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At Artemis Canada, we work with founders and executive teams across the country who are building ambitious technology companies. For more than a decade, we’ve been in the room for critical leadership hires, compensation conversations, and board-level decisions about how to structure teams for growth.
Because our work spans product, engineering, go-to-market, people, finance, and beyond, we see how compensation is shifting across the tech ecosystem in real time, not just in one company or one stage. These Salary Snapshots are our way of sharing that view back with you.
Each guide focuses on a single function and blends quantitative survey data with what we’re hearing every day from candidates and companies. If this is your first time encountering Artemis Canada, think of this as a practical, Canada-focused benchmark to help you answer three questions: Where does my team sit in the market? What kind of leader do we really need next? And what will it take to attract and retain them?
This salary guide draws from our 2026 Salary Survey and our real-time conversations with Canada’s top product leaders, capturing compensation, work models, well-being, AI adoption, and market sentiment from product professionals across startups, scale-ups, and technology-led organizations.
This data reflects base salary, excluding bonus and equity. All figures are in Canadian dollars.
But wait! Before you dig in and get to comparing (yup, we see you!), here is some helpful context:
With those caveats out of the way, let’s dig in.
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Across all respondents, the median base salary was $185K and the average base salary was $197K. The middle of the market ranged from $150K at the 25th percentile to $244.6K at the 75th percentile, with the 90th percentile reaching $264.5K.
The spread between levels shows a clear premium for senior product leadership, especially when the role includes responsibility for product strategy, cross-functional alignment, customer insight, business outcomes, and team leadership.
It also reinforces something we see often in search: title matters, but mandate matters more. A product leader accountable for company-level product direction, platform strategy, GTM alignment, technical complexity, and measurable business impact will sit in a very different compensation range than a narrower product management role.
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Equity remains an important part of product compensation, especially in venture-backed and growth-stage environments.
43% of respondents reported having equity. Among those who did, the median equity value was $67K and the average was $200K. The 75th percentile was $170K, while the 90th percentile reached $390K.
At the VP level, equity was especially meaningful, with a median value of $325K and an average of $567K.
This is lower than last year’s reported equity participation, where 62% of non-executive PMs and 79% of product executives reported receiving equity. This year’s data may reflect differences in respondent mix, company stage, or how equity value was reported, but the direction is worth watching.
For startups and scale-ups, equity can still be a strong differentiator, especially when cash compensation cannot stretch to the top of market. But candidates are increasingly thoughtful about how they evaluate it. They want to understand company stage, valuation, strike price, vesting, and what the grant could realistically become.
Equity is compelling when it is clear.
Bonuses are part of the product compensation picture, but they are not universal.
49% of respondents reported receiving a reliable bonus. Across those respondents, the median bonus was $26.1K and the average bonus was $39.5K. The 75th percentile was $44K, while the 90th percentile reached $61.7K.
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Product remains highly flexible, with remote and hybrid work almost evenly split.
The bigger takeaway: flexibility continues to matter in product. Product leaders often need deep collaboration with engineering, design, customer success, marketing, and sales — but much of that work can still happen effectively in distributed environments when operating rhythms are clear.
For hiring teams, the key is clarity. Be upfront about collaboration expectations, office rhythms, customer proximity, and whether the role requires regular in-person time with engineering, founders, or customers.
AI is now embedded in product work.
68% of respondents use AI tools every day, 25% use them occasionally, 6% are not using AI but planning to, and 2% do not use AI.
Most Common AI Use Cases
For product leaders, AI fluency is becoming table stakes. The strongest product professionals are not simply using tools to move faster. They are using AI to synthesize research, sharpen thinking, summarize customer and internal context, improve documentation, support prioritization, and create more space for strategic decision-making.
The opportunity is not just productivity. It is better product judgment, supported by stronger inputs, faster synthesis, and more thoughtful communication.
Compensation is only one part of how product professionals evaluate their roles.
That gap is worth paying attention to. Product teams often sit at the intersection of competing priorities: customer needs, engineering capacity, executive expectations, revenue goals, and market pressure. It can be energizing work, but it can also be heavy when priorities are unclear or teams are under-resourced.
For leaders, this is a reminder that retention is not only about compensation. It is also about focus, decision-making clarity, executive alignment, realistic roadmaps, customer access, and whether product leaders have the mandate to do the work well.
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Most product respondents reported compensation growth since 2021.
26% said their compensation increased significantly, while 53% said it increased slightly. 4% said it stayed about the same, 6% said it decreased slightly, 8% said it decreased significantly, and 4% were unsure or preferred not to answer.
This suggests product compensation is still moving upward for many respondents, though not evenly. The strongest movement appears to be modest increases rather than major jumps, with some respondents still experiencing flat or declining compensation.
Product Compensation Remains Strong
The median base salary across product respondents was $185K, with the 75th percentile at $244.6K. Senior leaders continue to command a premium, with C-level respondents reporting a median base salary of $281K and VPs reporting $253K.
AI Is Now Deeply Embedded In Product Work
68% of product respondents use AI every day, and another 25% use it occasionally. Product professionals are using AI for brainstorming, summarizing, productivity, research, writing, data analysis, and presentations, all closely tied to core product workflows.
Remote And Hybrid Are Almost Even
Last year, hybrid led product work at 52%, with remote at 45%. This year, remote edged ahead at 49%, with hybrid at 47%. Fully in-office work remains rare at 4%.
Last year’s snapshot reported equity participation at 62% for non-executive PMs and 79% for product executives. This year, 43% of respondents reported having equity. That may reflect differences in respondent mix, company stage, or how equity value was reported, but it is worth watching.
Product respondents reported an employer NPS of -17, with detractors outnumbering promoters. Compensation satisfaction is more positive than employer advocacy, which suggests compensation alone is not solving the broader employee experience.
79% of respondents reported that their compensation increased either slightly or significantly since 2024. At the same time, 14% reported a decrease. Product compensation is moving, but not evenly.
Product compensation in 2026 reflects a function that continues to sit close to the centre of company strategy.
The strongest product leaders are being asked to balance customer insight, technical complexity, business outcomes, roadmap discipline, cross-functional alignment, and efficient growth. They are also navigating new expectations around AI, remote work, leaner teams, and clearer accountability.
For companies, the takeaway is simple: compensation is not just a number to benchmark. It is a signal. It tells candidates how you value the role, how clearly you understand the mandate, and how serious you are about building the right leadership foundation for growth.
A thoughtful offer does not always mean the highest offer. It means the right mix of base salary, bonus, equity, flexibility, scope, and trust — aligned to what you need this leader to help you achieve.
If you are hiring a product leader, reviewing your current compensation strategy, or trying to understand where your team sits in the market, we’re here to help you make sense of the data and apply it to your business.
Great product leaders can change the trajectory of a company. We’re here to help you get set up to attract and retain them.
This snapshot reflects data from our annual salary survey and one-on-one candidate conversations. Our network — and so, our respondents — are mostly gainfully employed at high-performing tech startups and scale-ups across Canada. Because of this, our figures may reflect the upper end of the market.
This Product dataset includes 142 respondents. Respondents include individual contributors, managers, directors, heads of function, VPs, C-level leaders, and consultants or freelancers.
The respondent pool is heavily rooted in Canada, with 97% of respondents currently located in Canada and 3% located in the US.
Company headquarters varied:
The respondent pool was 71% male and 29% female. No respondents identified as non-binary in this dataset.
Company size varied across the sample:
As with all salary data, context matters. Company stage, mandate, product complexity, team size, revenue expectations, geography, technical depth, and scope of leadership can all influence compensation.
Salary transparency supports better hiring, fairer compensation, and stronger negotiation on both sides of the table. That is why we created our Salary Snapshot Series.
We base this on the four Ts:
Targeted to Canadian tech companies and candidates
Timely with current market data
Trustworthy thanks to real survey responses and market conversations
Trim with clear insights and relevant context, without unnecessary noise
Great product leaders do more than manage roadmaps. They clarify customer needs, shape strategy, align teams, improve decision-making, and help companies build what matters most.
If you are hiring a product leader, planning your next stage of growth, or benchmarking your current team, we hope this snapshot helps you make clearer, more confident decisions.
Read more insights from our team.
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Founded by Kristina McDougall in 2013, Artemis has grown to become Canada’s most trusted boutique executive search firm for startups.
We recognize that our work takes place on the traditional lands of the Attawandaron, Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas of the Credit. We honour Indigenous stewardship and commit to embedding reconciliation into our work, holding ourselves and our clients accountable.