Primer: business generalist roles at Meta

Intro

I often speak to candidates who are getting an MBA or who are on a general business path like consulting & banking about roles at Meta. It's really hard for candidates to understand what's out there and how to apply.

Below is my rough guide to roles on the product side that can be a good fit for those types of candidates. It is not exhaustive, and likely doesn’t do every role justice.

Ultimately everyone should do their own research, but hopefully this guide can help orient.

Product Marketing

Generally referenced as PMM (product marketing manager) or BPM (business product marketing). Canonically, this role does does two thing

• "Inbound” is the coordination of research and analysis of the market & users to help prioritize what we build.
• “Outbound” means building the go-to-market strategy for a product; where should we launch? Which users? How should we position? Etc.

I'd guess that this is the most common landing spot for business generalists.

Product Management (PM)

PMs role works with engineering and cross-functional partners to build the product vision & roadmap, and ensure execution. Meta generally hires experienced PMs with engineering or design background. Generalists who don’t have a technical or design background should consider the rotational product management (RPM) program.

Otherwise, it’s generally not an option to switch directly into this role at Meta from a generalist path elsewhere. This is different from companies like Amazon, who hire MBAs into senior product management roles.

Data Science (DS)

The heart of the role is to use data to set metrics, evaluate product performance, and identify opportunities. "Data science" can mean a wide range of roles at Meta, from deeply technical to more strategic. DS helps set targets, evaluate performance, estimate upside, and generally contribute the product building process from a data perspective. This role is generally only for candidate who have an analytical background (at minimum knowing how to write SQL and able to talk about metrics and their tradeoffs).

Product Operations

There are a variety of internal processes that require operational excellence. For example, gathering feedback from billions of users into actionable insights for the app; or creating a process to evaluate and moderate content. This role is good for someone who is strong at building and maintaining great process at a huge scale.

Marketing Science

Another role for folks with a more technical background. The marketing science team helps advertisers measure the effectiveness of their spend and improve their ads.?It is a good fit for candidates with a partnership orientation, analytical tools, and deep marketing knowledge.

Product Partnerships

Connect the dots between internal teams and external partners to create new opportunities. The strongest candidates for these types of roles have experience and contacts in a specific industry and are strong at building relationships.

Product Strategy

This is my team! We work with product leaders to identify the biggest long-term opportunities across the product portfolio. This role is best for people who love thinking about the big picture rather than a specific product / feature. Here's a post I made about our team.

Parting thoughts on making the switch

• Reminder that this list is not at all exhaustive, and it completely ignores the "business side" (roles like sales ops, account managers, implementation managers, HR managers, etc.). For those who are committed to moving into tech, I recommend keeping an open mind and looking around
• Generally, the model of extensive coffee chats isn't that common in tech. People will meet with you if there's some strong connection (referral from a mutual, or same class) or if they think that you're a strong fit, but don't otherwise chat with candidates randomly like some other industries.
• Candidates often anchor on the role & title, and ignore important things like which product it is, who the XFN partners are, etc. My personal stack-rank of different factors is: #1 manager & XFN partners, #2 the product (is it growing? Is it well-positioned & resourced?), #3 specifics of the role, #4 seniority. (If you're looking for inspiration on products to look at, Business Messaging is an awesome place to be!)
• Finally, first year all-in comp is important, but not as important as your belief in your trajectory. Meta (and any large tech company) can be extremely remunerative if you get promoted, so make sure that you're in a position to grow (rather than optimize for first-year comp).

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