Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Head of Product and Strategy

🎯 Role Definition

The Head of Product and Strategy is a cornerstone of the executive team, serving as the chief architect of the company's product direction and long-term market positioning. This individual is the ultimate owner of the product roadmap, responsible for synthesizing market trends, customer needs, and business objectives into a cohesive and compelling product vision. More than just a manager, this leader is a storyteller, a mentor, and a cross-functional unifier who inspires the entire organization to build products that not only solve real-world problems but also create significant, sustainable value. This role requires a unique blend of strategic acumen, technical understanding, commercial savvy, and empathetic leadership to guide the product from nascent idea to market-dominant reality.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Director of Product Management
VP of Product
Head of Strategy / Director of Corporate Strategy
Principal Product Manager with significant leadership experience

Advancement To:

Chief Product Officer (CPO)
Chief Operating Officer (COO)
General Manager (of a Business Unit)
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Lateral Moves:

Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)
Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
VP of Business Development

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Define, articulate, and evangelize a clear and compelling product vision and long-term strategy that aligns with the company's overarching goals, market opportunities, and competitive landscape.
Own the end-to-end product lifecycle, from initial ideation, market validation, and strategic planning through to development, launch, and post-launch performance analysis and iteration.
Develop, maintain, and prioritize a multi-year, forward-looking product roadmap, ensuring it is data-informed, customer-centric, and effectively balances innovation, technical debt, and commercial opportunities.
Build, lead, mentor, and scale a world-class product management organization, fostering a culture of high performance, accountability, innovation, and continuous learning.
Act as the central hub for cross-functional collaboration, working intimately with Engineering, Design, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success to ensure seamless execution and go-to-market success.
Conduct deep, continuous market intelligence and competitive analysis to identify emerging trends, potential threats, and new strategic opportunities for differentiation and growth.
Establish and champion a robust framework for product discovery, encouraging experimentation, user research, and A/B testing to validate hypotheses and mitigate risks.
Define and own the key performance indicators (KPIs) and objectives and key results (OKRs) for the product portfolio, regularly reporting on progress to the executive team and the board.
Serve as a primary external spokesperson for the product, confidently presenting the vision and roadmap to key customers, industry analysts, partners, and at industry events.
Drive strategic pricing and packaging decisions by developing a deep understanding of the value delivered to customers and the overall market dynamics.
Manage the product organization's budget, including headcount planning, tooling, and research expenditures, to ensure efficient allocation of resources and maximize return on investment.
Lead the evaluation of potential partnerships, M&A opportunities, and new business models to accelerate product strategy and expand the company's market footprint.
Champion a customer-obsessed culture throughout the entire organization, ensuring the voice of the customer is a central component of all strategic and product-related decisions.
Partner with the Head of Engineering to optimize the product development process, balancing speed of delivery with the quality, scalability, and security of the platform.
Develop compelling business cases for new initiatives, outlining the strategic rationale, resource requirements, and expected financial and customer impact.
Guide the product marketing team in crafting powerful messaging and positioning that effectively communicates the product's value proposition to target audiences.
Personally engage with enterprise-level customers and strategic accounts to gather insights, build relationships, and validate the product direction.
Resolve conflicts in priorities and resources by making difficult, data-backed trade-off decisions that best serve the long-term health of the business and product.
Foster a psychological safety and innovation-driven environment where product managers feel empowered to take calculated risks and learn from failures.
Prepare and present regular, comprehensive updates on product strategy, roadmap progress, and business impact to the C-suite and Board of Directors.

Secondary Functions

Serve as an executive sponsor for key strategic projects that may span beyond the direct product organization.
Partner with legal and finance teams on complex contract negotiations, pricing structures, and compliance considerations for new product offerings.
Contribute to the company's overall strategic planning process, providing a product-centric perspective on long-term business goals.
Participate in due diligence activities for potential mergers and acquisitions, assessing the target's product portfolio, technology stack, and team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Product Roadmap Development: Expertise in creating and managing complex, multi-year product roadmaps that align with strategic business goals.
Market Analysis & Sizing: Proven ability to conduct quantitative and qualitative market research, competitive landscaping, and TAM/SAM/SOM analysis.
Agile & Scrum Methodologies: Deep, practical knowledge of agile development frameworks and how to effectively partner with engineering teams.
Data Analysis & A/B Testing: Proficiency in defining metrics, interpreting complex data sets, and using A/B/multivariate testing to inform product decisions.
Financial Modeling & P&L Management: Experience building business cases, managing budgets, and understanding the financial drivers of a product line.
User Experience (UX) Principles: A strong foundation in UX/UI principles and the ability to champion design-led thinking within the product process.
SaaS/PaaS Business Models: In-depth understanding of subscription-based revenue, churn, LTV, CAC, and other core metrics for SaaS businesses.
Technical Acumen: Ability to grasp complex technical concepts and hold credible conversations with engineering leaders about architecture and scalability.
Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy: Experience collaborating with marketing and sales to design and execute successful product launch plans.
API Strategy and Platform Thinking: Knowledge of how to build and leverage APIs and develop a product as a platform to create an ecosystem.

Soft Skills

Visionary Leadership: The ability to create and articulate an inspiring vision for the future and mobilize a team to achieve it.
Executive Communication & Influence: Superior communication skills with the ability to influence and build consensus among peers, executive leaders, and the board.
Strategic Thinking: The capacity to see the big picture, connect disparate dots, and anticipate future market trends to create a long-term advantage.
Stakeholder Management: Exceptional skill in navigating complex organizational structures and managing the needs and expectations of diverse stakeholders.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: A natural ability to break down silos and foster a collaborative "one team" environment.
Empathetic Leadership & Mentoring: A passion for developing talent, coaching product managers, and building a strong, supportive team culture.
Decisive Problem-Solving: The confidence to make tough, data-informed decisions quickly and effectively, even in the face of ambiguity.
Storytelling: The ability to weave compelling narratives around the product, the customer, and the market to inspire and align the organization.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's Degree

Preferred Education:

Master of Business Administration (MBA) or a Master's degree in a relevant technical field.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Computer Science
Engineering
Marketing

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 12-15+ years of progressive experience in product management and strategy.

Preferred: A demonstrated history of at least 5-7 years in a senior leadership capacity (e.g., Director, VP) within a high-growth technology, SaaS, or B2B software company. The ideal candidate will have a proven, verifiable track record of owning the strategy for a product portfolio, scaling a product organization, and successfully launching and managing products that have achieved significant market traction and revenue growth.