Getting to the next level means more than just a pay raise. It’s validation that you’re successfully operating as someone with more experience, depth, and ability. It’s a badge of growth that you’ll carry the rest of your career.
At the same time, it can be incredibly difficult to achieve as a Product Manager.
Let’s start by covering some common traps to avoid. These are inspired by real promotion conversations I’ve had with some of my own direct reports.
Here’s what not to do
Telling your manager your #1 priority is to get promoted is not a way to earn their trust. It sounds entitled, and can put your manager on the defensive.
Coming to your manager and asking “What do I need to do to get promoted?” will also be met with resistance. Your manager has been trained to deal with this by telling you “getting promoted is not a checklist” (because it often isn’t).
Another shortcut to not getting that promotion is demanding it—either because you hit your goals, were promised it by someone else (like a former manager), or because you think your performance is better than someone else at that next level.
And finally, the biggest trap of all: expecting the promotion process to happen organically, taking a wait & see approach. Believing a company will do right by you because your ‘performance speaks for itself’ is a trap you won’t fall into from today.
Something for you to consider...
If getting promoted in 2025 is a priority, I just announced the next cohort of my Manage your career like a PM↗ workshop.
It's a 2-day workshop where you get my exclusive skills assessment, go deeper on the promotion process, and I go hands-on to help you develop your career roadmap.
Learn more↗
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Here’s what to do instead
While I’d love to give you a single secret to getting promoted, the reality is promotions are complicated. They vary by company and are subject to many factors outside of your control.
These tips are all about what you can control and should apply to any company.
1. Do some research
If framing getting a promotion as a 'problem to solve', it should come as no surprise that as PM you need to do some discovery work. Start by understanding the situation at your company. Explore the following:
Historical promotion experiences
Have other people at the company been promoted to the level you’re after? Go talk to them, ask them what it took. You want to calibrate your expectations accordingly. This is especially important at smaller companies where the process is loosely defined, or not defined at all.
Promotion processes
Start by asking your manager what they can tell you about the process. You can have this conversation in a 1:1 and open with:
“Another topic that I’d like to talk about is career growth. While I’m focused primarily on meeting my goals/OKRs, I’m thinking about what the next step is for my career and wanted to understand what the promotion process is like here. What can you tell me about it?”
This framing is important. You are seeking information, not conveying you have specific expectations. Pay attention to how your boss responds.
You can also ask your manager or even HR for leveling guidelines.
And finally, you want to understand performance review cycles. Do promotions happen only during annual reviews? Are there off-cycle promotions? These can help you plan (and also manage your own expectations).
2. Identify your champions + challengers
Nearly every Product Manager promotion is going to require input from stakeholders. There are two particular groups you need to consider.
Champions
Start with the people who support you. Those you work with day to day and see your results. Focus on those who are already one level above you—people at your level likely have no say in your promotion—and make sure you bias towards other line-managers as their job is to assess talent.
Make a list of who these people are. Target 10 names, with a minimum of 5. Establish a perspective on how you feel they would rate your performance, and regularly seek feedback from them.
Challengers
These are the 5-10 people who don’t think you’re ready, or who would not be supportive of your promotion. You probably also work with them day to day, or they are at higher levels of leadership that need to approve your promotion but don’t regularly see your work.
Add these people to your list. Seek input from your manager on how to earn the trust of these challengers.
Don’t wait until your performance review to find out how challengers and champions feel about your performance. By then it is too late to influence it.
3. Assess your performance
This is the hardest part. You need to be honest with yourself about where you are in contrast to where you need to be.
Not just your gut feeling, an actual skills assessment that maps your current capabilities against the next level requirements.
Here’s how to make this even more tactical:
Look at the leveling guidelines I talked about earlier. If those don’t exist, look at job descriptions for the next level.
What skills are emphasised? Is it leadership, strategic thinking, stakeholder management, scope, technical depth?
Rate yourself honestly on each skill (a simple 1-5 scale works).
Where are the biggest gaps? How does your manager rate you across these dimensions?
4. Develop your roadmap
With all of this input, it’s time to build your roadmap which should be in the form of a development plan.
With a proper assessment, backed by input from your manager, create a development plan that closes those gaps through your current work.
Here are some examples you could add:
Gap in stakeholder management → Volunteer to lead the next cross-functional initiative.
Need more strategic thinking experience → Find or make an opportunity to write a strategic narrative.
If no Product strategy exists → go develop one.
If no plan more than 1 quarter into the future → go create one.
Need to demonstrate leadership → start mentoring junior PMs
The key is connecting your development to business value, and getting buy in from your manager along the way.
Keeping momentum
These tips and actions aren’t a one-time effort. You will have to manage this process for months. Don’t leave it up to chance, and don’t let it fall below the line.
If you don’t make it a priority, you can’t expect anyone else to.
When you start this journey with your manager, be clear you want to have dedicated career growth conversations on a regular basis.
Monthly is frequent enough.
Weekly is too excessive.
Quarterly is too infrequent.
Instead of your manager having to figure out your development path, they need to be your partner in executing a plan you’ve already thought through.
Maintain their buy-in and support along the way.
Wrapping up
Promotions can have a massive effect on your career trajectory—earnings compound, you land the next job faster, people notice you more.
If these outcomes matter to you, then you owe it to yourself to put at least as much effort into managing your career as you do managing your product.
Wishing you success on the journey ahead,
James