Principal Product Manager

McKinsey & Company; Toronto; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading consulting firm as a Principal Product Manager for External Talent, driving digital strategies to enhance operational excellence. Leverage your experience in product development and consulting to shape impactful solutions while collaborating with diverse teams across the globe.

Benefits

Comprehensive benefits package

Continuous learning opportunities

Global community with diverse colleagues

Valuable contributions and innovations

Qualifications

• 7+ years of industry experience, ideally in consulting and product development.
• Expert in the product lifecycle and vendor management systems.
• Excellent communication skills in English and local office language(s).

Responsibilities

• Lead the digital enablement strategy for External Talent category.
• Oversee delivery of tech solutions from concept to launch.
• Manage budget for product portfolio and ensure long-term sustainability.

Skills

Team Player

Problem Solving

Analytic Skills

Project Management

Communication

Strategic Thinking

Education

Undergraduate degree

Advanced graduate degree (e.g., MBA, PhD)

Job description

You are someone who thrives in a high-performance environment, bringing a growth mindset and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle meaningful challenges that have a real impact.

In return for your drive, determination, and curiosity, we’ll provide the resources, mentorship, and opportunities to help you quickly broaden your expertise, grow into a well-rounded professional, and contribute to work that truly makes a difference.

When you join us, you will have :

• Continuous learning : Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast-paced learning experience, owning your journey.
• A voice that matters : From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You’ll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes.
• Global community : With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 different nationalities, our firm’s diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
• Exceptional benefits : In addition to a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, mental health, and vision coverage for you, your spouse / partner, and children.

You will be part of our Optimize Solutions team. Optimize Solutions drives operational excellence by creating a seamless digital ecosystem that enables scale, simplicity, and efficiency in all buying activities and operations.

As Principal Product Manager for External Talent, in Partnership with the Category team, you will be leading the digital enablement strategy for the External Talent category at McKinsey. You will create product(s) vision and strategies, lead technical development, and oversee delivery of end-to-end tech solutions—from shaping digital buying channels to automating workflows and ensuring platforms meet the Firm’s highest standards for security, compliance, and performance.

You will partner closely with the category team to ensure that digital strategies are fully aligned with and accelerate the broader category goals. You will set ambitious goals and align your roadmap with both category and business strategies, making critical product decisions, prioritizing initiatives, and tracking progress through clear OKRs.

Your leadership will influence product portfolio direction, while your ability to guide teams and mentor other product managers will help elevate our overall product practice. You will also manage the budget for your product portfolio, securing investment for new initiatives and ensuring long-term sustainability.

You will help build a seamless digital ecosystem that drives operational excellence and simplifies how the firm engages external talent. You will be responsible from concept to launch and beyond, working closely with cross-functional teams (e.g., Category, Purchasing) and third-party vendors to deliver user-focused, scalable solutions that create real business impact.

This is a high-impact role where your work will shape how the Firm scales its use of external talent and unlocks greater efficiency across the enterprise. If you're passionate about building innovative digital experiences and driving real results, we’d love to hear from you.

• Undergraduate degree, Advanced graduate degree (e.g., MBA, PhD, etc.) or a combination of education and equivalent work experience
• 7+ years of industry experience, ideally with both consulting and product development background
• High energy, good team player, responsive, quality orientation and comfortable operating in a fast-paced autonomous and ambiguous environment
• Excellent organizational capabilities, including the ability to shape strategies independently and see them through to completion
• Expert in the product lifecycle; capable of uniting technical & business teams on key issues; experience with vendor management systems (must) and automation (preferred)
• Outstanding knowledge of procurement processes and talent onboarding processes, products, journeys, and roles in external talent space
• Deep knowledge of trends, user demands and pain points to creating a high value Portfolio vision
• Ability to create product-focused materials / outputs, which may include PowerPoint decks, Excel models, knowledge articles, or other written deliverables
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, in English and local office language(s), with the ability to adjust your style to suit different perspectives and seniority levels
• Excellent problem solving, analytic, and project management skills – often managing several projects at the same time, that requires artful orchestration and prioritization and the ability to play different roles