Chief product officer · job description template
CPO job description
The short answer · updated
A CPO job description here means the chief product officer: the executive who owns what the company builds and why. The core responsibilities are the product vision and strategy, the roadmap and its trade-offs, leading the product organisation, working with technology, design and commercial teams on delivery, and reporting product results to the chief executive and the board.
Job purpose
Three executives share the initials: chief product officer, chief people officer and chief procurement officer. Say which one in the first line. This chief product officer job description is for the first of them: the person accountable for the product strategy and for the results the product delivers. For the role itself, see what a chief product officer does.
Then name the product problem the next CPO has to solve: a roadmap driven by the loudest customer, a product that has stopped growing, a platform to rebuild, a second product line, or product teams without a leader. Acas publishes an outline job description template whose headings (the main duties and who the post reports to) work at executive level as well.
Key responsibilities
Order the duties by importance and start each with a verb. A typical CPO job description covers:
- setting the product vision and strategy from the business plan, and keeping it current;
- owning the roadmap and the business case behind it; the government’s product management capability framework describes the senior levels as setting strategy and vision and using a prioritised roadmap to discuss strategy at every level;
- leading the product organisation: heads of product, product managers, and often design, research and analytics;
- hiring, developing and setting the standards for product management across the company;
- working with the CTO on what is built and when, and with sales, marketing and customer success on how it is launched, priced and sold;
- making user research and evidence the basis for product decisions, as the Service Standard does when it starts with understanding users and their needs;
- building data protection into the product from the design stage, which the ICO calls data protection by design and by default;
- measuring product outcomes (adoption, retention, revenue, cost to serve) and reporting them to the executive team and the board;
- deciding when to stop, merge or retire a product.
Reporting line and scope
The CPO reports to the chief executive. Heads of product and product managers report in; in many companies design, user research and product analytics do too, and in some the engineering teams report to the CPO rather than the CTO. Write down which teams sit with the role and which stay elsewhere, because that line decides most of the job.
Say whether the role carries a board seat. A CPO appointed to the board owes the general duties that Companies House guidance sets out under the Companies Act 2006, and those duties can apply to someone who acts as a director without being formally appointed. Most CPOs attend the board for their items rather than sit on it.
Below the CPO, a head of product usually runs one product area or the product managers day to day. If the company needs that seat rather than an executive, write a head of product brief instead.
Skills, experience and qualifications
No qualification is required by law to be a chief product officer. Describe the experience the company needs now, specifically, rather than counting years.
- leading product organisations at a comparable scale, through the stage the company is at now;
- a record against the specific problem: growth, a platform rebuild, a new product line, a move up-market or a turnaround;
- product strategy and roadmaps that a board has approved and the teams have delivered;
- user research, experimentation and product analytics used to make decisions;
- working closely with technology, design, sales and finance;
- pricing and packaging, where the product is sold by subscription or usage;
- sector knowledge where the users, data or regulation are specialised.
Fractional CPO job description
A fractional CPO works a set number of days a week or month, so the job description narrows. Name the days, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months (a product strategy the board has agreed, a roadmap the teams trust, a head of product hired, a launch delivered), what the role owns and who decides product questions on the days they are not there.
Where the company wants product leadership for part of the week, our page on how to hire a fractional CPO sets out how the engagement works.
A fractional CPO working through their own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35). Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, not on the wording of the job description, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
Interim and permanent versions
Interim. An interim CPO works full-time for a fixed period, so the job description leads with the situation (a CPO who has left, a product reset after a funding round, a platform migration, or cover while the permanent search runs) and the date or event that ends the assignment.
Permanent. The permanent version looks further ahead: the product portfolio, the organisation and the platform over several years. When the CPO is hired as an employee, the job title or a description of the work goes into the written statement of employment particulars they must have on the first day, so keep the two consistent. For a permanent search, see chief product officer recruitment; open roles are on our CPO jobs page.
Test candidates against the job description, not against a CV keyword list. The CIPD’s guidance on selection favours clear, structured processes and skill-based tasks; for a CPO that might be a product strategy review of your own product. We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors. For a CPO brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.
A template you can copy
Copy these headings and write one short block under each. Keep pay out of the job description and state it in the offer.
- Job title: chief product officer (CPO), and whether the role is fractional, interim, part-time or permanent.
- Reports to: the chief executive, with any board seat; list the product, design, research and analytics teams who report to the role.
- Purpose: two or three sentences on why the role exists now and the product result it must deliver.
- Responsibilities: eight to twelve duties, each starting with a verb, in order of importance.
- Requirements: essential and desirable experience, described specifically, and a qualification only where the job needs one.
- Terms: full-time or days a week, location and travel, start date, fixed term or permanent, and the pay basis (salary or day rate).
Questions people ask
What should a CPO job description include?
Which CPO it is (chief product officer), the type of engagement, who the role reports to and which teams report in, the purpose, the key responsibilities, the experience required and the terms. Put the product problem the role must solve at the top.
Does CPO mean chief product officer?
Often, but not always: CPO is also used for the chief people officer and the chief procurement officer. Spell the title out in the job description and the advert so the right people apply. See what a chief product officer does.
What is the difference between a CPO and a head of product job description?
A CPO job description is executive: product strategy, the whole product organisation and reporting to the chief executive and board. A head of product job description usually covers one product area or the product managers, reporting to the CPO, CTO or chief executive. See what a head of product does.
How is a fractional CPO job description different?
It names the days a week or month, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months and who makes product decisions in between. See how to hire a fractional CPO.
What does a CPO earn?
It depends on the size and stage of the company, its sector and whether the role is permanent, interim or fractional. Our CPO salary page sets out pay and day rates, each figure with its source.
How do I hire a CPO?
Define the product problem, choose between permanent, interim, part-time and fractional, write the job description around that problem, and test every candidate against it. Our chief product officer recruitment page sets out the process; we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
