Hiring Your Product Ops Leader
Hiring Your Product Ops Leader
Invest in the role for the long haul
Between an economic downturn keeping everyone on edge as their LinkedIn feeds are flooded with layoffs, and AI sending us all into a spiral about whether we’ll be outsourced, it’s been an interesting last few months. We’re seeing lots of new content everywhere for every subject and I wonder if ChatGPT has something to do with that…
While we all work on filtering the noise to find the right signals, we can take comfort knowing there are a few things a chat bot likely won’t do. Two of those things are establishing a function and leading a team (Christine now says a silent prayer that people do believe in collaboration, communication, and good leadership being done by humans).
Over the last few months one of the questions I have received more than ever is “Who should I hire to start and lead my product operations function and why?”. Well, this is a good sign that people are taking the practice more seriously, even in a weird time in tech. First hiring a leader to establish and grow vs. first hiring a doer to simply tackle generally means they are ready to invest in the role for the long run. Additionally what I am hearing is that these companies are looking at it as a partner function contributing to the strategic direction of the business.
So who do I recommend when I am asked?
Some of you may know by now that my preference has been for this role to be established by someone with a strong product management background. Keep reading past this section as it’s not my only recommendation!
While this may seem biased, it’s not simply because that’s the background I have. It’s flat out because someone who has felt the pain a Product Manager understands what they ultimately need to focus energy on and what they don’t, in service of better outcomes for customers and the business.
More specifically, they are very much aware of what information to bring to the table and to which audience at which times. They are aware of the impact of the product team’s work on the day-to-day lives of a sales team, a customer success partner, a marketing manager, and their customers.
They are amazing at prioritization and time management. They know when to serve and when to lead. They know know how to inspire and how to influence. They know the truth lies in the data, and that connections and communication are critical to their success.
I can go on, but that’s what you will find when you are lucky enough to hire a former PM into a seat leading Product Operations. This is especially true if they have a passion for solving the pain of the PM so they can build a better experience for the customer. And those things above are some of what you need for someone to start this practice strong, and move it quickly.
But - it’s not just those with product background. Here’s who else:
I have seen several instances where the practice has been stood up by someone who is not a former PM, and they are doing amazing work. Recently, a Head of Product I spoke with asked an SME in the product and their industry to establish the role. Whether they come from the outside as an SME in the space and/or the product, they have a leg up on what matters to customers and what partner teams need from the product team to win. This plus a strong operational background tend to work well here. These individuals are usually able to dive into the communication, process, and alignment pieces of product operations quickly. Bonus points if you hire from within and someone already knows the inner workings of the business :)
But what about all the other stuff I mentioned that makes a former PM a great choice? My recommendation here is that they spend a portion of their time getting into the PM mindset for a good 6 months (at least) while ramping up. This will:
Help them understand product principles, terms, and frameworks, which helps them speak the same language as the PM.
Get them into the headspace to explore problems first, and not jump to solutions right away.
Teach them about iterative ways of working, which is necessary for everyone because companies undergo tons of change. This is especially true for those in start-up and scale-up environments.
Get them comfortable with ambiguity and leading through periods of unknown.
Help them understand how to think strategically about their work so they are aligning activities with business goals and outcomes.
There are quite a few ways to learn, and my favorite will always be shadowing PMs. But for leaders hiring their first product ops leader, it’s important you give them the space every day (an hour is wonderful) to read, listen to podcasts, join a webinar, or (again) shadow, so they can collaborate and plug in quickly and efficiently.
For resources, I can (and likely will) write an entire post about it. For now, send them to
and his LinkedIn feed + Substack page. He publishes great resources for the product community through his many lists of books, courses, etc. This recent post on LinkedIn has to be one of my favorites. Is the best in the space to follow, hands down. From his newsletter to his podcast, your leader will find relevant resources. I can’t not mention the first book they should read - it’s always Inspired, by Marty Cagan. That itself may make them want to become a PM one day (and then you’ll have a good problem to handle).I am sure there are others out there who are doing a great job in the first seat. The profiles shared here are a mix of what I’ve seen from many companies embracing product ops so far. Overall, focus on your first leader being the right mix of collaborative, data-driven, analytical, and well-versed in product management methodologies and ways of operating. They should want to think and solve problems like a PM, especially with the PM being their core customer.
I’d love to hear from those who have seen other combinations and backgrounds and why they have been successful (or maybe some that have not been!). Get me here or on LinkedIn!