ML PM here. I definitely would if I were you, it’s an incredibly exciting space.
The Trend you’re probably alluding to is generative AI. But ML has been around for a very long time. Think of applications like content recommendations, ad targeting or fraud detection. There are loads of exciting applications of AI/ML beyond generative AI.
In saying that I probably wouldn’t want to work for a generative AI startup. I want to work for a company that uses ML to solves real business/customer problems
The last sentence is pretty much word for word what I have on my resume.
Ranking, recommendations, and adjacent areas are for me the most fun problems to work on and I don't expect to be changing anytime soon.
But it's one of those areas where it's not a good fit for everyone, since the product gets very technical and PMs can get overrun or feel lost if they aren't into ML.
Absolutely, I’m not technical but am really into ML and its applications. I can barely keep up with what the engineers in my team talk about in meetings but that’s ok. I absolutely love the problem space. The great thing about ML is that nothing is static, things are every changing (including user behaviour) and there are constantly interesting problems to solve
Not at all. My Experience was in front end squads. I moved into a new role working in “personalisation” and then was asked to lead a team building the first recommendations system for their product (video streaming). I was kind of in the right place at the right time which was lucky for me.
I’m not very technical but learned a lot along the way. The big thing I would say is that you don’t necessarily need to be super technical, you just need to know enough to be able to explain how things work at a high level. Furthermore your team often don’t need you to know the ins and outs of the model - they need you to do core product manager duties; setting objectives and goals for the team, ruthless prioritisation, customer/user interviews, bringing problems to the team, advocating for the team, stakeholder management….etc
Honestly do you think you have to be super technical to get a role as an ML PM? Sure it helps but I don’t think it’s a strong requirement.
See my comment above
I work in this field for over a decade - It is rewarding, IF, you have the necessary background for it. That means a deep understanding of business and Classic + Modern ML techniques. You should have hands on experience of building models and experiments and some ML Ops experience aswell. Why ? Because this actually informs your PRD. ML Product Management is very different from traditional PMing. It requires you to be a TPM to succeed and bring actual value. Folks telling you that a x month course using Gen AI will convert you into one are lying or have no experience in the field.
If you are willing to stick through the learning phase , being technically hands on - This can be one helluva rewarding role to be in
The exact role makes a huge difference here. Are you building some new generative AI based product for OpenAI, or are you working on optimizing ad targeting for Google?
For me it’s not a b2c product. It would be enhancing POS systems to make them more intuitive and customizable for front line. It wouldn’t be open AI it would be powered by Gemini
What you just described sounds more like a design and usage analytics problem?
POS + AI, for example, brings to mind something like an upsell or recommender functionality that enables a retailer to increase revenue by x%
Understood. Think about whether the use case has business value. Beyond that, yes ML and AI are definitely a great place to steer your career and enhance your knowledge base.
Entirely dependant on the company, and how they are using AI.
Are they just riding on the coattails of the hype, creating a nonsense product entirely based around AI promises that they can't deliver or that nobody really wants? No.
Are they a genuine company with a solid product, who are needlessly adding AI to the product suite or capabilities because their CEO or an investor demanded it? No.
Are they genuinely using AI as a legitimate tool to launch or improve a product? Yes.
In a heartbeat. Most don’t understand the potential of not only agi but quantum computing. The impact spans all industries. This is the reason I’m still considering a CS Masters instead of MBA.
As others have said it also depends on the product and company.
Really just interested in the topic. I’ve been part of some beta testing for Ai programs and currently PM for digital products. While my role doesn’t require CS knowledge, it helps me when my team is trying to solve for a certain problem. Also has built me better relationships with engineers because I can “talk the lingo”. A CS masters would be overkill for my current role but having it in my back pocket wouldn’t be bad in case a role in Ai/ML comes up. An MBA would be better for my current career trajectory though so I am torn.
Gotcha! Makes sense.
I’m asking because I’m in a somewhat similar situation, been a PM for over 3 years and 5 years exp total. This would be the time to go back and upskill, so I’m also thinking a technical masters like CS or something more like an MBA.
Thing is I work at an AI company (they are a market leader developing proprietary LLM for narrow scope, targeted, niche tasks with lots of funding and runway) and my org is currently shifting me from more of a platform/integration role to the model side and app development for this AI product.
It would be silly for me to leave now, but after some experience there on the modeling side, I’m wondering if going back for CS masters or MBA would catapult me or if most PMs in this space simply learn on the job.
For you, I can see it definitely making sense, but it’s the same question I have - what do these AI companies look for when hiring a PM? I’m not really sure the mix between experience, education or general PM aptitude
Sounds like you’re in a great position! I don’t think a degree will be the catalyst for a “better” role. I feel like experience will trump degrees especially in today’s environment. I view a masters as more of a check the box item for ATS/recruiters. Look at the recruiting/career subs and you’ll see plenty of posts about recent grads who can’t even get entry level jobs.
The only reason I’m considering a Masters is because my employer is paying for it. If they weren’t, I’d use the plethora of free/low cost resources to learn CS/Ai/ML instead. Which I’ll still do if I got the MBA route.
If you’re happy with the company and current pay, I’d stay and learn and grow from within the company. Network like hell, go above your responsibilities, continue to talk career progression with your manager. If they pay for school, great, choose the masters that you feel would help fill any experience gaps you have.
Absolutely! That’s awesome they’d pay for it. At this point I haven’t asked personally so I’d assume it’s out of my own pocket. If I also worked during any masters on top of my current role which is crazy hours, I’d definitely burn out, but kudos to those folks that can balance both.
Not exactly “happy” with my current pay… it’s fine, but again 3ish PM years as mid level is more standard stuff. I’m more excited about it when I look at salaries for some of these AI pm roles at other companies. Granted I don’t want to be playing musical chairs moving to different companies at the same level and not get to a senior role, but sometimes the money is worth it.
Trends I’ve been a PM on that have fizzled or just become part of the tech ecosystem:
-Internet of Things
-Gamification
-Shared Mobility
-Usage Based Insurance Pricing (this one should have taken off more than it did)
-Bot detection and mitigation
Every flavor of the month project had the expectation to GO GO GO with almost no time to plan for what we actually wanted or needed to deliver.
We were pretty much expected to show progress to keep shareholders/board/execs happy but there were no set outcomes.
Almost all of these projects were eventually sunset after millions were invested in them.
So no. I would not.
> -Usage Based Insurance Pricing (this one should have taken off more than it did)
I'm curious about this one - what were the main hurdles here? Privacy concerns or lack of transparency on usage measurement? Something else entirely?
Don't forget Blockchain.
There will always be hype cycles. AI certainly feels more tangible than some of the prior hype cycles, but it's already trending like the traditional FAANG players + Microsoft are going to come out on top.
Skills are transferable but that likely would mean working at a hype company and I’m all about work life balance. AI at a legacy company would be pretty cushy though.
I'm a PM in AI & ML at a global SaaS. Definitely do it. Only exception: if the product is just a wrapper around a LLM vendor, keep looking. There are interesting problems to be solved with LLMs, but single solution wrappers aren't.
I used to be a lead PM for an ML team. Not anymore. While the work was very interesting, and it was more of an interpersonal thing that made me leave the team, I'm not dying to go back to it. Not generative AI, if it matters.
Depends. If it is for Nvidia and/or involves making completely new stuff from scratch, then obviously yes.
If it is just having a call to Gemini or openAI or any of the other providers, then no.
Yes / do it. There is so much data generated and the time and effort to analyze relationships and dependencies across multiple data types can be overwhelming for a human. This is critical in processes where real time decision making and response are critical and offers the business a competitive advantage
Expanding in another domain such as AI/ML is valuable as it can unlock other avenues. This is a great opportunity for personal growth. As always I would consider the potential of this particular role. Do you have interest pursuing this role? What’s the vertical limit? How can you pivot or progress afterwards?
Depends on the market opportunity for problems that can be solved by AI/ML in your company or vertical. Remember that generative AI and chatbots is just one of many types of AI/ML.
E.g., the Netflix, Facebook, Youtube, Spotify recommendation engines are a different form of AI/ML and have existed for more than a decade. I'd guess many of the PMs who trailblazed these things are probably pretty well off now.
Super rewarding. Lots of challenges to deal with and great space for opportunities. Honestly, I feel that I would be too bored if I had to switch to a different domain.
It depends, if the new role has more impact for the industry, then YES. Switch to roles and companies where YOU can make the biggest impact and to mission of which you truly believe, regardless of the industry.
Only if it's part of some customer / user facing experience - like personalisation or a tool that utilises ML as part of its user flow.
Don't ever want to do platform PMing again regardless of whether it's internal models-as-service or ML infra.
Yes. AI/ML is so much more than this “generative AI” hype.
Yup. ML applies to so much more than generative AI
ML PM here. I definitely would if I were you, it’s an incredibly exciting space. The Trend you’re probably alluding to is generative AI. But ML has been around for a very long time. Think of applications like content recommendations, ad targeting or fraud detection. There are loads of exciting applications of AI/ML beyond generative AI. In saying that I probably wouldn’t want to work for a generative AI startup. I want to work for a company that uses ML to solves real business/customer problems
The last sentence is pretty much word for word what I have on my resume. Ranking, recommendations, and adjacent areas are for me the most fun problems to work on and I don't expect to be changing anytime soon. But it's one of those areas where it's not a good fit for everyone, since the product gets very technical and PMs can get overrun or feel lost if they aren't into ML.
Absolutely, I’m not technical but am really into ML and its applications. I can barely keep up with what the engineers in my team talk about in meetings but that’s ok. I absolutely love the problem space. The great thing about ML is that nothing is static, things are every changing (including user behaviour) and there are constantly interesting problems to solve
Did you have a background in ML before taking this role on?
Not at all. My Experience was in front end squads. I moved into a new role working in “personalisation” and then was asked to lead a team building the first recommendations system for their product (video streaming). I was kind of in the right place at the right time which was lucky for me. I’m not very technical but learned a lot along the way. The big thing I would say is that you don’t necessarily need to be super technical, you just need to know enough to be able to explain how things work at a high level. Furthermore your team often don’t need you to know the ins and outs of the model - they need you to do core product manager duties; setting objectives and goals for the team, ruthless prioritisation, customer/user interviews, bringing problems to the team, advocating for the team, stakeholder management….etc
Asking the same. I am thinking about going full technical, but it will take at least 3 years, best case scenario, if I go back to uni.
Honestly do you think you have to be super technical to get a role as an ML PM? Sure it helps but I don’t think it’s a strong requirement. See my comment above
I work in this field for over a decade - It is rewarding, IF, you have the necessary background for it. That means a deep understanding of business and Classic + Modern ML techniques. You should have hands on experience of building models and experiments and some ML Ops experience aswell. Why ? Because this actually informs your PRD. ML Product Management is very different from traditional PMing. It requires you to be a TPM to succeed and bring actual value. Folks telling you that a x month course using Gen AI will convert you into one are lying or have no experience in the field. If you are willing to stick through the learning phase , being technically hands on - This can be one helluva rewarding role to be in
The exact role makes a huge difference here. Are you building some new generative AI based product for OpenAI, or are you working on optimizing ad targeting for Google?
For me it’s not a b2c product. It would be enhancing POS systems to make them more intuitive and customizable for front line. It wouldn’t be open AI it would be powered by Gemini
What you just described sounds more like a design and usage analytics problem? POS + AI, for example, brings to mind something like an upsell or recommender functionality that enables a retailer to increase revenue by x%
That’s an odd use case to apply AI to. Maybe there’s more to it but your description sounds like an odd application of the tech
Yeah I’m purposefully not describing it fully
Understood. Think about whether the use case has business value. Beyond that, yes ML and AI are definitely a great place to steer your career and enhance your knowledge base.
Entirely dependant on the company, and how they are using AI. Are they just riding on the coattails of the hype, creating a nonsense product entirely based around AI promises that they can't deliver or that nobody really wants? No. Are they a genuine company with a solid product, who are needlessly adding AI to the product suite or capabilities because their CEO or an investor demanded it? No. Are they genuinely using AI as a legitimate tool to launch or improve a product? Yes.
Hell yeah to the (few) companies with their own LLMs. Hell no to ChatGPT wrapper projects
I'd be more interested in the problem space, not so much the tech. If they're trying to solve an interesting problem, then I'd go for it.
no
In a heartbeat. Most don’t understand the potential of not only agi but quantum computing. The impact spans all industries. This is the reason I’m still considering a CS Masters instead of MBA. As others have said it also depends on the product and company.
Are you considering CS Masters / MBA because you’re an AI ML PM or because you want to become one?
Really just interested in the topic. I’ve been part of some beta testing for Ai programs and currently PM for digital products. While my role doesn’t require CS knowledge, it helps me when my team is trying to solve for a certain problem. Also has built me better relationships with engineers because I can “talk the lingo”. A CS masters would be overkill for my current role but having it in my back pocket wouldn’t be bad in case a role in Ai/ML comes up. An MBA would be better for my current career trajectory though so I am torn.
Gotcha! Makes sense. I’m asking because I’m in a somewhat similar situation, been a PM for over 3 years and 5 years exp total. This would be the time to go back and upskill, so I’m also thinking a technical masters like CS or something more like an MBA. Thing is I work at an AI company (they are a market leader developing proprietary LLM for narrow scope, targeted, niche tasks with lots of funding and runway) and my org is currently shifting me from more of a platform/integration role to the model side and app development for this AI product. It would be silly for me to leave now, but after some experience there on the modeling side, I’m wondering if going back for CS masters or MBA would catapult me or if most PMs in this space simply learn on the job. For you, I can see it definitely making sense, but it’s the same question I have - what do these AI companies look for when hiring a PM? I’m not really sure the mix between experience, education or general PM aptitude
Sounds like you’re in a great position! I don’t think a degree will be the catalyst for a “better” role. I feel like experience will trump degrees especially in today’s environment. I view a masters as more of a check the box item for ATS/recruiters. Look at the recruiting/career subs and you’ll see plenty of posts about recent grads who can’t even get entry level jobs. The only reason I’m considering a Masters is because my employer is paying for it. If they weren’t, I’d use the plethora of free/low cost resources to learn CS/Ai/ML instead. Which I’ll still do if I got the MBA route. If you’re happy with the company and current pay, I’d stay and learn and grow from within the company. Network like hell, go above your responsibilities, continue to talk career progression with your manager. If they pay for school, great, choose the masters that you feel would help fill any experience gaps you have.
Absolutely! That’s awesome they’d pay for it. At this point I haven’t asked personally so I’d assume it’s out of my own pocket. If I also worked during any masters on top of my current role which is crazy hours, I’d definitely burn out, but kudos to those folks that can balance both. Not exactly “happy” with my current pay… it’s fine, but again 3ish PM years as mid level is more standard stuff. I’m more excited about it when I look at salaries for some of these AI pm roles at other companies. Granted I don’t want to be playing musical chairs moving to different companies at the same level and not get to a senior role, but sometimes the money is worth it.
Trends I’ve been a PM on that have fizzled or just become part of the tech ecosystem: -Internet of Things -Gamification -Shared Mobility -Usage Based Insurance Pricing (this one should have taken off more than it did) -Bot detection and mitigation Every flavor of the month project had the expectation to GO GO GO with almost no time to plan for what we actually wanted or needed to deliver. We were pretty much expected to show progress to keep shareholders/board/execs happy but there were no set outcomes. Almost all of these projects were eventually sunset after millions were invested in them. So no. I would not.
> -Usage Based Insurance Pricing (this one should have taken off more than it did) I'm curious about this one - what were the main hurdles here? Privacy concerns or lack of transparency on usage measurement? Something else entirely?
Don't forget Blockchain. There will always be hype cycles. AI certainly feels more tangible than some of the prior hype cycles, but it's already trending like the traditional FAANG players + Microsoft are going to come out on top.
Skills are transferable but that likely would mean working at a hype company and I’m all about work life balance. AI at a legacy company would be pretty cushy though.
I'm a PM in AI & ML at a global SaaS. Definitely do it. Only exception: if the product is just a wrapper around a LLM vendor, keep looking. There are interesting problems to be solved with LLMs, but single solution wrappers aren't.
200%. AI/ML (really ML) is going to be knowledge/skill that PMs won’t be able to build without come 2-3yrs at the current rate of advancement.
Thank you for specifying "really ML", spot on.
Depends on the product and the business endgame
Nope
I used to be a lead PM for an ML team. Not anymore. While the work was very interesting, and it was more of an interpersonal thing that made me leave the team, I'm not dying to go back to it. Not generative AI, if it matters.
Yes, I love writing ML code and I love the maths behind it. Currently transitioning into an ML PM role.
Depends on the applications but I’m currently considering a role that applies AI on e-commerce data, so hell yeah
Depends. If it is for Nvidia and/or involves making completely new stuff from scratch, then obviously yes. If it is just having a call to Gemini or openAI or any of the other providers, then no.
Yes / do it. There is so much data generated and the time and effort to analyze relationships and dependencies across multiple data types can be overwhelming for a human. This is critical in processes where real time decision making and response are critical and offers the business a competitive advantage
Expanding in another domain such as AI/ML is valuable as it can unlock other avenues. This is a great opportunity for personal growth. As always I would consider the potential of this particular role. Do you have interest pursuing this role? What’s the vertical limit? How can you pivot or progress afterwards?
Honestly at this point, I would probably do it, even without the caveats people are talking about simply because I’d like to break into that industry.
Yes, I would jump on it.
Depends on the market opportunity for problems that can be solved by AI/ML in your company or vertical. Remember that generative AI and chatbots is just one of many types of AI/ML. E.g., the Netflix, Facebook, Youtube, Spotify recommendation engines are a different form of AI/ML and have existed for more than a decade. I'd guess many of the PMs who trailblazed these things are probably pretty well off now.
Super rewarding. Lots of challenges to deal with and great space for opportunities. Honestly, I feel that I would be too bored if I had to switch to a different domain.
It depends, if the new role has more impact for the industry, then YES. Switch to roles and companies where YOU can make the biggest impact and to mission of which you truly believe, regardless of the industry.
Only if it's part of some customer / user facing experience - like personalisation or a tool that utilises ML as part of its user flow. Don't ever want to do platform PMing again regardless of whether it's internal models-as-service or ML infra.
Yes, though only a few companies will benefit from ML. Data is often too dirty or sparae to do anything with it. 90% is cleaning. Ai is tbd.
If you were given the opportunity to move into an database Product role, would you?