State of the Product Job Market in 2025
By: Lenny Rachitsky Source: Lenny’s Newsletter / Lenny’s Podcast Type: newsletter
Summary
Lenny Rachitsky’s annual deep dive into the product management job market, using TrueUp’s dataset of every open role at major tech companies and top startups. Seven key findings: (1) Open PM and engineering roles are trending up — over 6,000 open PM roles globally, 53.6% above the 2023 bottom and up 11% YTD, the most in over two years. Engineering follows the same pattern, scaled 10x. (2) AI roles are exploding — 688 open AI PM roles at AI companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, Scale), AI-driven companies (Cursor, Harvey, Lovable), and AI-specific roles at non-AI companies (e.g. AI PM at Figma). (3) Layoffs are slowing — on track for fewer layoffs than any of the past four years, though the possibility of future cuts remains. (4) Capital investment is increasing — up 29% YoY and 227% over five years (GPUs, data centers), though unclear if this translates to more jobs or just more hardware. (5) Bay Area dominance continues — nearly 20% of all PM roles, 17% of engineering, and almost a third of all AI-related roles globally are based there. Berlin and Austin entered the top 10; Boston and LA fell out. (6) Remote work is declining — from 35% at peak in late 2022 to 23% now, likely settling at a new baseline of ~20%. (7) Lots of global PM roles available — lists top 20 companies hiring PMs and top AI PM employers. Additional emerging trend: 415 open Product Engineer roles (v0, Amplitude, n8n) and growing. AI copilot tools beginning to change how PMs interview.
Key Ideas Extracted
- PM job market recovering strongly: Over 6,000 open PM roles globally, 53.6% above 2023 bottom, up 11% YTD — the most open PM roles in over two years
- AI PM roles exploding: 688 open AI PM roles across AI-native companies, AI-driven companies, and AI-specific roles at traditional tech companies
- Bay Area as AI capital: Almost 1/3 of all AI-related roles globally are based in the Bay Area — even more concentrated than general tech roles (~20% for PM)
- Layoffs decelerating: On track for fewer layoffs than any of past four years, though future cuts remain possible
- Capital investment surging: Up 29% YoY and 227% over five years — GPUs and data centers, unclear if it translates directly to more jobs
- Remote work settling at new baseline: Declined from 35% peak (late 2022) to 23% now, likely settling around 20% — trend identical across PM, engineering, and design
- Rise of the product engineer: 415 open Product Engineer roles (v0, Amplitude, n8n) — a new hybrid role category that appears to be growing
- AI copilots changing PM interviews: Anecdotal evidence that AI tools are becoming an issue in PM interviewing processes
- Geographic shifts: Berlin and Austin entered top 10 PM locations; Boston and LA fell out since last year’s analysis
- Designer roles more stable: Never saw as deep a dip as PM and engineering, but showing slight recent decline
Notes
- Published May 13, 2025 on Lenny’s Newsletter. Subscriber-only written post (not podcast).
- Data source: TrueUp — continuously scans every open job at every big tech company and top startup
- Follows up on 2024 two-part series on PM job market (referenced as part 1, part 2)
- Also available as podcast form on Spotify / Apple / YouTube
- Companies referenced as hiring AI PMs: OpenAI, Anthropic, Scale, Cursor, Harvey, Lovable, Figma
- This is a data-driven market analysis, not opinion — useful as reference for career planning
- Cross-reference: LinkedIn Full Stack Builder (Tomer Cohen), vibe coding trend (multiple sources)
Raw Content
Re-scraped from Lenny’s Newsletter 2026-02-15. Full article content captured in Summary and Key Ideas above.