A Guide to the Role of Technical Product Manager
- blogs
- 5 min read
Think about how your food delivery arrives hot and on time, even during the busiest dinner hours or in the middle of a heavy downpour. That’s no accident—it’s the result of precise planning and coordination. Behind the scenes, a Technical Product Manager ensures that every technical detail—from the app’s real-time tracking to the algorithms assigning delivery drivers—is working perfectly to get your meal to your doorstep.
For instance, in the case of a food delivery company where they decide to introduce predictive delivery times, the technical product manager works with engineers to ensure the system handles real-time data such as traffic conditions, locations of the drivers, and preparation times at the restaurants. Technical complexities must be weighed against user expectations; it is about making sure that the tech doesn’t just work but creates an experience that is going to be easy and reliable for everyone.
In this blog, we’ll break down the role of a technical product manager, explore how it differs from traditional product management, guide you on how to become one and discuss what the future looks like for this career. Whether you’re curious or considering this path, this blog will give you the full picture.
Key Takeaways:
- Technical product managers bridge business goals with technical execution by working closely with engineering teams.
- They translate business requirements into technical specifications that help ensure smoother, scalable product development.
- The role requires technical expertise and product management skills mixed with excellent problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
- The technical product managers in India will have salaries between ₹10,00,000- ₹40,00,000+ based on experience and the size of the company.
- With the fast growth in AI, machine learning, and cloud technologies, high-end skilled technical product managers are at the turn of the corner.
Technical Product Manager Responsibilities
The role of a technical product manager is all about aligning what we do technically to what drives business. Here’s a deeper dive into what that looks like on a day-to-day basis:
- Collaborating with Engineering Teams: Technical product managers spend a lot of time with engineers. They’re in the trenches, understanding the code, system architecture, and technical infrastructure. For example, when a company launches a new feature, such as predictive delivery, the technical product manager ensures all the moving parts, such as GPS tracking to server loads up to user interfaces are working. They also help engineers prioritize their tasks in line with business needs to ensure the effective building of the product.
- Defining Technical Specifications: Technical product managers take business needs and turn them into tasks that need to happen from a technical standpoint. Let’s say the company’s delivery service might want to ensure that its users can track their driver’s route in real time within the app. The technical product manager would work with the engineers about how this needs to be built, what data would be necessary, and how it should look and behave on the user’s screen.
- Balancing Business and Technical Needs: Business teams sometimes pressure the technical product manager to rush for feature delivery. However, the technical product manager must also understand if this is feasible for the engineering teams. For instance, the marketing team might request launching a new feature in time for a major event; however, the technical product manager, hesitant with such a demand, is responsible for ensuring that the feature is technically sound when placed online.
- Shaping Product Strategy: Technical product managers are involved in defining the product roadmap and ensuring it’s not just about adding more features but building a product that’s reliable and scalable. They work with both the business and technical teams to decide what gets built, when, and why.
Technical Product Management vs. Traditional Product Management
While traditional product managers and technical product managers share similar goals, they approach the job differently:
- Technical Expertise: Traditionally, product managers come from a business background with a focus more on the needs of the users, market trends, and the vision behind the product. Technical product managers typically possess a technical background or engineering or technology. This deep technical understanding allows them to step into the shoes of engineers and help solve tough technical problems.An example might be that, where a traditional product manager might concentrate on what kind of features a new food delivery app should have to attract users, the technical product manager would work out how the features can technically be implemented, whether it’s building a real-time tracking system or ensuring that a huge number of orders can be processed at once without crashing.
- Communication Focus: Traditional product managers spend most of their time with stakeholders like marketing, sales, and customer service teams. They should ensure that the product is the right one to answer a user’s needs and the overall business requirements. Technical product managers spend much more time with engineering teams to get the technical details nailed down and to ensure that the product can be scaled properly for build.
- Decision-Making: Technical product managers are usually very involved in the technical decision-making process. For example, if it is required by engineering teams to choose one between two cloud services for better performance, the technical product manager assists in deciding which one of the options provides solutions that best serve the overall direction for the product. The traditional product manager would instead make decisions more so based on market demand, customer feedback, and business strategy.
Technical Product Manager Salary in India
The technical product manager’s salary varies in India, based on experience level, product complexity managed, company size, and even industry. The following is a detailed list of salary expectations at different levels of experience:
1. Entry-Level Technical Product Manager (0-2 years of experience):
Salary Range: ₹10,00,000 to ₹15,00,000 per year
At the entry-level, Technical Product Managers are typically transitioning from technical roles (like software engineering) into product management. Their focus is on learning the fundamentals of product management while leveraging their technical background to support engineering teams. They usually work under the supervision of more experienced product managers and assist with the development and execution of product features.
2. Mid-Level Technical Product Manager (2-5 years of experience):
Salary Range: ₹15,00,000 to ₹22,00,000 per year
Mid-level Technical Product Managers have more hands-on experience in leading product development initiatives and working closely with engineering teams. They are responsible for translating business requirements into technical specifications and overseeing the product development lifecycle. At this stage, they take a more active role in product strategy and delivery, and they work more independently.
3. Senior Technical Product Manager (5-8 years of experience):
Salary Range: ₹22,00,000 to ₹30,00,000 per year
Senior technical product managers are more experienced in handling complex products involving a deep understanding of the technology. They lead cross-functional teams of engineers, designers, and other stakeholders to ensure that the technical and business goals are aligned. They handle more strategic initiatives and are invariably involved in high-level decision-making about the technical direction of the product.
4. Lead/Head of Technical Product Management (8+ years of experience):
Salary Range: ₹30,00,000 to ₹50,00,000+ per year
Technical product managers at this level lead entire product lines or oversee teams of product managers. These technologists are very involved in setting the technical vision for a product and ensuring that all technical aspects of the product align with the overall business strategy. In general, that role usually implies greater team management, budgeting, resource allocation, and high-level oversight of the whole product development lifecycle. At this stage, compensation can be constituted of performance bonuses and stock options especially if the company is large or a high-tech start-up.
Additional Factors Influencing Salaries
- Company Size: The top companies that are Amazon, Google, and Microsoft pay higher salaries just because the products are more complex and in operation size. The startup companies might have base salaries a bit lower but always provide equity and sometimes other performance-based incentives.
- Industry: Industries like fintech, cloud computing, and AI/ML pay high salaries for technical product managers due to the high degree of technical intensity in the industry. Apart from that, wages could be higher in telecommunications, automotive, and healthcare technology sectors simply because their products are relatively complex.
- Location: Salaries are generally much higher in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, which happen to be areas that hold the greatest conglomerates of technology. Though Chennai and Pune offer fairly competitive pay for work done in these regions, especially in sectors of IT services and software development.
(source: Glassdoor, Payscale)
How to Become a Technical Product Manager
Becoming a technical product manager involves building a mix of technical expertise and product management skills. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Educational Background: Most technical product managers start their careers with a computer science, software engineering, or an associated field degree. It will form a foundational basis for understanding the technical parts of the job.
- Gain Technical Experience: Most people work in technical roles, often in software engineering or architecture before they can become technical product managers. Most of the work is hands-on and helps in understanding how a product is built and how technical challenges can be addressed. For example, a software engineer working on mobile applications might transition into a technical product manager role by leading the technical development of new app features, ensuring they align with both the technical and business goals of the company.
- Develop Product Management Skills: Being a technical product manager isn’t just about understanding technology; it’s about managing a product from a business perspective as well. You’ll need to know how to prioritize features, understand customer needs, and balance business goals with technical constraints. Certification programs and courses, like those offered by the Institute of Product Leadership, can help build these skills.
- Start in a Technical Role with Product Responsibilities: Many technical product managers, though, start in entry-level technical roles and work their way onto more product-focused responsibilities. Take some of the common examples: defining product features, doing work on the product roadmap, and even technical project management.
- Stay Updated and Network: Because technology changes fast, it is hard not to remain in limbo if technical product managers are not up to date with what is happening and is current in the world of technology. Networking with other product managers and attending industry events will also help stay ahead in this career.
The Future of Technical Product Management
As technology continues to advance, the need for technical product managers is only going to increase. Here are some trends shaping the future of the role:
- Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: More products are now embedding AI and machine learning. Technical product managers will have to learn more about these technologies to lead part of the development of such features. For example, a technical product manager might be in charge of integrating AI-powered customer service chatbots, ensuring the AI models will integrate well with the existing infrastructure.
- Cloud Computing and DevOps: The increasing number of companies adopting cloud-based solutions and DevOps would gear this technical product manager to become knowledgeable in such areas, such as scalable and easily deployable new product features cross-functional for cloud platforms.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Technical product managers will continue to work across teams, not just with engineers but also with data scientists, designers, and marketing teams. The ability to collaborate effectively with different disciplines will be key to driving product success.
Technical product managers are very well the parts that hold together both the technical and business sides of a product. They contribute toward providing a product that is not only well-built but also fulfills a user’s requirement while living with the company’s goal in mind. The role that technical product managers have to play will be only more vital when technology comes to shaping the future.
For those interested in pursuing this career, focusing on both technical expertise and product management skills is key. It’s a challenging but highly rewarding role that sits at the intersection of innovation and business.
Becoming a Technical Product Manager is a rewarding career path with many growth opportunities in product management. If you’re looking to start your journey, consider the courses offered by Institute of Product Leadership (IPL). IPL provides an on-campus UGC-accredited Executive MBA in product management degree program and live online product management courses to help you build the necessary skills and network to succeed in this field. With the right skills and mentoring you can successfully navigate your journey to becoming a TPM in 2024.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most technical product managers have a background in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field. Product management certifications can also be helpful.
Technical product managers focus more on technical implementation and work closely with engineering teams, while traditional product managers focus on user needs, market trends, and business strategy.
Technical product managers are in demand in industries like technology, software development, telecommunications, fintech, and e-commerce.
Yes! Many technical product managers start as software engineers and transition into product management by taking on more responsibility for defining product features and managing technical projects.
The average salary ranges from ₹15,00,000 to ₹25,00,000 per year, with senior-level technical product managers earning upwards of ₹40,00,000 depending on their experience and the company.
Our Popular Product Management Programs
Our Trending Product Management Programs
Trending Posts
