Market
Product Recruitment
Managers, owners and leaders steering what gets built and why.
Trusted by tech teams from start-ups to globally recognised brands
“Consortia have come through for me again and again: my first Head of Product role, strong PMs for my team, salary benchmarking and contract work. Can't rate them highly enough.”
Duncan M. · Head of Product, SaaS scaleup
Overview
Hiring a product person has changed. Most companies now want someone who has already done the job in their kind of business, their industry, or on a product like theirs, and they’ll wait for that person rather than train someone into it. There are more product people available than a couple of years ago, which makes that wait easier to justify. The exception is AI: where the product itself is AI, everyone is chasing the same small group of PMs who have shipped it before. More on what we’re seeing in product hiring.
We’ve been recruiting product talent since 2010, from a start-up’s very first product hire to companies building out a full product organisation. Because we also work with Engineering, Data and UX teams every day, we see product from the
Consortia cover the whole product recruitment function: managers and owners, technical product managers, AI product managers, business analysts and product engineers, product marketing and product operations, and the leaders and CPOs steering entire portfolios. Permanent, contract, fractional or executive search, across the UK, Europe, the US and the UAE.
Specialisms
The product roles we recruit
Product Managers
Product managers from first PM to senior IC, permanent and contract, across the UK, Europe, the US and the UAE.
Product Owners
Product owners across agile delivery teams, permanent and contract, in B2B and B2C tech.
Product Designers
Product designers who work end to end across UX, UI and research, permanent and contract.
Technical Product Managers
Technical product managers for platform, API and developer-facing products, permanent and contract.
Business Analysts
Business analysts who connect commercial goals to what gets built, permanent and contract.
AI Product Managers
AI product managers who pair product craft with real technical understanding, permanent and contract.
Product Engineers
Product engineers who pair strong software skills with real product thinking, permanent and contract.
Product Marketing
Product marketing managers from mid-level to Head of PMM, in B2B and B2C tech.
Product Operations
Product operations managers who bring structure, data and shared process to scaling product teams.
Product Leaders
Product leadership hires from Head of Product to CPO, permanent and fractional.
Product Executive Search
Retained executive search for senior product leaders and hard-to-find product specialists.
Fractional Product
Fractional and interim product leaders for teams that need senior direction without a full-time hire.
Customer Stories
How we've helped
Customer Stories
Trustpilot
Placing a senior growth product hire for Trustpilot
Trustpilot turned to Consortia for a senior growth product role. A sharper candidate profile and targeted headhunting landed a high-calibre hire.
Learn more
48hrs
to first interviews
Customer Stories
Simply Business
Filling an urgent Product Manager gap for Simply Business
With a project already underway, Consortia set up interviews within 48 hours and had a Product Manager working one week from brief.
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2:1
shortlist-to-interview ratio
Customer Stories
Receipt Bank
Placing a Head of Product for Receipt Bank's AI team
Consortia placed a Head of Product for Receipt Bank's AI team through a focused, headhunt-led search.
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Customer Stories
Domotz
Two senior product hires for Domotz across US time zones
Domotz needed two principal product hires from a narrow pool of direct competitors. Consortia hired both the Product Manager and the Product Designer.
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2 days
to shortlist, both roles filled
Customer Stories
HomeServe Labs
Securing product leadership for HomeServe Labs' first IoT product
Consortia hand-picked candidates within two days and filled both a Product Manager and a Customer Development Director for HomeServe Labs' first IoT product.
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Market insights· Updated September 2026
Product recruitment insights
Plenty of candidates would like to move between markets, fintech to B2B SaaS or regtech to security, but few get the chance. Strong people are often surprised to miss out on a role they were well qualified for. The usual reason is that someone else had done exactly that job, in exactly that market.
Technical fluency now matters right across the function. Technical product owners increasingly arrive from engineering, testing or analysis. Good business analysts are in far higher demand than they were, as AI can now build from a well-written spec. Someone who understands the user and the technical detail, can write the functional document the software is built from and then test what comes back, is worth a great deal. Product engineers are prized for how well they understand the customer, which is rarer than you’d think, since most engineers naturally lean to the front end or the back end.
Product managers who have worked in AI businesses, especially start-ups and scale-ups that grew fast, are in heavy demand and hard to move. Even outside AI companies, most PM roles now assume you’re comfortable working with it.
At the top, a CPO hire usually follows a change in money or structure: private equity coming in, a big funding round, a change of ownership. Sometimes that’s an interim appointment first. Pay is where searches most often stall with plenty of candidates still expecting what they earned at the peak of the market even though demand has cooled. On the other hand some businesses underestimate what a specialist PM may require for a move. On one recent search, candidates were asking around 50% more than the client had budgeted. Knowing that before you start saves everyone a lot of time.
How Consortia recruits product people
We don’t wait on job boards. We approach product people directly, including the strong ones who aren’t looking, and our network runs from senior PMs to CPOs, so shortlists are quick and accurate.
Because we recruit across Product, UX, Engineering and Data every day, we hold a grounded view of product pay, candidate supply and demand across the UK, Europe, the US and the UAE. That gives you a realistic starting point on scope, seniority and budget before a search begins, which matters in a market where candidates and clients can be a long way apart on pay.
Every search runs consultatively, whatever the level, and only genuinely matched candidates reach you: our CV-to-interview ratio is among the best in the industry.
Ways to hire
Ways to hire product talent
The right model depends on the role and the moment. We can help you decide, and move quickly once you have.
Executive Search
Retained search for technology leaders and hard-to-find specialists.
Contract Recruitment
Day-rate and fixed-term specialists for projects, change programmes and interim cover.
Permanent Recruitment
Permanent hires for specialist and leadership roles across technology teams.
Fractional Leadership
Fractional leadership for growth, change and key priorities.
Live jobs
Live Product jobs
- Permanent
Lead Product Manager
New York · Hybrid
$200,000 - $220,000
View role - Permanent
Product Engineer
London · Hybrid
£90,000 - £140,000 per annum
View role - Permanent
Head of AI Native Product Operations
London · Hybrid
£100,000 - £120,000
View role - Permanent
Head of Product & Technology
London · Hybrid
£90,000 - £125,000
View role - Permanent
Head of Payments
London · On-site
£90,000 - £100,000 per annum
View role - Permanent
Senior Product Manager
Wimbledon · On-site
£80,000 - £80,000 per annum
View role
From the blog
Insights on Product
ProductGuideProduct Manager Job Description Template (Mid-Level and Senior)
A product manager job description template you can copy, with a senior version, and the details candidates look for before they apply.
6 min read
ProductGuideHow to Hire Your First Product Manager
When to make your first product hire, whether you need a product manager or a head of product, and what to look for in someone building from scratch.
4 min read
ProductArticleWhy AI Is Changing Who Companies Hire: Vercel Ship 2026
Nathan Connolly shares key insights from Vercel Ship London 2026, exploring how AI agents are changing leadership, hiring and the skills employers value most.
6 min read
ProductArticleProduct Management Hiring in 2025: What’s Working, What’s Not, and What to Rethink for 2026.
It's no secret that the product hiring market shifted in 2025. Again.
4 min read
ProductArticleProduct Operations Manager Jobs: What's the Fuss About?
Have you been hearing more about Product Operations Manager jobs recently? If you are starting to wonder what all the fuss is about this month's article is…
5 min read
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Which product role do we actually need?
It depends on where the gap sits. If the team is unsure what to build next, that usually points to a product manager. If the product is deeply technical, such as an API or platform, a technical product manager may fit better. If requirements and processes are the problem, a business analyst can help. If product managers are buried in tooling and reporting, look at product operations. We often help settle this before a search begins.
Should our first product hire be a senior product manager or a Head of Product?
If founders still set product direction, a senior, hands-on product manager is often the better first hire. A Head of Product with no team to lead can end up too far from the detail, or frustrated by the lack of scope. If founders want to step back from product decisions, a leader makes more sense. A fractional product leader can also bridge the gap while the business decides.
How much AI experience should we expect from a product manager?
Most strong product managers now use AI tools day to day, for research, analysis and quick prototypes. That is different from building AI products. If your product relies on AI, look for experience with model behaviour, evaluation, data quality and running costs. Not every role needs that depth. Being clear in the brief about which one you mean saves time on both sides.
How important is domain experience in a product hire?
More than it was a few years ago, especially in complex or regulated areas such as fintech, health and B2B platforms. Domain knowledge shortens the time to get up to speed and builds trust with engineers and customers. It also narrows the pool. We usually ask which parts of the domain are must-haves, and which a strong product manager could learn in their first few months.
How do you assess product managers beyond their CV?
Product titles vary so much that the CV only tells part of the story. We look at the environment they worked in: B2B or B2C, team size, and how mature the product was. We ask about decisions they owned and how they measured results. A good test is asking which decision the data changed. Strong product people answer with specifics.
How can we compete for product talent against larger companies?
Salary matters, but strong product people also weigh ownership. They want to know how close they will be to decisions, who they will work with and what problem they are there to solve. Smaller businesses can often offer more of that than large ones. A clear brief, a quick process and direct access to founders or leaders can make a real difference.
How do I start working with Consortia?
Clients can get in touch to discuss a brief, and candidates are welcome to register their interest. The quickest route is our contact page or a call to +44 203 397 4565, and one of our consultants will pick things up from there.
For candidates
Looking for a product role?
We work with product people at every level, and many we place come back to us later as clients. Tell us what you do well and the kind of team you want to join, and we will point you towards roles that genuinely fit.
For clients
Need help hiring?
Tell us the role and we'll come back inside a working day with the consultants who know the market.
Get Help HiringFor candidates
Looking for work?
Browse live tech roles or send us your CV. A specialist consultant reviews every submission.
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