How we source, map, and update the data

ScaleProductOps publishes free Product Operations resources backed by public data. This page documents where our figures come from, how Product Ops roles map to existing occupational classifications, and how often we refresh each surface.

Salary data source

All compensation figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) release. OEWS is a semiannual survey of non-farm establishments covering roughly 57 million U.S. jobs. Reported percentiles (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th) reflect actual payroll data, not self-reported survey responses.

We use the 2024 release as our base. Data was last pulled on April 18, 2026.

SOC code mapping for Product Operations

Product Operations is a relatively new discipline and does not have its own Standard Occupational Classification code. We map PO roles to the closest existing SOCs and disclose the mapping on every salary page:

Why this mapping, 13-1198 captures the bulk of operational project-management work that Product Ops performs, and is the closest match to how Product Ops teams describe their role in payroll systems. For VP-level scope, 11-3021 captures the people-management and org-design responsibility that is not reflected in the project-management SOC.

Caveat, BLS percentiles reflect the full occupation and not only Product Ops within it. Software-industry Product Ops compensation typically skews toward the higher percentiles because the occupation includes lower-paying industries (construction, healthcare) that pull the median down.

Title ladder compensation

Our title ladder medians are built by combining BLS OEWS percentiles with known level-to-percentile mappings from public compensation research. For example, Associate Product Operations (Level 1) uses the 25th percentile of SOC 13-1198 because entry-level product-ops compensation tracks the bottom quartile of the project-management occupation. VP of Product Operations uses the 90th percentile of SOC 11-3021 plus a 15% premium for software-industry VP roles, based on public comp bands from Carta and Pave reports.

Templates

All templates are free, copyable, and designed for a typical software company at 50-500 employees. We draft new templates from first principles using public Product Ops research, then have them reviewed by practicing Product Operations leaders. We do not copy templates from vendors or consultancies.

Templates are reviewed on a quarterly cadence. Each template's detail page shows its last-reviewed date.

Interactive tools

Our interactive tools (Product Ops Maturity Assessment, Team Size Calculator, RACI Builder) use scoring rubrics built from public Product Ops frameworks. The Maturity Assessment is based on a 4-stage capability model across 10 operational areas. The Team Size Calculator uses an empirical rule of one PO per 8-12 PMs, adjusted for company stage and product surface area.

Glossary

Our 30-term glossary is sourced from published Product Operations research including work by Melissa Perri, Teresa Torres, the Product-Led Alliance, Productboard, and Pendo. Each term is cross-linked to related templates and concepts.

Update cadence

• Salary data, refreshed annually following the BLS OEWS May release cycle
• Templates, reviewed quarterly; new templates added monthly
• Tools, rubric calibration reviewed quarterly
• Glossary, reviewed quarterly; new terms added as the discipline evolves

Corrections and feedback

If you spot an error in our data, methodology, or templates, email [email protected]. We fix corrections within 48 hours and publish a note at the bottom of the affected page.

What we are not

ScaleProductOps is not affiliated with any product-ops tooling vendor. We do not take paid placements. We do not collect email addresses for a newsletter. The site is supported by display advertising only.

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