Vice President, Product Design

Executive leader

Career Explorer · Design & User Experience · Product Design Management

M6 · Vice PresidentIndividual contributorVice President

Standard where organizational scale supports the level

What the role involves

Autonomy: Global function / business segment
Scope: Global function / business segment
Time horizon: 3-5 years
Expertise and judgement: Sets enterprise-level strategy, capital and organization design
Expected impact: Material company-level business outcomes

Expected skills (22)

Grouped as human, professional and technical. Target proficiency uses the P1–P5 scale, and each row says what that level means for that particular skill.

Human (11)

Skill	Importance	Target	What that level looks like
Coaching Collaboration & Leadership	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Decision making Thinking & Judgment	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Delegation Collaboration & Leadership	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Executive communication Communication & Influence	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Feedback delivery Collaboration & Leadership	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Risk judgment Thinking & Judgment	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Stakeholder management Communication & Influence	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Strategic thinking Thinking & Judgment	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Talent development Collaboration & Leadership	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Conflict resolution Communication & Influence	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Inclusive leadership Collaboration & Leadership	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.

Professional (11)

Skill	Importance	Target	What that level looks like
Business acumen Business & Strategy	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Financial acumen Business & Strategy	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Performance management Business & Strategy	Core	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Design thinking Product & Design	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Human-centered design Product & Design	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Information architecture Product & Design	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Interaction design Product & Design	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Prototyping Product & Design	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Resource management Program, Risk & Sustainability	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
UX research Product & Design	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.
Usability testing Product & Design	Supporting	P5	Defines enterprise or industry practice, develops other experts and shapes strategy through the skill.

Career ladder

Reached from

AVP / Head of Product DesignM5

Next steps

Senior Vice President, Product DesignM7Management promotion
Move from VP to senior executive scope across multiple global functions or a large business; make enterprise tradeoffs and develop executive talent.

People management requires sustained evidence of coaching, performance management, staffing judgment and organizational leadership - not simply greater individual expertise.

What changes to advance

Move from VP to senior executive scope across multiple global functions or a large business; make enterprise tradeoffs and develop executive talent.

Source: SFIA; PMI; Microsoft Careers · MF042-M6