The 2025 Product Job Market Is Shifting. Here’s What We’re Doing About It!

Dear community,

We wanted to take a moment to talk about something that’s been on a lot of our minds lately: the product job market in the U.S. in 2025.

It’s been a strange year. The market feels tight. Roles are taking longer to land. And for those of us earlier in our product careers or pivoting in it can feel like everything’s slowed down.

But here’s the thing: you’re not imagining it. The data backs it up. As of this month (May 2025), here’s what we’re seeing on LinkedIn in the U.S.:

• Product Manager roles: ~12,000
• Senior Product Manager roles: ~3,061
• Director of Product roles: ~10,368
• General Product Management listings: just 556

So yes, most of the openings are for folks with 5–10+ years of experience. Junior and mid-level roles? Far fewer. But that doesn’t mean you’re stuck. Here's what we’re seeing that is working:

1. Start thinking fractional: More and more companies, especially early-stage or post-seed startups are hiring fractional or freelance PMs. These are part-time, project-based roles that may not come with big titles or full-time benefits but they come with something even better:

• Real experience
• A living, growing portfolio
• Ownership over actual product decisions
• And most importantly: momentum

In fact, we believe in this so much, we’ve launched a new initiative at Products by Women to match builders like you with companies ready to hire fractional talent.

Whether you’re in between jobs, exploring something new, or just craving flexible, paid work, we’ve got you. Join our fractional talent network →

Tell us a bit about yourself, and we’ll bring you the right match. Product, Design, Go-to-Market, whatever your zone of genius, there’s space for you.

2. Be a generalist. (It’s a strength, not a weakness.): We’ve seen time and time again: the PMs landing roles right now are the ones who can flex. Research. Prioritize. Talk to users. Write a PRD. Run with a prototype. Lead async.

If you’ve worn multiple hats or are open to learning across the stack, that’s a real asset right now.

3. Focus on the skills that stand out: If you're investing time in anything, focus here:

• Growth and monetization thinking
• Comfort with AI tools and workflows
• Clear written communication (especially asynchronous)
• Data fluency (can you make a decision from a dashboard?)
• Execution over perfection

A final note from us: This version of the product job market may not be what we expected. It’s scrappier. A little more chaotic. But it’s also opening up new, flexible, and creative ways to grow.

You don’t need a perfect APM role to get started.
You don’t need a shiny title to build product.
You just need to stay in motion.

And as always, if you need help getting started, you’ve got us.

Come say hi. Join the Products by Women Fractional Talent Network. Or just reach out. We’re in this with you.

– The Products by Women Team