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What is the Average Data Product Manager Salary?

Want to find out what is the average data product manager salary and how much you can make a year as a data PM?

Data product management is an emerging, fast-growing field throughout the world.

The global data creation will cross 180 zettabytes by 2025 from 64 zettabytes in 2022. To give you an idea, a single zettabyte has a trillion gigabytes. Creating data at this scale means that companies must use it at every level.

The rapid growth of big data, machine learning, the internet of things, data science, and the digital economy has forced organizations to start recruiting data product managers to manage data products and organize organizational data.

A data product manager is responsible for managing data throughout the product lifecycle. They also act as a facilitator for the smooth transition of data and insights to all the stakeholders.

It is a lucrative career that offers a lot of growth opportunities with meaningful work. But what is the average data product manager salary?

We share key insights into this and more in this exclusive post.

Let’s dive right in.

Average Data Product Manager Salary

Data product manager is an emerging and technical role. The salary, therefore, varies from organization to organization.

The average data product manager salary in the US, according to Zippia, is $120,049 per year. The entry-level salary is $92,000 a year. The average monthly salary across the US is $10,004 with an average hourly rate of $58.

Credits: Zippia

Glassdoor estimates the average data product manager salary to be around $112,704 per year in the US while Talent estimates the yearly salary to be $136,491 (based on 1031 salaries).

There is a lot of difference between the product manager salary ranges that these sources report. This is because this position is a new tech-based position that evolves at a rapid pace.

For example, a quick shift to meta and 3D products has increased the demand for certain types of data analytic techniques and technologies. An increase in demand backed by a limited workforce creates a talent acquisition war that impact the salaries that these professionals pull in.

Data product managers who upgrade themselves and learn new skills and technologies quickly will get paid more than others.

Want to become a rockstar data product manager? Consider taking our Product HQ Certification Data Product Manager Course to learn the fundamentals of data product management and take your career to the next level. 
Data Product Manager Certification

Data Product Management Career Path Salaries 

If you are interested in becoming a data product manager, you need to know the salary throughout the career path to better assess and compare it with other similar careers. Here is a breakdown of average salaries throughout the data product management career path.

Product Management Intern

This is an entry-level job where you join as an intern with zero experience. Some data product managers start their career as a product management intern, data science intern, business analyst intern, or any similar role. The annual salary of a product management intern in the US is $38,000 with an hourly rate of $19. A data science intern, on the other hand, has an average salary of $45,499 a year in the US. 

Product Management Intern Salary

Credits: Zippia

The internship is ideal for fresh graduates who want to start their careers in data product management. You don’t need experience or certification to become an intern.

Associate Product Manager

Most data product managers follow the career path of product managers as not all organizations are focused on data and data products.

This is the role suitable for fresh graduates, interns, and those who want to change their careers. Most companies hire associate product managers with or without experience and the vacancies for associate data product managers are minimal. Not all organizations hire data product associates.

So, if you want to become a data product manager, you need to go for associate product manager and then look for data product manager opportunities.

The annual salary of an associate data manager in the US is between $72,144 to $82,473.

Associate Product Manager Salary

Credits: PayScale

 

Data Product Manager

Once you have 3-5 years of experience as an associate product manager or a relevant role in data, product development, or engineering, you qualify to become a data product manager.

Lacking associate-level experience doesn’t prevent from you landing as a data product manager. However, in such cases, businesses offer lower wages since you don’t have the same experience and background as other candidates.

Senior Data Product Manager

A senior data product manager manages and overlooks data of several products within an organization and is responsible for managing data product managers. After a minimum experience of 5 years as a data product manager or product manager, you qualify to become a senior product manager.

Senior Data Product Manager Salary

Credits: Glassdoor

The average senior data product manager salary in the US is $132,807 per year and this increases with experience. This is almost comparable to the average product manager salary. Most small and mid-sized businesses don’t offer senior data product manager titles.

Product Management Director

This is a leadership role that requires at least 7 years of product management experience.

A product management director is responsible for managing and leading the data product managers, product managers, and the entire product management team.

Director of Product Management Salary

Credits: Glassdoor

The annual salary of the director of product management in the US is $179,800. This varies depending on experience. Having an industry-specific experience increases your salary so it is better to pick a specific industry and stick to it.

Vice President of Product Management

This leadership role isn’t always present in all organizations. The VP manages product management throughout the organization. It requires 10+ years of experience in product management across different levels and the yearly salary in the US is $227,463, according to Glassdoor

Vice President of Product Management Salary

Credits: Glassdoor

This role doesn’t always come with a fixed salary. Instead, sometimes you may have to balance a low salary with possible equity packages. 

Chief Product Officer

This role is available in large organizations with multiple data products and several data product managers. The CPO is responsible for managing the company’s overall product vision and goals.

The yearly salary of a CPO in the US is $212,726. It comes with several benefits and equity in the company.

Salary by Industry

The salary of data PMs is industry-dependent. There are certain industries where you expect to earn more. Zippia reports that the highest paying industry for data product managers is telecommunication with an average salary in the US being $141,931 per year.

This is because the telecommunication market is more data-dependent than others. These companies collect heaps of data from their users. Therefore they need to streamline and organize it for use in product development.

Other high-paying industries include:

  1. Internet – $126,956 per year
  2. Health care – $124,992 per year
  3. Finance – $118,907 per year
  4. Technology – $118,344 per year
  5. Manufacturing – $110,909 per year.

Targeting a specific industry based on your interest or salary expectations will work best because industry-specific experience makes it easier to move to leadership roles.

Highest Paying States

The data product manager salaries vary from state to state. Here are the top 5 highest paying states in the US:

  1. Rhode Island – $141,924
  2. California – $139,526
  3. Maryland – $136,381
  4. District of Columbia – $135,761
  5. Washington – $133,185.

The data product manager salaries also vary from city to city within these states. Here are the top 5 highest paying cities in the US:

  1. San Francisco, CA – $148,254
  2. Washington, DC – $135,741
  3. Olympia, WA – $135,215
  4. Salem, OR – $126,344
  5. Hartford, CT -$123,386.

San Francisco is the best city in the US that offers the highest data product manager salaries. And California is the most active state that has almost 10,000 data product manager vacancies according to Zippia (as of March 2022).

It is important to compare salaries with the average cost of living. For example, Rhode Island and California are among the most expensive states in the US. The states with the highest average salaries for data PMs have high living costs too.

So, before you decide to relocate based on an offer from another state or city, do your homework. The average salary in a cheap state is better than a high salary in an expensive state.

Data Product Manager Salary Takeaways

There is nothing like a fixed salary, much less in a competitive market such as data product management. When a company offers you a position, don’t get excited. There is always room for negotiation when it comes to salary.

Salary doesn’t just mean basic pay. You must also negotiate additional benefits that form your compensation package.

Data product management is a great career as it has room for growth. And the best thing about being a data product manager is that automation only gets you so far.

Businesses need human beings with analytical skills, critical thinking, and decision-making skills to make sense of the data they have.

Josh Fechter
Josh Fechter
Josh Fechter is the co-founder of Product HQ, founder of Technical Writer HQ, and founder and head of product of Squibler. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.