How To Hire A Product Manager For An IT Company: A Recruitment Guide

Looking for a Product Manager who understands that Success metrics are more than just buzzwords? We share how to find an expert who will bring value to your product and help you hire them!

Candidate profile: who is a product manager, their tasks, and important skills

Briefly, a product manager is the specialist who oversees the entire product lifecycle, from concept to launch and beyond. Product managers work closely with UX designers, engineers, and other stakeholders to ensure the product meets clients needs and provides a great user experience.

They also analyze data to measure product performance, identify areas for improvement, and make optimization decisions.

Responsibilities of a product manager include:

• Participating in strategy formation at all stages of product development and managing functionality development from idea to implementation.
• Conducting market research to identify trends, insights, and user needs.
• Evaluating product performance, its individual features, and development strategy.
• Stakeholder Management.
• Overseeing the product roadmap and collaborating closely with different departments (developers, designers, marketers).

 Let’s look at the key skills of a product manager. Their skill set includes:

• Knowledge of Agile and Scrum principles.
• Experience with Product Roadmapping and User Stories.
• Understanding of UX/UI design.
• Conducting market research.
• Data analysis.
• Proficiency with project management tools (e.g., Jira, Trello) and communication tools (e.g., Slack, Asana).

Soft skills of a product manager are as important as technical knowledge. Effective communication and leadership skills are a must since the product manager’s duties include working with stakeholders and coordinating the team to achieve product goals.

The tasks of an IT product manager can overlap with other roles, complicating the selection process. Here are positions a product manager should not be confused with:

 ❌ Project Manager: Defines tasks for the team, participates in task prioritization, daily meetings, as well as monitors budget, deadlines, and more.

 ❌ Product Owner: Acts as an intermediary between the client and the development team, manages the backlog, and oversees the product roadmap.

 ❌ Marketing Manager: Focuses on positioning strategy, product promotion, advertising campaigns, PR activities, and more.

 ❌ Team Lead: Coordinates team members, conducts code reviews, and occasionally completes tasks from the backlog.

 ❌ Delivery Manager: Usually a higher position in the IT company hierarchy, which may include working with business requirements, coordinating the development team, and participating in architectural decisions.

How to find a product manager: a step-by-step guide

We share how to organize the recruiting process and avoid getting overwhelmed by irrelevant resumes of product managers.

#1 Fill out the vacancy brief

Determine if you need an IT product manager with specific experience, such as launching a product from scratch or expertise in a particular field like Fintech. Clearly outline these requirements to build an accurate candidate portrait.

 ❗️ Many employers pay attention to the product manager’s cases. If you find it important that the specialist’s portfolio includes well-known projects or highlights the results obtained — let recruiters know about it. They will take all your wishes into account when searching and screening candidates.

#2 Make a search strategy

Identify the platforms where you can find suitable candidates and explore the costs associated with posting on them. Platforms like Djinni, Dou, LinkedIn, and Indeed can be useful. At times, job search resources yield a lot of responses, but the professionals there don’t have critical hard skills — be prepared to spend a lot of time filtering.

Want to speed up your results in your search for a product manager’s resume? It’s easy to do with external help. We know how to write to a candidate to get them interested in your vacancy. ITExpert has a hot database, access to niche search resources, and a team of recruiters who will perform the initial screening and deliver fast results.

#3 Conduct interviews

Plan the questions you will ask to identify the best candidates, determine who will be involved in the decision-making process, and set a deadline for hiring a professional.

In our agency’s experience, 6–8 interviews are enough to choose who to invite to the team. You can run the interviews in parallel with the processing of new vacancy responses. However, try not to delay decision-making — your competitors can hire talented candidates.

Find the best product manager in IT with ITExpert

Want to hire an IT product manager? It’s not easy, but we can help! Since 2015, ITExpert, an IT recruiting agency, has been sourcing tech and non-tech IT specialists for companies in Ukraine and worldwide, from the USA to Israel. Among our clients are Sony, Deloitte, and Depositphotos.

We handle the entire process, including forming the vacancy requirements, assessing the market, and setting up a targeted search for specialists. Our services include initial selection and technical screening, as well as support during the tech talent onboarding and adaptation of new team members. This allows you to focus on strategic tasks while we bring in top talent.

We are just a click away from adding skilled specialists to your team — contact us to discuss your recruitment details!