses. 

The tools also monitor issues for resolution and share information among team members.

• Jira

• Pivotal Tracker

• Microsoft Project 

• Trello 

Collaboration Tools

They help run a team of people spread across multiple departments and locations.

• Slack and Confluence for team messaging

• Evernote, Dropbox, and Google Drive, for file sharing 

• Keynote or PowerPoint to deliver ideas to team members, and stakeholders

14. Conclusion

A career as a Product Manager is lucrative, challenging, and fast developing. 

It is perfect for those who enjoy work that requires a mix of strategy, creativity, leadership, design, and more.

Understanding customer pain points and developing innovative solutions is highly satisfying. If you feel this profession suits your career objectives, follow this career guide and take the first steps toward a fulfilling career in product management.

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