How to attract the best SaaS Product candidates

As the SaaS industry continues to grow, attracting top talent in SaaS product management has become increasingly challenging. This blog will explore the value of a robust SaaS product team, strategies to attract the best product managers, and pitfalls to avoid in your hiring process.

If you need help hiring for your SaaS Product team, contact us here. As a specialist Product recruiter, we have over 20,000 of the best candidates already on our database, helping you to secure the right candidate quickly.

The value of a good SaaS Product team

1. Driving continuous innovation

Continuous innovation is the lifeblood of successful SaaS companies. It involves consistently improving and expanding product offerings to meet evolving customer needs and stay ahead of competitors. A capable team ensures this by staying in-touch with market trends, leveraging customer feedback, and experimenting with new technologies. For example, Salesforce‘s innovation strategy, which includes acquiring promising start-ups and integrating their technology into its platform, has kept it at the forefront of the CRM market. The company’s continuous innovation efforts have resulted in a 25% increase in its customer base over the past three years.

2. Enhancing customer experience

The best Product teams prioritise customer experience, ensuring that the product meets and exceeds user expectations. They achieve this by implementing user-centric design principles, conducting thorough usability testing, and continuously gathering and acting on user feedback. For instance, Zoom’s product management team regularly updates its platform based on user feedback, enhancing features and improving user interface design. This focus on customer experience has been a significant factor in Zoom’s explosive growth, with a reported 290 million daily meeting participants in 2023.

3. Improving time-to-market

Speed is crucial in the SaaS industry, where being first can mean capturing a significant market share. A competent product management team streamlines development processes, prioritises features effectively, and mitigates risks to shorten time-to-market. Slack’s product management team, for instance, effectively prioritised feature development and iteratively released updates, allowing the platform to quickly become a leader in the team collaboration space.

4. Ensuring scalability and performance

As a SaaS product grows, it must scale efficiently to handle increased user demand without compromising performance. A skilled product management team anticipates scalability challenges and plans accordingly. For example, Shopify’s product management team has successfully managed the platform’s scalability, supporting over 1.7 million businesses globally without significant downtime, contributing to its reputation as a reliable e-commerce solution.

5. Emphasising security and compliance

In the SaaS industry, maintaining high standards of security and compliance is paramount. A proficient product management team ensures that the product adheres to industry regulations and implements robust security measures. For example, AWS continuously invests in security certifications and compliance programs to assure its customers of data safety and regulatory adherence, significantly enhancing its credibility and trust in the market.

How to attract the best SaaS Product Managers

1. Get the salary right

Attractive salary packages are crucial for any role, especially in a competitive market. Benchmark your salaries against industry standards and ensure you offer compelling benefits.

These are the latest average salary bandings across each level of Product Manager, specifically tailored to the SaaS industry:

2. Highlight advanced technical challenges

Those working within SaaS Product Management often thrive on solving complex technical problems. Emphasise the advanced challenges your product addresses, such as integrating with emerging technologies like AI and Machine Learning, managing large-scale data, or ensuring high availability and security. Highlighting these aspects can attract candidates who are passionate about tackling technical challenges. For instance, Stripe attracts top talent by showcasing its work on scalable payment processing systems and its integration with cutting-edge technologies.

3. Showcase the product’s impact

Top SaaS Product Managers want to work on products that make a significant impact. Clearly articulate how your product transforms businesses and improves lives. Use case studies, testimonials, and success stories to illustrate this impact. For example, HubSpot emphasises how its CRM and marketing tools help businesses grow by streamlining operations and improving customer engagement, which can be a strong motivator for prospective product managers.

4. Provide opportunities for personal growth

Those within the SaaS industry are keen on continuous learning and professional development. Provide opportunities for growth through access to industry conferences, certifications, and training programs specific to SaaS product management. Examples include:

• Product Management Festival – An annual conference that brings together Product people from around the world to share insights and strategies.
• Mind the Product – A global community and conference series for product managers that offers workshops, talks, and networking opportunities.
• Pragmatic Institute Training – Offers training programs specifically tailored to product management and marketing in the SaaS industry.
• Coursera SaaS specialisations – Online courses and specialisations from top universities on SaaS product management.

5. Emphasise data-driven decision making

SaaS Product Managers rely heavily on data to make informed decisions. Showcase your company’s commitment to data-driven decision-making processes, such as robust analytics platforms, A/B testing frameworks, and user behaviour analysis tools. Illustrate how data informs your product strategy and feature development. For instance, Spotify’s use of extensive user data to personalise music recommendations and improve user engagement is a significant draw for product managers who value data-driven innovation.

6. Highlight the commitment to new technology

SaaS Product candidates are often attracted to companies that are at the forefront of tech advancements. Highlight your use of modern development frameworks, cloud-native architectures, and innovative tech stacks. Showcasing your commitment to staying ahead of the technology curve can attract candidates eager to work with the latest tools and technologies. For example, Snowflake, with its cloud-native data warehousing solutions, attracts talent by emphasising its cutting-edge technology and innovative approach to data management.

7. Hire a specialist Product Management recruitment agency

Working with a recruitment agency that specialises in SaaS product management can give you access to a broader pool of qualified candidates and reduce your time-to-hire.

We at Intelligent People are one of those specialist recruitment agencies. For our corporate and scale-up clients, we advise on everything from bespoke salary benchmarking, benefits advice, guidance on equity packages, recruitment process review, candidate assessment and selection processes and job description advice – helping you to hire the best Product talent ahead of your competitors.

Find out more about our Product Management recruitment recruitment process.

Business strategies to avoid

1. Neglecting domain-specific knowledge

In the SaaS industry, domain-specific knowledge is crucial. Avoid hiring managers without experience or understanding of the specific domain your product operates in, such as cybersecurity, finance, or healthcare. A lack of domain knowledge can lead to misaligned product strategies and ineffective decision-making. For instance, a product manager with no background in healthcare would struggle to navigate the complexities of developing a healthcare SaaS platform, which requires an understanding of regulatory compliance and patient data security.

2. Underestimating the importance of technical proficiency

While product managers do not need to be coders, having a solid technical foundation is essential in SaaS. Avoid candidates who lack a basic understanding of software development, cloud infrastructure, or API integrations. Technical proficiency allows Product Managers to communicate effectively with engineering teams and make informed decisions. For example, a SaaS product manager with a strong grasp of cloud infrastructure can better strategise scalability solutions and performance optimisations.

3. Overlooking Agile expertise

Agile methodologies are integral to SaaS product development. Avoid hiring candidates without experience in agile frameworks like Scrum or Kanban. A lack of agile expertise can result in inefficient development processes and delayed product releases. For instance, Atlassian’s Jira is built around agile project management, and having product managers proficient in agile practices is crucial for maximising the tool’s potential and ensuring seamless project execution.

Conclusion

Investing in the best SaaS Product Managers is not just a short-term strategy but a long-term commitment to innovation, customer satisfaction, and business growth.

Read more about our work at Intelligent People, and review our successful case studies with happy Product clients.