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Product Leaders Aotearoa

August 2026

The definitive analysis of all1 past and current senior product leaders2 working in New Zealand.

Total

206

+8% since Aug 2025

The total number of active product leaders across Aotearoa

Gender

72% Male28% Female

Female 0% since Aug 2025

The gender split of active product leaders

Average Tenure

(last 12 months)

2.6 yrs

-4% since Aug 2025

The average tenure of people whose roles ended in the last 12 months.

No Prior Exec Experience

49%

0% since Aug 2025

Percentage of active leaders who, before product, had no prior executive leadership experience.

No PM Experience

51%

0% since Aug 2025

Percentage of active product leaders who never held a PO/PM role before becoming a product leader.

Chief Product+ Roles

29%

-3% since Aug 2025

The % of C-level product leaders with another function in their title (e.g. CPTO)

Active Leaders by Region

As expected product leaders are located proportional to the size of city in NZ, most in Auckland, followed by Wellington and Christchurch. What's surprising is the long tail of companies in the regions large enough to also have a product leader on board.

Auckland117 (62%)Wellington40 (21%)Christchurch17 (9%)Dunedin6 (3%)Hamilton2 (1%)Tauranga2 (1%)Nelson1 (1%)New Zealand1 (1%)Palmerston North1 (1%)Waikato1 (1%)

Company Size

The size of companies who currently have a product leader. A good reminder that we don't have a lot of large companies compared to other countries.

Small (<20)46 (24%)Medium (20 - 50)48 (26%)Large (50-100)33 (18%)Larger (>100)61 (32%)

Active Leaders

After a peak number of active product leaders in November 2022, the sharp decline appears to be tapering off. Or maybe even recovering? Worth noting a spike in Xero people being appointed to Head of Product roles in 2026 (a title not used much before this)

063125188250Jan 2007May 2010Sept 2013Jan 2017May 2020Sept 2023Aug 2026206

Yearly Active Leaders By Role

Most product leaders are CPO or Head of Product and the proportion in each hasn't really changed over time.

Director
VP
Head
Chief
06312518825020072010201320162019202220252026

Product+, C Level Roles

In recent years we're seeing a larger proportion of C-level product leadership roles combining product with another function, for example, CPTO, Chief Product and Marketing Officer.

0%11%23%34%45%Jan 2016Nov 2017Sept 2019Jul 2021May 2023Mar 2025Aug 202629%

Women in Product Leadership

The % of women in product leadership roles has hovered around 30% but is showing some signs of dipping in recent years.

0%9%18%26%35%Jan 2007May 2010Sept 2013Jan 2017May 2020Sept 2023Aug 202628%

Average Tenure

On a 12 month rolling average basis the average tenure of product leaders who left their role is gradually climbing to almost 3 years. While hard to confirm, it seems likely this is due to people being more wary of entering a tight job market.

0 yrs1 yrs3 yrs4 yrs6 yrsDec 2013Feb 2016Apr 2018Jun 2020Aug 2022Oct 2024Aug 20262.6 yrs

Product Leadership Experience

The total number of years experience of New Zealand's product leaders.

020406080<1123456789>10

1 This register is regularly maintained by Andrew (Tokes) Tokeley and while every effort is made to include all current and past product leaders, there will no doubt be some omissions/errors, but the trends are real.

2 Product leaders are defined as the most senior product leader in the business or business unit, often called Chief Product Officer (CPO), Head of Product or VP Product.