LinkedIn's annual Jobs on the Rise list landed this month. It's
always a reliable source to get a grasp on where jobs are heading.
This year, the headline was pretty predictable: AI roles top the fastest-growing jobs of 2026.
What's more interesting for product people, however, is the career
pathway feeding into these roles.
PM backgrounds and skills appear repeatedly as a top transition
path into the year's fastest growing roles. AI consultants,
Founders, and Advisors are becoming increasingly more demanding.
This reveals that a product-thinking approach might be one of the
most transferable skillsets in the AI economy.
But let's start with what the data actually says.
For this piece, we've focused primarily on the report covering the US job market. You can access the UK edition of this report here, which has seen a similar trend towards AI roles, as well as a rise in strategic advisor and consultant positions. If you'd like us to cover the UK edition of the report, let us know at editor@mindtheproduct.com.
Emerging AI roles
Four of the top five fastest-growing roles are AI-related. No
surprises there. However, what's more interesting is who is landing
these jobs and where they're coming from.
AI Engineers (#1)
This role sits at the technical end of the
spectrum, developing and implementing AI models for complex
decision-making tasks. According to LinkedIn data, AI Engineers require on average 3.7 years of prior
experience, and people are transitioning primarily from software
engineering, data science, and full-stack development backgrounds.
Key skills include LangChain, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG),
and PyTorch.
AI Consultants (#2)
This fast-growing role requires a different skillset.
With 8.2 years of median experience, they're helping companies plan
and implement AI strategies, the bridge between technology and
business outcomes. The skills needed are still technical,
leaning towards LLMs, MLOps, and Computer Vision, but the role is
mostly about translation and strategy. The most interesting insight
is the top three transition roles into AI consulting are Founder,
Software Engineer, and Product Manager.
The top three transition roles into AI consulting are Founder,
Software Engineer, and Product Manager.
LinkedIn revealed that all of the AI-focused roles on the report
are heavily concentrated in San Francisco, New York City, and
Boston. Remote work availability hovers around 26-30% for the
technical roles.
The founder boom
Founders landing at #9 might seem underwhelming, but it actually represents a 69% increase year-over-year, according to LinkedIn.
The median founder in this dataset has 5.9 years of prior
experience. They're mid-career professionals making a deliberate
shift into entrepreneurship. The top transition roles are: Software
Engineer, Product Manager, Managing Director.
When PMs do become founders, they're moving much faster than they
used to.
Alex Hamilton from Live Data Technologies says: "Fascinating to
observe the transition speed for Product Managers becoming founders
has rapidly increased pre and post ChatGPT launch. Seeing this
trend with Product Managers though also across other job functions
such as Engineering."
Additionally, Tania Ladanova, CEO at TRMNL4, has seen this shift firsthand. "More
people are becoming founders because starting a company has become
much easier. Today, in early-stage programmes, we see hundreds of
applications from solo founders or very small teams, and around
one-third of founders come from non-technical backgrounds," she
explains.
"Instead of 'raise, hire, build,' many founders now follow a
simpler flow: prompt, post, and ship."
— Tania Ladanova, CEO at TRMNL4
The barriers to entry have collapsed, she adds. "You no longer need
to code, raise money, build a team, or have a strong network to get
started. No-code and AI tools let founders build and test ideas in
weeks." That speed shows up in real outcomes. "Over 90% of selected
startups are already generating revenue, even at early stages. AI
helps founders move faster from ideas to products, content,
outreach, and early sales."
The result is a fundamental shift in how entrepreneurship works.
"The gap between a founder and
everyone else is smaller than ever. It often comes down to simply
starting," Tania says.
Live Data Technologies insights also reveal that Product Managers
are founding faster than ever before: "Increasingly seeing in the
global Product Manager workforce data - likely as a result of AI
leverage - that Product Managers are founding their own companies
before going solo," Alex says.
LinkedIn's own analysis connects the dots, noting that the rise in
founders and independent consultants also points to a shift towards
self-employment and gig work, as professionals adapt to economic
uncertainty.
The PM throughline
A pattern emerges when you map the transition data:
Product Managers are feeding into multiple high-growth roles. AI
Consultant (#2) lists PM as a top-3 transition role. Founder (#9)
lists PM as a top-3 transition role. Strategic Advisors (#7) tend
to come from CEO/Founder/COO backgrounds, which often include PM
experience earlier in career.
These are builder-focused roles. They require technical fluency,
strategic thinking, and the ability to operate across functions.
The skill overlap across these roles is telling. AI Consultants
list "Go-to-Market Strategy" and "Strategic Partnerships" alongside
technical skills. Founders list "Start-up Leadership." Strategic
Advisors focus on "Executive Advisory," "Go-to-Market Strategy,"
and "Strategic Partnerships."
Advisory vs. coaching vs. consulting
With AI consultants and strategists being in the #2 spot, and strategic advisors and independent consultants being the #7 spot, the terminology around these roles can be confusing. There are
coaches, advisors, fractional leaders, non-executive directors, and
interim leaders. Even within coaching and consulting, there are various types
addressing different audiences or business needs. Some focus on 1:1
coaching, others offer workshops or group training.
Thor Mitchell, CPO Executive-in-Residence at Balderton Capital,
distinguishes between the two based on how they operate. "To me,
coaching is about levelling up individuals or teams in specific
problem domains or skill sets," he explains. As an executive coach
before joining Miro, he worked one-on-one with product leaders
on both short-term challenges and long-term career planning.
"Individual coaching of this type is about asking the right
questions, and helping the coachee think through challenges, rather
than having all the answers."
"I never want someone I'm coaching to be challenged by their
board as to why they did something and their only answer is
'because Thor told me to'."
— Thor Mitchell, CPO Executive-in-Residence at Balderton Capital
The key is ownership. "It's very important that the people I am
coaching do not rely heavily on me to tell them what to do, but
feel a sense of ownership of any decisions they consequently make.
I never want someone I'm coaching to be challenged by their board
as to why they did something and their only answer is 'because Thor
told me to'."
Advisory roles work differently. "Advisory roles tend to focus more
on the needs of the business as a whole rather than the individual.
There's a higher expectation that I share specific recommendations
or insights based on my experience." Thor says. The depth depends on domain
expertise. "If it is a domain I know well, then I can go deep on
the strategy, and identify risks or best practices that the
business is unaware of," he adds.
But when advising across Balderton's diverse portfolio, Thor tends
to focus on common operational challenges that aren't domain
specific: when to bring in product management as a function, how to
find your first product manager, how to build high-functioning
product teams, how to communicate strategy and drive alignment, how
to build strong cross-functional stakeholder relationships and
manage up when necessary.
The skillset for advisory work differs from coaching. "One of the
most important skills is listening, and asking clarifying
questions. You also need strong cross-functional empathy to help
people understand and anticipate the behaviour of other
stakeholders, people they report to, or people that report to them.
And you need to be comfortable challenging constructively and
respectfully, including telling people what they need to hear, but
may not want to hear, at times."
If you're a PM considering a move into founder or advisory roles,
the data points to specific competencies that matter.
For those eyeing the founder path, you need speed of execution over perfection. The
ability to test and iterate quickly. Comfort with revenue
generation from day one, not after years of fundraising. The
technical fluency to leverage AI tools without necessarily being
able to code. And the go-to-market thinking that gets ideas in
front of users fast.
For advisory work, Thor's experience highlights a different set of
skills. The core competencies are less about having all the
answers and more about asking the right questions. Strong
cross-functional empathy to help founders anticipate stakeholder
behaviour. The ability to recognise common operational patterns
across different domains. And most importantly, the
willingness to challenge constructively and tell people what they
need to hear.
Product thinking is about operating strategically within constraints, bridging technical
and business problems, and making decisions with sometimes incomplete
information.
These skills have become currency in
the builder economy, whether you're starting something or advising
those who are.
Wrapping up
LinkedIn's 2026 Jobs on the Rise data confirms what we expected: AI
is reshaping the job market. But what's surprising is the pathway
feeding into these roles. Product management appears repeatedly as
a launching point for founders, strategic advisors, and other
builder roles.
The pattern suggests that product thinking, the ability to bridge
technical and business problems, to operate strategically within
constraints, to build with users in mind have all become invaluable skills in this new world.
But the data also reveals barriers: gender imbalances, geographic
concentration, experience requirements that favour mid-career
professionals. The builder economy has gatekeepers, even as it
promises new ways forward.
For product managers reading this, the message is clear: you're well-positioned with the skills you have. The question is what you want to do next, whether that's building at your current company, consulting teams and individuals, or starting your own thing.
For this piece, we've focused on the US job market, you can access the UK edition of this report here, which has seen a similar trend towards AI roles, as well as strategic advisor and consultant positions rise.
