Product Manager Competency Matrix
One bar per competency, four levels of demonstration. A PM's level reflects where they consistently operate — roughly Emerging ≈ APM, Developing ≈ PM, Proficient ≈ SPM, Strong ≈ GPM.
| Competency | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Strong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experimentation & Data Literacy | Runs a single validation (A/B or guarded rollout) with support; relies on others to frame the hypothesis. | Runs and interprets validations independently; picks a sensible method and knows its common failure modes. | Matches method and cadence to the bet — fast A/Bs where iteration is cheap, holdouts or longitudinal analysis where effects are slow to isolate. | Shapes the experimentation approach for their area, raises the team's rigor, and mentors on choosing the right method — not just running more tests. |
| Customer & Growth Insight | Notices where users drop off or disengage when prompted; sees metrics individually, not as a journey. | Maps the relevant journey and prioritizes the obvious opportunities from data and feedback. | Finds high-leverage opportunities others miss and understands the why behind behavior, blending qual and quant. | Creates and sustains the loops that compound — acquisition/activation flywheels or engagement/retention loops — and balances them at portfolio level. |
| Craft & Product Vision | Ships to spec and takes design and copy direction well; developing an eye for what feels good, not just what works. | Holds a quality bar — catches rough edges in flow, copy, timing, and feel before launch rather than shipping around them. | Owns the quality of what ships and shapes experiences meant to feel delightful and sticky; can say why one version feels better, not just that it does. | Defines what "great" means at Lumosity and what's worth building to get there; others calibrate their own taste against this person's judgment. |
| Business Impact & Prioritization | Focuses on completing assigned work; building a sense of how it ladders up to conversion, retention, and revenue. | Connects tasks to goals and weighs customer value, business impact, and effort when prioritizing. | Frames initiatives in measurable outcomes and makes thoughtful trade-offs; measures impact after launch. | Identifies high-impact opportunities, knows where speed beats polish and where it doesn't, and influences with data-backed reasoning. |
| Product Strategy & Execution | Contributes to execution of assigned initiatives with guidance; learning planning and delivery. | Independently runs smaller initiatives end-to-end and keeps stakeholders informed of progress and risk. | Owns initiatives end-to-end — breaks down complexity, anticipates risk, and adapts as new information arrives. | Improves how the team delivers, clears blockers proactively, and consistently turns strategy into shipped customer value. |
| Collaboration & Product Leadership | Builds positive relationships on the immediate team, communicates openly, and is receptive to feedback. | Collaborates well across Eng, Design, and Data — shares context, seeks alignment, and folds in feedback. | Builds trust across teams, facilitates constructive discussion, balances viewpoints, and follows through. | Leads through influence, elevates team effectiveness, mentors others, and is a dependable cross-functional leader. |
Two competencies look different on Growth vs Core in practice — Experimentation & Data Literacy, and Customer & Growth Insight. The bar is the same on both teams; only the evidence differs by surface. When there's any doubt about what "meets the bar" looks like for a given PM, see the companion examples sheet. The other four competencies — including Craft, which both teams need equally — read the same on both and need no split.