Complete Guide to Writing a Great PM Resume

Looking to create a standout product manager resume?

This PM resume guide will help you revise your resume before sending it to hiring managers and recruiters. We made it with feedback from 7 junior and senior product managers at startups and FAANG+ companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Google, and more.

PM Resume Structure

Product management can be an ambiguous role, and it's often challenging to communicate your product sense, cross-functional management, and analytical skills all on a single page. That’s especially true for candidates transitioning to PM from software engineering or other technical roles.

The ideal formatting for a product manager resume is:

• One page: Limit your resume to a single page. Even if you're a senior candidate, recruiters don't have time to read resumes longer than a page.
• Neutral font and spacing: Use an 11pt font and include 1-inch margins. Don't shrink the font to cram more information.
• Simplify: Make your resume skimmable and readable. Use bullet points and highlight relevant information so it can be read within a few minutes and glanced at within a few seconds.

Header

The header is the top part of your resume. It should have your name and contact information.

Experience

The 'Relevant Experience' section is the most crucial part of your product manager resume. It's your resume's defining feature, where recruiters will determine your interview suitability.

Use this section to highlight your skills and experience as a product manager.

Senior PMs should highlight skills like:

• Leading teams
• Meeting key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Overseeing entire product lifecycles
• Effectively communicating success to leadership teams

Junior PMs should demonstrate:

• Direct, measurable impact on one or two key metrics
• A comprehensive understanding of the product vision
• Strong collaboration with cross-functional teams
• The ability to converse with users and gain insights

This is an example of a Senior Google PM’s job experience section. This Google PM emphasizes direct improvements made to products and the types of teams they lead.

Here are some tips to make your job experiences stand out.

Use bullet points.

Make your resume easy to skim.

• List your work experience as bullet points, not paragraphs.

This helps recruiters see important details quickly.

Keep bullet points to five or fewer.

Keep your Experience section short.

Show your ability to prioritize by limiting your bullet points to five or less, ideally three or four.

Include measurable metrics.

Show your impact with numbers.

Instead of saying, "I was part of the growth team," say, "I helped increase active users from 200K to 1M in two years, leading to a 42% increase in MRR."

Explain unknown companies

Experience at lesser-known companies is still valuable. But if the company isn't well-known, your recruiter might not know it.

In that case, add a short description of the company, like its purpose and major achievements (e.g., funding rounds, number of users).

1. Start with action words: Begin your bullet points with strong verbs for the most impact. If you need ideas, here's a list of powerful verbs.

Education

New graduates should place their education near the top of their resume. Those with over 5 years of experience as a PM should place it below their relevant experience.

Keep it concise. Include where you went to school, what you studied, and your relevant coursework.

This is an example of an Amazon PM’s education section. This candidate completed McKinsey's MBA internship and landed a job as an Amazon PM.

They list their education below their work experience at the bottom of the resume.

Exclude your GPA and high school education unless this is your first professional role.

Relevant Skills

A successful product manager's resume features a succinct skills section. It should include hard, soft, and technical skills, as well as outside hobbies and unrelated projects, all within two or three lines.

This not only makes you a more versatile candidate but also differentiates you from others.

This is an example of a Senior Stripe PM’s additional skills section that includes skills relevant to FinTech products and strategy.

Example PM Resumes

These are real product manager resumes from junior and senior interview coaches and PMs in the Exponent community. However, they've been anonymized.

Use these resume templates as the basis of your own resume.

Example 1: Google PM Resume

This is an example resume from a real Google product manager with 8 years of product management experience.

Google encourages candidates to highlight experience beyond the scope of their role. Use your resume to show all the extras you offer, not just work experience, including:

• Volunteering
• Hobby projects
• Additional jobs

Explain why they're important and what you've learned.

Example 2: Amazon PM Resume

This is an example resume from a mid-level Amazon product manager with 3 years of experience. They transitioned from consulting and FinTech to Amazon.

This Amazon recruiter says to avoid a separate skills section. Instead, incorporate your skills directly into your shared experiences, like, "Used SQL to build financial modeling from sales activation initiatives."

Example 3: Apple PM Resume

This is an example resume from a junior Apple product manager who has some experience with product design and program management.

Example 4: Google Cloud PM Resume

This is an example resume from a senior Google Cloud product manager.

Example 5: Stripe PM Resume

This is an example resume from a mid-career Stripe product manager.

Key PM Skills

Your resume should showcase hard and soft skills, like your ability to lead teams or your Python proficiency.

Product Management Skills

Most companies you're applying to typically have similar product lifecycles. During your interviews and resume screenings, these are the aspects that recruiters focus on:

1. Identifying product opportunities
2. Planning new products
3. Designing prototypes
4. Engineering products
5. Launching to users
6. Evaluating effectiveness

When a recruiter reviews your resume, they’re looking for evidence that you can build and launch successful products.

To generate some ideas, ask yourself these questions as you fill out your work experience:

Strategy

• Are you able to conduct user research?
• Can you think strategically, focusing on the big picture?
• Can you effectively communicate your strategy with your team?

Design

• Do you have a keen eye for usability?
• Can you provide design-focused feedback to the design team?
• Are you proficient in using tools like Figma and Sketch?

Engineering

• Have you worked with product-engineering teams?
• How have you conveyed engineering feedback?
• Do you have any coding experience?

Marketing

• Have you drafted post-launch blog posts about new products?
• Do you have experience initiating product marketing campaigns to increase user growth?
• What specific marketing skills do you possess?

Data

• Can you analyze success metrics and data?
• Do you have experience with SQL, Python, Excel, or Tableau?
• How do you relay those findings to your teams?

This is an example of a real Costco Technical Product Manager job posting. It mentions key skills like working in a software development team and completing projects within an Agile environment.

An ideal resume for this position would highlight a deep understanding of designing and launching technical products with multiple stakeholders.

Soft Skills

In addition to traditional product management skills, excellent soft skills are also necessary. The three most important ones are:

• Leadership: Have you ever managed a large group at work or in your personal life? How do you communicate ideas to your teammates? What types of cross-functional teams have you worked with?
• Communication: Have you had to communicate large ideas to multiple stakeholders like engineering, design, and the executive team? Who have been your stakeholders?
• Organization: Can you manage large projects with multiple tasks and milestones? Can you prioritize tasks for your team? Do you know how to deliver projects that involve dozens of team members?

You likely have a range of hard product management skills, but every product manager needs the ability to lead and communicate effectively across an organization.

What do recruiters look for?

Many job postings get hundreds of applicants, especially in large tech companies.

Your recruiter or hiring manager will scan your resume quickly, spending only a few seconds to reject or approve it.

To get through this screening process, brevity is key.

This is an example of a Microsoft PM's experience section. It succinctly highlights the candidate's direct impact on the Skype product.

This makes it easy to skim and determine suitability for the position.

Your resume will be reviewed by multiple recruiters, hiring managers, product managers, or technical program managers.

Keyword Optimization

It is common practice for hiring managers and HR departments to use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to help them sort through resumes.

These automated tools scan resumes for relevant or chosen keywords and highlight relevant information for the hiring manager.

This is an example of a real Google Senior Product Manager job posting. It mentions key skills like experience in user privacy and technical product management.

As you create your own resume, try to include keywords found in the job description within your resume.

Some common keywords found on PM resumes include:

• product strategy,
• data analytics,
• UX feedback,
• market research,
• project management,
• cross-functional teams,
• stakeholders,
• and more.

Relevant Experience

Recruiters are looking for a good match between your skills and the role they're hiring for.

Many of the skills they're prioritizing are listed directly within the job description.

Tailor your past projects and workstreams to best highlight the bullet points found in the job descriptions.

Junior vs. Senior PM Resumes

Despite the same underlying job function, there are some key differences between junior and senior product managers.

The most immediate distinction is in years of experience. Junior PMs may have little (or no) experience working as product managers but may be transitioning from software engineering or BizOps.

Senior PMs have at least a few years of managing full product lifecycles under their belts.

Leadership

Leadership skills are crucial for any product manager, but they become particularly important for senior product managers.

This shift is what distinguishes veterans from newcomers.

As a junior product manager, you'll spend most of your time at work fine-tuning your skills, conducting market/user research, focusing on product features, and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

However, as you advance to a senior product manager role, your leadership abilities become critical. They are key to guiding others, making strategic decisions, and ensuring the product and organization's success.

Senior Product Managers orchestrate the product development process, executing high-level work while empowering their team to handle intricate details. They are responsible for the product's success and their team's growth.

Senior PMs also act as mentors, helping their team members reach their potential.

In larger companies, they take on the role of talent managers, advocating for fair compensation, resolving conflicts, and recommending team members for promotions.

Authority

Junior product managers do not typically have the power to issue orders.

Their responsibilities involve exerting influence with soft power. They must guide teams, influence decisions, and change minds.

This form of influence requires:

• strong interpersonal skills,
• cross-functional collaboration,
• empathy for both customers and stakeholders,
• and data-driven decision-making abilities.

On the other hand, senior product managers may possess tangible authority within their organizations. They often have several junior product managers and others reporting directly to them for guidance on development decisions.

This could give senior product managers considerably more autonomy than their junior counterparts.

Scope

Greater authority and leadership entail a broader scope.

Junior PMs may primarily focus on delivering specific features, while Senior PMs generally concentrate on the overall product strategy or vision.

The responsibilities of a senior product manager often involve delivering on the product strategy and vision they helped create.

On the other hand, junior PMs frequently assist with the necessary tasks to bring these plans to fruition.

Tips and Tricks

Here are some final

Quantifiable or Specific Results

Including specific numbers or statistics can be very effective. Highlight the measurable effects of your past roles, whether in product management or an adjacent role.

Include specific results from the products or features you've delivered. The more numbers and metrics you can include, the stronger your resume will be.

Accentuate Your Technical Knowledge

While technical expertise is not a mandatory requirement for a product manager position, it can be beneficial.

This is particularly true for big tech or FAANG companies. Strive to learn about different frameworks, processes, and methodologies.

Knowledge and experience with methodologies such as Agile, Kanban, Scrum, or Waterfall can make your resume stand out.

If the job posting lists specific methodologies, frameworks, or technical processes, include these in your resume if you have experience with them.

Keep It Concise

A well-constructed product manager resume is concise. It should not exceed one page.

This length constraint will help you prioritize the most important aspects, resulting in a stronger resume.

PM Interview Prep

Getting your foot in the door with a great product manager resume is the first step.

Now, you'll need to ace the interview to finally get the job offer. So check out some of our interview prep and PM-specific resources to help you do that!

• 💬 Review commonly asked sample PM interview questions.
• 📖 Browse through our Product Manager interview guides tailored to specific companies.
• 👯‍♂️ Enhance your behavioral and leadership skills with our mock PM interview practice.
• 👨‍🎓 Enroll in our comprehensive Product Management interview course.