Product managers in the technology industry oversee the product development process and are typically responsible for product strategy and owning the product roadmap, a document that outlines product priorities across a development timeline. Because product managers can have a lot of say as to what ultimately gets developed, their work can have great impact on external audiences who interact with the product, such as users, customers, and developer communities.
The specifics of a product manager’s area of responsibility and day-to-day activities depends on the size of the company for which they work, whether it produces software or hardware, and whether the product is consumer facing or business facing. At larger tech companies, product management teams are sometimes specialized, so that some focus on core features for users, others focus on user growth and monetization, and still others focus on more-technical aspects of product development.
Many product managers in tech have relevant technical foundations, such as engineering or product design experience. Individuals interested in pursuing a career in tech product management should demonstrate strong strategic and analytical skills to make tough decisions about product prioritization. Interpersonal skills are also essential, because product managers typically work with several stakeholder teams in the course of their work, including design, engineering, data science, partnerships, marketing, and sales.
Post-MBA Career Options
In recent years, product management has become a highly sought-after role within the technology industry for newly minted MBAs. But given that the tech industry has been facing headwinds since 2022, when Big Tech layoffs began to make headlines, some people might wonder whether product management is still a realistic post-MBA goal.
In a competitive industry such as tech, prior experience matters more than usual. If you are interested in this professional path and have a technical undergraduate degree or experience in software development or engineering, you have an advantage. If you do not have a technical background, you could leverage your industry background instead. For example, healthcare experience could make a great foundation for health tech jobs.
You could also consider tech roles to which your functional background lends itself. These types of product-adjacent roles include product marketing, product operations, and product partnerships.
Tech companies also hire MBAs for many other functional roles with the potential for big business impact. If your background includes relationship management of any kind, consider positions in account management, customer success, and partnerships. If you have management consulting or strategy experience, you could look at roles in areas such as revenue strategy and operations.
Whether or not you have a technical background or tech industry experience, an MBA program’s curriculum, career services, student clubs, and network can all support you in pursuing a product management career in tech.
Choosing the Right MBA Program
Determining which program would be best for you depends on your individual background and specific career goals, but in general, we recommend considering the following factors:
- Curriculum: Look for programs with course offerings in product management, including hands-on product management experience. For a focused tech experience with less time away from work, consider Tech MBA programs.
- Location: A program close to tech industry hubs such as the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Seattle, Boston, and Austin can offer better networking and career opportunities.
- Career Pathing: Research the percentage of the program’s graduates who enter the technology industry each year and what kind of tech companies actively recruit from the program. The stronger a program’s track record is in sending graduates to tech and product management, the more robust the alumni base of that program is likely to be.
- University Resources: Programs at universities with very strong technical reputations typically allow MBA students to leverage resources across campus.
Top MBA Programs for Product Management in Tech
The following are some of the top U.S. MBA programs for product management careers in tech, in alphabetical order:
Cornell Tech is a one-year MBA program offered through Cornell’s Johnson School, with a special campus in New York City and a small class size, typically fewer than 100 students. In the Studio program, interdisciplinary teams work on tech solutions for organizations in New York.
MIT Sloan’s MBA program sits within a university famous for technical research and offers hands-on Action Learning Labs in which students work on problems for actual companies, such as “Product Management Lab” or “Generative AI Lab.” Of its Class of 2024, 19% joined the technology industry, and approximately 14% went into product management or product development roles.
Northwestern University’s Kellogg offers two specialty programs worth noting: MMM and MBAi. The MMM Program is a joint MBA plus MS in Design Innovation from the Segal Design Institute with experiential design studio courses just for MMM students, such as “Business Innovation Lab” and “Research – Design – Build.” For candidates pursuing technical product management, Kellogg and the McCormick School of Engineering jointly offer the MBAi, an MBA focused on artificial intelligence.
Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, located in Silicon Valley, sent 22% of its Class of 2024 into the tech industry, and 8% of the class entered product management roles. Stanford’s d.school offers design thinking and innovation resources valuable for product managers.
UC Berkeley’s Haas is near the tech hub of San Francisco and offers Applied Innovation courses such as “Product Design,” “Product Management,” and “Managing the New Product Development Process.” Berkeley Haas placed 24% of its Class of 2024 in the tech industry.
For more information on post-MBA careers in tech product management, please see mbaMission’s Tech Career Guide and schedule a free 30-minute consultation with an mbaMission consultant.
