It's a big leap to move from IC Product Manager into a director-level role: it’s probably the hardest jump other than getting into product. The higher up you go in a company, the fewer number of people are needed for each role, so you really have to start to navigate getting to that next level outside of the typical promotion cycles. When those cycles are announced, the decisions have been made, sometimes many months back, and I think a lot of more junior folks don’t realize that. They tend to think that the day you get a promotion is the day a comp cycle is over; they view it as a kind of grand reveal, but that’s just not actually the case for the vast majority of people moving into senior roles. The reality is that you have to actively take opportunities as they come based on what your organization needs. When there’s an opening, you have to be ready to jump in and fill it. In my case, I knew I was ready to get to the director level, so I put this pitch together that showed how what I’d already done aligned with the company’s needs. I told them they were welcome to wait and announce it at the next promotion cycle, but I knew it was the right time to make my case. Ultimately, it worked out and I got the position.

Before you even start on something like this, you need to be able to answer a couple of key questions: Is there a true business need? And then are you truly capable, and perceived as being capable, of filling that role? If you can answer “yes” to both of those, then you can start to position yourself as someone who’s capable of helping both the company and the person who’s in the role you’d be reporting to.

In my case, there was a true business need: We’d had multiple VPs of Product turnover and we were trying to build out the product team. I also knew that I was capable: I was one of the longest tenured employees at that point, and I knew I’d proven both my worth and my stability. That meant I could speak directly to both the things that we needed to do and how I was uniquely able to do them.

Unless you're at a very large company, I personally think it's pretty hard to sustain a product org with multiple levels of management who aren’t doing IC work. Mostly, that's because individual PMs are extremely capable; they need maybe one layer of management, and that's like about it. Especially at smaller companies that might not be able to financially support it, I think it’s kind of a waste to have too many levels of product management, where there’s layers of people who aren’t actually building the product or doing customer research. It’s much better for there to be a direct line between leadership and the teams building the product. A lot of what you’ve seen at big Silicon Valley companies lately is them trying to flatten some of those layers and layers of people who are just doing strategy decks, which are then supposed to be given to PMs, who are then supposed to do something with it.

I was very comfortable saying, “Hey, if you don't need me in this role later, that's okay.” As you get more senior, I think you have to be comfortable walking away from things. In this case, I knew that what the company really needed was a very senior VP, someone who had done this for 20+ years. I knew I wasn’t that, but I also knew that I could do this role for six months, get some great experience, and help the company in the meantime. I thought, “Who knows how long it will take them to find someone, and maybe I can prove that I can do the job and then they don’t even need to find someone.” It was always possible that they’d decide they could get by with a VP and a few PMs, and they didn’t need someone at the director level at all. If that was the case, I would have rather gone to work somewhere else where my skill set would be a better fit anyway.

Having said that, it’s also worth keeping in mind that I didn’t position this as, “If I don’t get this, I’m going to leave.” Instead, it was, “I’m willing to do this now, and if it doesn’t make sense later, I’m happy to reevaluate.” I think that’s honestly what most executives want to hear: they’re trying to solve a problem now, and they need a solution. You’re not asking them to make big promises and tell you that you’re going to be a leader there forever; you’re being honest with them about the fact that you might not be their ideal candidate if they could pick anyone, and that you understand that if they find someone better, they should go with them. I think that’s what really shows you're a leader here: that you’re willing to put the company first.

Sarah Payne

When I was ready to get to the director level of product management, I put this pitch together that showed how what I’d already done aligned with the company’s needs.

Proposal - Sarah’s Role During Product Transitions

The current staffing of the Product team (one PM and Interim VP) has immediate gaps to fill in order to rebuild a functioning product team. An Interim VP will absolutely help to stabilize and build the organization, but even with this role there will be immediate gaps to fill:

Churn of leaders will make hiring difficult and an interim title will create an additional hurdle to closing PM hires.


New PMs will need onboarding from someone within the product team who can educate new hires on how [redacted] works, cross functional team work, introduction to the Parsley tech stack.


Allocation of EPD resources for Q4 & Q1 planning.

Need within the next 4-6 weeks to define a roadmap for the remainder of Q4 & Q1, with ready knowledge of projects ready for dev and determination of where to allocate limited design resources.


Need for consistency cross functionally during a time of uncertainty.

Multiple leaders create a lot of chaos for cross functional partners.

Even with Interim VP, there is a lack of continuity and uncertainty that I can fill during that time.


The interim VP can absolutely start to get up to speed on many of these areas. In the meantime, many of these gaps will need more stable support from a product leader who is: 1) Well versed in how Parsley operates (both within EPD and cross functionally) 2) Provide PM candidates a person on the team who has a permanent title and 3) who can work cross functionally on critical projects from day 1 to ensure continued business impact.

During this time of transition, I can fill many of these management and leadership gaps for the Product team, as a Director of Product. Specifically I can help to stabilize the product organization (in partnership with the Interim VP of Product) as follows:

Hiring conducted by a permanent member of the PM team will provide stability to the team as it looks to rebuild.


Responsible for onboarding the PMs to provide the most robust onboarding to ensure a quick ramp up for new PMs.

Product leadership within EPD for Q4 & Q1 roadmaps

Allocate resources across teams, lead roadmapping for Q1, given my understanding of current projects and skills of the remaining team.

Note: This is already happening currently.

Provide continuity for cross functional partners

Serve as the main contact across cross functional teams (specifically, ops and clinical) to ensure continuity of projects.

Note: Again this is already happening where I am taking over product updates and connection with the Ops team.

Focus ½ time on IC for Growth/Member Pods focused on Onboarding

Continue ½ time on backlog of Growth & Member pod work focused on Onboarding projects (will be the major focus across both pods for Q1).

Deprioritized Vision pod until hire completed on Growth PM pod.

This position will allow for continuity during a time of much tumultuous change. I understand there may not be a need for a Director level PM once a full time VP is in place and I am comfortable with that ambiguity. 

Once we have a full time VP of Product and if it is determined a Director role is no longer needed, I am comfortable to move on from the company or reassign me to another role (if available).

My track record at [redacted] has shown I can lead in the areas where the Product organization needs support. Specifically, I have demonstrated my abilities at the Director of Product level by my:


Lead launch of largest growth unlock in company’s history. Originally hired to transition the company to virtual products, which I accomplished. This leadership grew the business from ~300 purchases/month to 1300 purchases/month, unlocking growth rate to allow for future fundraising. Shifted from 100% in person purchases to 95% virtual purchases in less than 1 year, changing trajectory of the company.


Managed junior PM (Didi) for almost a year, supporting her through a layoff, contracting and finding a new job.

Onboarded Didi onto new product teams, demonstrating ability to onboard PMs to new tech stacks and new engineering teams.


Demonstrated ability to present at company huddles with positive feedback, contribute in leadership group

Run cross functional major product launches (ie. Short Program) that cut across to the clinical team.

Serve as go-to partner for cross functional projects, providing visibility into EPD work across marketing, GM functions and ops.


In short, the product organization at [redacted] is undergoing uncertainty and upheaval. I have demonstrated my ability to deliver business value and provide leadership in the organization, at a time when the company and organization need a leader to help rebuild. As a Director of Product I can focus my time to help stabilize the organization. In the future, once a more robust team is established with a permanent VP of Product, I understand this role may not be necessary and am comfortable with exploring other options, both internally and externally, at that time.

Promotion Case to Become Director of Product

Proposal - Sarah’s Role During Product Transitions

Current Situation

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