How should I format my PM resume?

Use a single-column layout with standard section headers (Summary, Experience, Skills, Education). Stick to 11pt or larger font, 1-inch margins, and avoid tables, graphics, or multi-column layouts that confuse ATS parsers. Save as .pdf unless the application specifically requests .docx.

Should my resume be one page or two?

One page if you have under 10 years of experience. Two pages only for VP+ candidates with extensive relevant accomplishments. Hiring managers spend 6-7 seconds on initial resume scans -- a concise, focused one-page resume outperforms a padded two-page one.

What's the best resume file format for PM applications?

PDF preserves formatting across all systems and is universally accepted. Only use .docx if the application explicitly requires it. Never submit as .pages, .txt, or Google Docs links.

Product Manager Resume Template

Most PM resumes fail before a human reads them. Applicant Tracking Systems reject roughly 75% of resumes before they reach a recruiter, usually because of formatting issues, missing keywords, or buried achievements. This template gives you the exact structure, section order, and formatting rules that pass ATS filters and hold a hiring manager's attention during their 6-7 second initial scan.

Each section below includes the format to follow, what to include, and real examples you can adapt. For a deeper walkthrough of tailoring this to SaaS roles specifically, see the SaaS PM Resume Guide. Once your resume is drafted, run it through the Resume Scorer to check for common gaps.

Resume Template Structure

Use these sections in this exact order. ATS parsers expect standard section headers -- creative alternatives like "My Journey" or "Value I Bring" confuse them.

Contact Information

Summary

Experience

Key Projects (optional -- use for career switchers or to highlight standout work)

Skills

Education

Keep it to one page if you have under 10 years of experience. Two pages only for VP+ candidates with extensive, relevant accomplishments.

Summary Section

Your summary is a 2-3 sentence pitch at the top of your resume. It should answer: Who are you, what have you done, and what are you looking for?

Formula: [Years of experience] + [Domain expertise] + [Top achievement with a number] + [What you are looking for]

Example 1: SaaS PM (Mid-Level)

Product Manager with 5 years of experience in B2B SaaS, specializing in
onboarding and activation. Led a redesign of the self-serve trial flow
that increased paid conversion by 34%. Looking for a Senior PM role at
a growth-stage company where I can own the full user lifecycle.

Example 2: Career Switcher (Entering PM)

Former management consultant transitioning to product management after
3 years of leading cross-functional client engagements at Deloitte.
Built and launched an internal workflow tool used by 200+ consultants,
reducing project setup time by 40%. Seeking an Associate PM role where
analytical rigor and stakeholder management translate directly.

What to avoid: Vague statements like "passionate product leader" or "results-oriented professional." Every PM says that. Lead with specifics.

Experience Section

This is where hiring decisions get made. Format each role like this:

Company Name -- City, State (or Remote)

Title | Start Date -- End Date

Then 3-5 bullet points per role, each following the XYZ format:

Accomplished [X], as measured by [Y], by doing [Z].

Every bullet needs a number. Revenue, percentage improvement, user count, time saved -- anything measurable. Bullets without metrics read as job descriptions, not achievements.

Example Role 1: Mid-Level SaaS PM

Acme Software -- San Francisco, CA

Product Manager | Jan 2022 -- Present

Increased monthly active users from 12K to 28K by redesigning the onboarding flow, adding contextual tooltips, and introducing a 5-minute quick-start wizard

Reduced customer support tickets by 22% by launching an in-app knowledge base and proactive help system, saving the support team approximately 15 hours per week

Owned the product roadmap for the collaboration suite (4 engineers, 1 designer), shipping 3 major features in 6 months that drove a 19% increase in team-plan upgrades

Led cross-functional go-to-market planning for the enterprise tier launch, coordinating with sales, marketing, and customer success across 3 time zones

Example Role 2: Growth PM

GrowthCo -- Remote

Growth Product Manager | Mar 2020 -- Dec 2021

Designed and ran 40+ A/B tests on the signup and activation funnel, increasing trial-to-paid conversion from 8% to 12.5%

Built a referral program from scratch that generated 3,200 new signups in the first quarter, at a CAC 60% lower than paid channels

Reduced churn by 1.4 percentage points by identifying at-risk cohorts through usage data analysis and triggering targeted re-engagement flows

Formatting rules for Experience:

Reverse chronological order (most recent first)

Use past tense for previous roles, present tense for your current role

Start each bullet with a strong action verb: Increased, Reduced, Led, Shipped, Designed, Built, Launched

Do not use "Responsible for" or "Helped with" -- these are passive and vague

Skills Section

Organize skills into three categories so a recruiter can scan them in seconds:

Frameworks:    RICE, MoSCoW, OKRs, JTBD, Kano Model, Double Diamond
Tools:         Jira, Linear, Amplitude, Mixpanel, Figma, SQL, Looker, Notion
Methods:       A/B testing, user research, sprint planning, story mapping,
               competitive analysis, cohort analysis

What to include: Only skills you can discuss confidently in an interview. If you have used SQL twice, listing it is fine -- but be ready to describe what you queried and why.

What to skip: Soft skills like "communication" or "leadership." These belong in your experience bullets where you can demonstrate them with evidence, not in a skills list.

Education Section

Keep this short. Include:

Degree, Major -- University Name, Graduation Year

Relevant coursework only if you are early-career (under 3 years of experience)

MBA or relevant certifications (CSPO, Pragmatic Institute, etc.)

What to skip: GPA (unless it is 3.8+ and you graduated within the last 2 years), online courses, workshops, and bootcamps. These belong on LinkedIn, not your resume. The exception is a well-known PM certification that the target company specifically values.

MBA -- Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2021
BS Computer Science -- University of Michigan, 2016

ATS Formatting Rules

These eight rules prevent your resume from being garbled or rejected by ATS parsers:

No tables or columns. ATS systems read left-to-right, top-to-bottom. Multi-column layouts scramble your content order.

No images, logos, or graphics. ATS cannot read visual elements. That includes headshot photos, company logos, and decorative icons.

Use standard section headers. "Experience" not "Where I've Made an Impact." "Education" not "Academic Background." Parsers look for exact header matches.

Save as .pdf. PDF preserves formatting across all systems. Only use .docx if the application explicitly requires it. Never submit as .pages or Google Docs links.

Use 11pt or larger font. Anything smaller is hard to read in a quick scan and may render poorly in some ATS viewers.

Standard margins (0.5" to 1"). Shrinking margins to cram more text signals poor editing, not more experience.

No headers or footers. Many ATS parsers strip header and footer content entirely. Your name and contact info belong in the main body.

Use a single-column layout. Even "modern" two-column templates that look clean in a PDF can be parsed as gibberish by older systems.

Customizing for Different PM Types

The structure above works for any PM role. Here is how to adjust emphasis by PM type:

SaaS PM: Lead with metrics tied to user lifecycle -- activation, retention, expansion revenue, NPS. Highlight experience with self-serve funnels, pricing experiments, and PLG motions. See the SaaS PM Resume Guide for a full walkthrough.

Growth PM: Emphasize experimentation volume (number of A/B tests run), funnel metrics (conversion rates at each stage), and acquisition channels you have owned. Quantify CAC, LTV, and viral coefficient if available.

Technical PM: Highlight platform and infrastructure work -- APIs, SDKs, system design, latency improvements, SLA targets. Mention specific technologies and architectures. Show you can bridge engineering depth with product thinking.

AI PM: Include model performance metrics (accuracy, latency, hallucination rate), data pipeline experience, and evaluation frameworks. Reference specific ML concepts (fine-tuning, RAG, prompt engineering) where you have hands-on experience. Show you understand the difference between shipping ML features and shipping traditional software.

After drafting, use the Resume Scorer to check keyword coverage, formatting issues, and section completeness before submitting.