How to become a product manager in fintech
Working in fintech means working with a number of interesting and innovative products in the financial area. If you are an aspiring product manager, it also means that you should – theoretically – get to work on more creative projects than in traditional finance.
Becoming a fintech product manager is not easy. Michael Abdul, a fintech recruiter for recruitment firm Volition in London, says so “Product managers for the fintech market are one of the most niche skills to find.”
Here’s what Abdul says you need to know to land a product management job in fintech.
Know your industry (and your products)
Fintech, which operates in the middle ground between technology and finance, often finds itself in the middle of a tug-of-war for supremacy between the two industries. Some believe finance is the best springboard to fintech, some believe the opposite.
In truth, it’s both… and neither. The Fintech space is so diverse that there is no singular right path, it all depends on the company you want to work for.
Take Stripe, for example. The payments giant operates in the consumer space and therefore has much more in common with FAANG firms. “Tthere’s a lot of crossover there from shipping a great product at Amazon to shipping a great product at Stripe,” says Abdul.
Stripe’s hiring reflects this. Several product heads at Stripe have a FAANG background. These include product manager for money movement and payments Archana Kannan, who was product manager for AR experiences at Google, and Denise Ho, product manager for banking as a service, who was previously product manager “for the shopping vertical in Google search.”
B2B fintech works a little differently. Thought Machine, a provider of cloud infrastructure based in London, has banking clients such as Standard Chartered. Atom Bank, has a greater presence of finance alumni in its product range. Michael Hoodfar, product manager for core banking at Atom, spent eight and a half years at Deutsche Bank, where he worked as product manager for market compliance control.
If you are not focused on a specific fintech, you can look around the market for startups that are doing something new in the space you work in. Abdul says, “fenter the companies that build technology in your market. If you are an FX trader, find FX Fintechs.”
Know your code (at least a little)
Another tug of war that occurs especially for product managers is between technical and non-technical backgrounds. Abdul says “to be prime minister you can come from a technical or business background, it’s not cut and dry about what background makes a good prime minister.”
But unlike engineers who can rely on their technical expertise, product managers need something extra. They often need domain experience to add value quickly,” says Abdul.
Product managers must also at least know the basics of coding. “Product managers without a software background are expected to learn how to ship software,” says Abdul. “They’re going to come in and work a lot with engineers, so showing that ability to learn and willingness will make a difference.”
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