Product management - A career path that pays off for the employee and the employer

One of the fastest growing careers in the country for the past few years has been product management - and it's not slowing down anytime soon.

It is a job and career path that is beneficial to any ambitious professional as well as his or her employer.

A well-run product management function in a company puts it on the path to sustainable growth. Sales teams are by nature incentivized to drive short-term revenue. Heads of corporate strategy are focused on long-term objectives.

A great product management team bridges those opposing goals and manages the near and long-term, in alignment with the company's product road map.

So, what the heck is product management anyway?

A product manager is a person who identifies the customer need and the larger business objectives that a product or feature will fulfill, articulates what success looks like for a product, and rallies a team to turn that vision into a reality.

The job is part art and part science. The art comes from the ability to navigate the nuance of a business, a cross-functional team and the ability to manage both up and down the corporate ladder. The science comes from leveraging tools and frameworks to put best practices into place, conducting sound market research, and handily directing technical teams on the development of any software or hardware product.

Hard skill sets aside, people who are successful in product management are autonomous, iterative, great listeners and storytellers, design thinkers, have a data mindset and think strategically.

Employers on growth trajectories are actively investing in this area of their business and the people that sit in these seats. Executives like Elon Musk lean heavily into a well-thought-out product development plan, even prioritizing product management investment over more traditional marketing, advertising or sales activities. Stock price and valuation trends, such as Tesla's, are evidence that the market responds well to prioritizing revenue gains through solving actual customer problems over advertising.

For employees, it's a pathway to greener pastures in their careers. This is a job that leads people toward the C-suite or starting their own company. Both paths are financially rewarding.

According to a 2021 study by Pendo, 29% grow into manager roles outside of product management - which is more often than not general management. The cross-functional experience coupled with owning a strategic vision for a feature or product translates into success at a broader level of an organization.

They know how to size a market opportunity, research and develop a solution to fix it, price and launch it into the market. No other job in any company better prepares a person to be a business leader. And the kicker is, they get paid to build that skill set - handsomely.

How well do they get paid? A product manager is paid three times the average U.S. occupation. There are 41,370 product managers in the U.S. with an average salary of $113,446. In the two areas with the highest concentration of product managers, San Francisco and New York City, they make $159,000. This doesn't even take into account the more senior-level roles within the function.

For any company that makes a digital or physical product, investing in this function is paramount to its success. Since product managers come from many different academic and professional backgrounds, they tend to be more experienced. In fact the average age is 38. They bring this experience to drive short-term and long-term growth.

There are a growing number of jobs open in this area across the globe and country. So for anyone with a mix of technical, design and business savvy, it's an area to strongly consider.

For anyone looking to hire and grow their product management team, it's also important to know that this is an area to get ready to pay for talent. The market would normally demand it, but with the Great Resignation combined with the innovations of today such as Web 3 and artificial intelligence, their skills have only grown in demand.

They're worth it. A great product manager will drive growth in a company like no other can.

• Justin Mayer is product leader at Pathfinder Product Labs and has more than 15 years of experience in product development and product management from startups to Fortune 100 companies.