How long does it take to become a product marketing manager?

It takes around 7 to 10 years to become a product marketing manager. To start, you will need at least a 4-year degree in marketing, business, or related field. After that, you will need at least three years of work experience, including a significant amount of that time spent supervising projects.

How much do product marketing directors make?

Product marketing directors make $174,013 a year, on average. The range in salary for a product marketing director typically falls between $154,693 and $196,053 a year. Factors such as location and company type impact how much a product marketing director can make.

How much does a marketing product manager make?

A marketing product manager makes $106,627 a year. This can start as low as $71,000 a year to as high as $160,000 a year. Factors such as location and company type impact how much you can earn as a marketing product manager.

How To Become A Director, Product Marketing: What It Is and Career Path

What is a director, product marketing and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Experts

Stephanie Dellande,

Sachin Tuli

A director of product marketing is responsible for developing and directing all the marketing activities of a particular product, product line, or market. He/She or she performs product pricing, packaging, and positioning to target customers. They also lead a team of product marketing managers in the facilitation of product communications and campaign strategies, and the ultimate objective is to create demand for products and increase sales.

A director of product marketing works closely with internal stakeholders such as product development, finance, sales, communications, and corporate marketing departments. A successful director of product marketing should have vast experience in product marketing and should be a subject matter expert in a particular product or market. He/She or she should also have leadership skills, analytical skills, writing skills, communication skills, research skills, and problem-solving skills.

A director of product marketing works 40 hours a week Monday to Friday from 9 to 5. The job involves a bit of traveling when meeting with external stakeholders such as media personnel.

What general advice would you give to a Director, Product Marketing?

Stephanie Dellande

Professor, Menlo College

Most likely, some 2020 graduates are feeling discouraged about their future. Particularly for those in fields in which job opportunities are generally less abundant, e.g., communication, psychology, majority of the humanities. Young adults, ages 18-35 years, have experienced and/or are experiencing, directly or indirectly, some of the country's most difficult times, the great recession December 2007 - June 2009, for many much longer, and now the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Congress has a significant role in determining the timeline of the fate of COVID-19 and a thriving economy. While the well-being (physical, financial, emotional, educational) of the American people is top of mind for this administration, if the economy is going to recover in a more expedient way, congress ultimately must agree to the administration's proposed recommendations, bills. If they do, recent graduates will likely be in good stead. It would be in the best interest of graduates to take a mindful approach (Celsi, Nelson, Dellande, Gilly, 2017) to their career. While the economy is in a state of collapse, young adults may have a difficult time launching their career. However, food for thought, accepting most any work although it may not be in a preferred field is suggested. Also recommended, while in a less desirable position, take advantage of or create opportunities to perform tasks related or only tangentially related to an aspirational career. Doing so will likely go a long way in helping to realize an ideal position.

ScoreDirector, Product MarketingUS Average

Salary

8.7

Avg. Salary $141,699

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.5

Growth Rate 10%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 8.15%

Black or African American 3.04%

Hispanic or Latino 8.67%

Unknown 5.32%

White 74.58%

Gender

female 25.29%

male 74.71%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress Level

7.5

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.5

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Director, Product Marketing in Columbus, OH

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Key steps to become a director, product marketing

Explore director, product marketing education requirements

Most common director, product marketing degrees

Bachelor's

74.6 %

Master's

21.5 %

Associate

2.1 %

Start to develop specific director, product marketing skills

Skills	Percentages
Product Management	7.74%
Digital Marketing	6.81%
Market Research	6.25%
Market Trends	4.83%
Cloud	4.33%

Complete relevant director, product marketing training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New directors, product marketing learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a director, product marketing based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real director, product marketing resumes.

Research director, product marketing duties and responsibilities

Hire and manage product owners and scrum masters.
Lead product launches and associate marketing efforts for SaaS provider of real-time customer service and online sales CRM solutions.
Increase brand awareness and leads through partner alliances, CRM, online advertising, brand communications and media placement.
Manage on-shore and offshore software development, UI and program management teams on user-centered product designs with ultimate UX.

Get director, product marketing experience

Generally, it takes 8-10 years to become a director, product marketing. The most common roles before becoming a director, product marketing include product manager, product marketing manager team lead and senior product manager.

Prepare your director, product marketing resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your director, product marketing resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a director, product marketing resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Director, Product Marketing Resume templates

Build a professional Director, Product Marketing resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Director, Product Marketing resume.

Apply for director, product marketing jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a director, product marketing job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average director, product marketing salary

The average Director, Product Marketing salary in the United States is $141,699 per year or $68 per hour. Director, product marketing salaries range between $97,000 and $205,000 per year.

Average Director, Product Marketing Salary

$141,699 Yearly

$68.12 hourly

How do directors, product marketing rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

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Director, Product Marketing reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2023

Pros

Solve tough problems, work on agile teams, outlet for creativity,

Cons

high expectations, constantly evolving technology, broad range of topics to learn (product management specifics, industry, technology, software development methods

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020