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I’m a Product Manager trying to pivot out of insurance and into consumer products. Would love advice from people who’ve successfully made that jump.
For context: I’ve been in the insurance industry for about 7 years total, but only officially working in product for the last 2 years.
I started at a carrier, then worked for a startup broker, and now I’m at a data analytics company that builds products for insurance carriers. Our products help with underwriting, risk segmentation, cost reduction, etc.
I originally wanted to break into product management, and insurance was the only industry willing to give me that opportunity, so I took it. Fast forward 7 years later and I feel… stuck.
The thing is, I actually enjoy product work — just not the industry I’m in.
My current role sits in strategy/innovation, and I do a little bit of everything:
- Business cases for new features
- Product strategy
- Decks/presentations (a LOT of decks)
- Requirements gathering
- Go-to-market coordination
- Working with sales enablement/billing/training
- Understanding the existing tech stack and translating business needs into product opportunities
- Enhancing existing products and identifying new feature opportunities
I’d honestly describe a large part of my role as “glorified program management” mixed with strategy and internal product consulting.
I have a Master’s in Information Technology and would say I’m moderately technical, but I don’t really enjoy deeply technical work. I know basic Excel, currently trying to improve my Tableau skills, but a lot of our systems are proprietary so it’s hard to build transferable technical expertise from my actual day-to-day job.
What I’ve realized is that the part I genuinely enjoy is:
- Consumer behavior
- Branding/positioning
- Marketing strategy
- Building products people actually want
- Creative/product storytelling
- Thinking through user experience and adoption
I love music, fashion, beauty, lifestyle brands, etc. In a dream world, I’d work somewhere like Spotify or in fashion/beauty tech. I know those jobs are extremely competitive, and I also live in a state where there aren’t many opportunities in those industries locally. With remote work shrinking, that makes things harder.
So realistically, I think my first step is probably pivoting into a more consumer-focused PM or digital product role first, then eventually trying to break into one of those industries later.
I’m about to go on maternity leave and will have about 5 months where I can really focus on leveling up my skill set. I have support at home, so I actually want to use this time intentionally.
My question is:
If you were in my position, what skills/courses/projects would you focus on to make yourself more competitive for consumer product roles?
And for anyone who successfully pivoted industries as a PM — especially from a “boring” enterprise/B2B space into consumer — what actually helped you make the jump?
I think part of my struggle is that I don’t hate product management. I just think I accidentally built a career in an industry I’m not passionate about.