A Framework to Move from Director to VP in Product Marketing
The unspoken rules that have nothing to do with that promotion conversation you're waiting for
My phone buzzed with a WhatsApp notification from Jorge. "Hey, what conversations need to happen when someone moves from Director to VP level?"
I love Jorge’s thought provoking questions. I remember when Jorge lost his job and we'd spent hours talking through his next moves. Necessity truly became the mother of invention for him. That setback turned into the best thing that ever happened to his career. Now happily employed and thriving, he was thinking bigger.
"It's not a conversation," I typed back. "It's an evolution."
As I expanded on my answer, I realized this deserved more than a WhatsApp thread. Because, even after moving from Director to VP at Amaze - where I started as VP of Product Marketing and eventually took on Product, Design, and the entire Marketing organization - I still don't feel like I've "made it" or ticked all the boxes.
Maybe that's the first thing nobody tells you: the imposter syndrome doesn't go away. It just shows up wearing different clothes.
The Five Transitions That Actually Matter
In my experience, these transitions come in order, are compounding (meaning they build on each other) and get harder as you move from one into the next.
1. From Specialist to Strategist
As a Director, I was deep in the weeds of product marketing execution. My turning point came at MOO, where I architected the strategy that helped us diversify beyond our core product into new categories, then pushed us upmarket into SaaS and enterprise.
The shift wasn't about abandoning expertise, it was about zooming out far enough to see how that expertise could reshape the entire business landscape. You stop asking "How do we market this product?" and start asking "What products should exist, and why?"
The tell: You find yourself in conversations about market dynamics and business models more than campaign metrics.
2. From Manager to Leader of Leaders
Nothing prepared me for managing managers at Amaze. I walked into my first leadership team meeting ready to dive into marketing strategies and campaign plans. Instead, I found myself teaching leaders to think macro before micro.
The visual that changed everything: I asked the team to put every marketing asset on one massive Miro board. The disconnection was glaring: messaging, storytelling, visual communication, all rowing in different directions. We weren't failing at execution; we were succeeding at chaos.
That's when I learned: Leader of leaders means helping people see the forest, not teaching them to identify trees.
The tell: Your victories come from connections others make, not connections you point out.
3. From Internal Operator to Market Voice
I discovered I had something to say when I started writing about product marketing - not tactics, but the thinking behind them. People assume storytelling is art (you have it or you don't), but it's a learnable skill if you understand first principles thinking.
My favorite example: When I marketed Nokia feature phones against iPhones and Samsung smartphones, I didn't fight on specs. I positioned them as companions, niching on their differentiators. Sometimes the market voice isn't the loudest, it's the one that reframes the conversation.
The tell: Conference organizers start calling you, not the other way around.
4. From Functional Expert to Business Driver
This transition still challenges me. Product Marketing and general Marketing best practices say follow the funnel, optimize each stage, drive linear progression. But I've spent years fighting to kill traditional marketing funnels because customer journeys aren't linear.
The business driver thinks: How do we deliver value at every touchpoint based on what customers are trying to do, not what we want them to do? It's the difference between optimizing a function and optimizing a business.
The tell: You start making decisions that make product marketing harder but the business stronger.
5. From Individual Contributor to Systems Builder
Here's my confession: I haven't cracked this one yet. I've let go of the doing, explained my thought processes rooted in system thinking, shared personal frameworks. But building systems that truly scale beyond you? That's my white whale.
Maybe admitting this is part of the transition itself: recognizing that VP doesn't mean having all the answers, but knowing which questions you're still working on.
The tell: Your systems work when you're on vacation (I'll let you know when I get there).
The Evolution Nobody Talks About
Back to Jorge's question: what conversations happen to make this transition?
The real answer: It's not one conversation where someone taps you on the shoulder and says, "You're ready." It's a thousand micro-evolutions. It's presenting to the board when your palms are sweating. It's making the call that goes against everything you learned as a Director. It's helping other leaders see connections you take for granted.
At Amaze, I grew from VP of Product Marketing to leading multiple functions not because I had all these transitions figured out (I didn’t even plan for them), but because I could connect seemingly disconnected topics and organize teams toward common goals. I made everyone row in the same direction not by being the best rower, but by helping them see the same horizon.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Some transitions I feel strong in: strategy and market voice come naturally now. Others, like platform building, remain aspirational. And becoming a true business driver? I'm somewhere in the messy middle, where initiatives don't fail but sometimes don't scale fast enough either.
Every time a new challenge lands on my desk, the imposter syndrome whispers, "You're not ready." But being a lifelong learner means responding, "Not yet, but I will be."
Jorge's hiring setback became his greatest catalyst because necessity forced invention.
Maybe that's the meta-lesson: These transitions don't happen in spite of our struggles, but because of them.
The Director-to-VP evolution isn't about reaching a destination where you've mastered all five transitions. It's about being honest about where you are, intentional about where you're going, and humble enough to keep learning along the way.
After I wrote this to give Jorge a much longer response than his simple question warranted. I thought that maybe the sixth transition is to go from having answers to helping others find their own.
What's your experience with these transitions? Which ones resonate, and which ones am I missing? I'd love to hear your own evolution stories.
This was awesome to read, Elena. Thank you for sharing the insights!!