Roles we recruit
Seven practices, 27 functions. Start at the practice when you cannot yet name the title; go straight to the function when you can.
Browse all 229 roles Brief us on a seatFlat 15% of first-year base · shortlist in 10 working days
Eight seats sit under product marketing, and most teams hire the first one to do all eight jobs. We split them by the stage from buyer insight to revenue each one owns, screen for positioning that changed a number rather than decks that looked good, and charge a flat 15% only once your hire starts.
Most first product marketing hires are asked to do every job on this list. We start with the job that is costing you deals today, then find the seat that owns it.
From buyer insight to revenue, and the seat that owns each stage
Moves: insight that product and sales act on
1 seat
Buyer insight turned into value propositions by segment and persona: what each buyer gains, in their terms, backed by evidence.
Brief us when you sell into several segments with one generic pitch, and conversion varies widely between them.
Moves: win rate against named alternatives
2 seats
Where the product sits against alternatives: category, competitive framing and the reasons a buyer should choose you, kept current as the market moves.
Brief us when you lose deals to competitors you consider weaker, or prospects cannot tell you apart from them.
The words: value propositions, proof points and messaging frameworks tested with buyers and turned into copy every team can reuse.
Brief us when your website, deck and sales calls each describe the product differently, and none sound like your buyer.
Moves: adoption and pipeline from each release
1 seat
Release and launch programs end to end: tiering, timelines, readiness across sales and support, and measuring what each launch produced.
Brief us when you ship often, and launches happen to the market rather than being run for it.
Moves: ramp time and content used in live deals
1 seat
Making sure sellers can use what marketing builds: onboarding, playbooks, battlecards, talk tracks and training that changes what happens in calls.
Brief us when new reps take too long to ramp, or reps write their own decks because the official ones do not help.
Moves: win rate, adoption and revenue by product
3 seats
Positioning, messaging, launches and sales enablement for one product or segment: the person who makes the product easy to buy and easy to sell.
Brief us when you have a product with traction and a sales team explaining it twenty different ways.
Marketing across a portfolio of products or bundles: packaging, cross-sell motions and the case for where investment goes next.
Brief us when you sell several products and need someone deciding how they are packaged, priced and sold together.
The product narrative across the portfolio, the product marketing team and the seat at the table with product, sales and the executive team.
Brief us when you have several products or segments and their stories no longer add up to one company.
Measured on
Product marketing interviews reward the best presenter. We screen for what happened after the presentation: positioning that changed win rates, launches that produced pipeline, and enablement sales actually uses.
We ask for one positioning or messaging change they shipped and the before and after: win rate, conversion, deal size or sales cycle. Qualitative is fine if they can show the change.
Candidates draft a one-paragraph positioning for your product against your strongest alternative, inside our screen. We look for the buyer’s language and a claim that can be proven.
We walk through one launch from tiering to results: who was ready on day one, what it produced and what they would change next time.
We check with a sales leader they supported whether reps used their material in live deals. Content that lives in a folder nobody opens scores nothing.
Not sure which seat you need? Tell us where deals stall or launches fall flat, and we will tell you which of the eight owns it.
Public US benchmarks, read October 2026. Built In’s self-reported data is the most consistent source across the product marketing ladder, so all three rows come from it.
Each dot is a median base salary and each ring is average total pay.
Median base salaryAverage total pay, base plus variable
Product Marketing Manager
Built In, self-reported
$110,000 median base$135,317 average total
Senior Product Marketing Manager
Built In, self-reported
$135,000 median base$161,833 average total
Director of Product Marketing
Built In, self-reported
$170,000 median base$206,508 average total
Built In median base salary and average total compensation (base plus additional cash, self-reported), reviewed September 28 to 30, 2026, United States. Public aggregates, not ZaphyrRecruit placement data. Company stage, product complexity and equity move every figure.
The clock starts when the brief is signed and stops when three to five calibrated candidates are in front of you. Most of that time is spent talking to people, not searching for them.
Day 1
Forty-five minutes with whoever the hire reports to. We leave with the number the seat owns, the range you can pay and the two or three things that genuinely disqualify.
Days 2 to 7
We build the list from people doing the job now, approach them directly and screen every name against the brief before it reaches you.
Days 8 to 10
Three to five people, each with a page: what they have run, why they fit this seat, pay expectations, notice period and where they are weak.
After the shortlist
Interviews run at your pace. We handle scheduling, references and the counter-offer conversation, and nothing is payable until your hire starts.
Three clients, quoted as they wrote to us about searches we ran for them. We publish no names or logos without permission.
A product marketing manager makes the product easy to buy and easy to sell. They own positioning against alternatives, the messaging every team uses, launches, and the enablement that helps sales win. In a B2B company they sit between product, marketing and sales, and the best ones are judged on win rate, adoption and pipeline rather than on output.
Product marketing decides what the product stands for and how it is described. Sales enablement makes sure sellers can use that in live deals: onboarding, playbooks, call coaching and content they actually open. Early teams often give both jobs to one product marketer; once the sales team grows past a handful of reps, enablement usually earns its own seat.
A flat 15% of the hire’s first-year base salary, payable only once they start. On a $120,000 base that is $18,000. There is no retainer, no exclusivity and nothing to pay if the search does not produce a hire.
Self-reported data on Built In puts the median base for product marketing managers at $110,000, with average total compensation of $135,317 (September 2026). Senior product marketing managers report a $135,000 median base and directors $170,000. Product complexity, company stage and equity move the number.
When the product works for a defined buyer and the sales team is explaining it in different ways. Hire too early and the product marketer writes positioning for a product that still changes every month. Hire too late and every rep has built their own pitch, which takes a quarter to undo.
Ten working days from a signed brief to a shortlist of three to five calibrated candidates. Interviews and the offer run at your pace. A short positioning exercise sits inside our screen, so your interview time goes on judgment and fit.
Yes. Director and head-of seats are screened on the team they built, the narrative they owned across products and how they worked with the CEO and head of product. The fee is the same 15% of first-year base at every level, payable when your hire starts.
Tell us the product, the buyer and the job that is costing you deals today. We reply within one business day with which of the eight seats it is and what it pays.
Most of our product marketing searches are filled from people we already know, the week an employer briefs us. Set up a job alert for marketing roles, or send your CV and we will come to you when a seat opens.
Product Marketing sits in our Brand, Product & Creative practice and works closest with strategy, demand and the sales team. If the gap sits next door, start there.