LinkedIn is undertaking a major transformation of one of Silicon Valley’s most recognizable early‑career opportunities: the Associate Product Manager (APM) program. For years, this program served as a well‑traveled entry point for aspiring product leaders who sought to blend strategic thinking with technical understanding. Now, however, LinkedIn has decided to retire this established path and inaugurate a new one — an initiative focused on cultivating professionals capable of managing the entire lifecycle of a product, from the initial concept to design, development, and final launch. This emerging approach will train participants to master coding, product design, and end‑to‑end building, creating a new generation of talent with multidisciplinary fluency.
According to Tomer Cohen, LinkedIn’s Chief Product Officer, the change represents a deliberate and forward‑looking response to the company’s evolving needs. Speaking on an episode of *Lenny’s Podcast* released Thursday, Cohen explained that the long‑standing APM program would conclude this year. Beginning in January, LinkedIn will welcome entrants into the freshly conceived Associate Product Builder (APB) program. Within this model, participants will not only learn to design and conceive products but will also gain hands‑on expertise in coding and product management (PM). As Cohen emphasized, these skill sets will be taught together in an integrative, immersive environment that reflects how modern technology products are actually built.
This shift forms part of a broader internal evolution anchored in what LinkedIn describes as the “full‑stack builder” model. Under this philosophy, the traditional divisions that once separated engineers, designers, and product managers are being dissolved. Instead of compartmentalizing roles, the company wants to equip employees to take ownership of the entire creative and technical process — transforming initial ideas into tangible, market‑ready products. As Cohen explained, this transformation is designed to empower professionals to operate fluidly across disciplines, capable of executing every step of product creation “regardless of their role in the stack.” The new builders, therefore, will embody a more versatile archetype: individuals who combine coding proficiency, user empathy, and strategic insight in one integrated skill profile.
Cohen also elaborated on the personal and cognitive traits LinkedIn hopes to nurture through this model. These aren’t limited to technical competence — they extend to qualities such as creative vision, empathy for users, strong communication, and sound judgment. Particularly crucial, he noted, is the ability to make high‑quality decisions in circumstances that are both complex and ambiguous, where there might be no single correct answer. These decision‑making capabilities, Cohen suggested, will become the primary differentiator between human creativity and automated systems, since much of what can be standardized is increasingly being delegated to automation. “Everything else,” he added pointedly, “I’m working really hard to automate.”
This new paradigm also redefines how teams are structured within the company. Rather than organizing large departments separated by function — such as engineering, design, and product management — LinkedIn is moving toward smaller, multidisciplinary “pods” composed of cross‑trained builders. These compact teams are designed to respond quickly to shifting priorities and external changes. Their cross‑functional expertise enables them to synchronize experimentation and execution, allowing what Cohen described as the ability to “match the pace of change to the pace of response.” The new model is therefore less concerned with traditional hierarchies — where engineers, designers, and product managers coordinate across distinct boundaries — and more focused on flexibility, encouraging people who can “flex across” disciplines and assume diverse responsibilities within the same project.
Cohen, who has served LinkedIn for nearly fourteen years, revealed in a recent post on the platform that he plans to leave the company in January. His departure coincides symbolically with this turning point in LinkedIn’s product philosophy, marking both a personal transition and a cultural inflection point for the organization.
Yet beyond LinkedIn, the broader tech industry continues to debate the evolving role of product managers. As reported by *Business Insider*’s Amanda Hoover, many experts still consider product management an essential discipline in technology organizations, given its focus on aligning customer needs with business strategy. However, skepticism persists among some leaders about whether the role adds sufficient value in an era increasingly driven by engineering autonomy and rapid iteration. In a report earlier this year, *Business Insider*’s Ashley Stewart noted that Microsoft, for example, aims to recalibrate its workforce composition by prioritizing engineers over product or program managers, seeking a leaner and more technically driven organizational design. Other prominent tech companies — including Airbnb and Snap — have likewise reconsidered the scale and structure of their product management teams.
Entrepreneurs and industry thinkers also remain divided. Edwin Chen, CEO of Surge AI, argued on the *No Priors* podcast in July that early‑stage startups often function more effectively without dedicated product managers. In his view, engineering leaders should spearhead the product vision themselves for as long as they can sustain the workload. He contended that the most impactful engineers are those who engage directly with product direction, generating ideas and implementing them rapidly without intermediary handoffs. Conversely, others — such as Andrew Ng, the founder of Google Brain — maintain that product management remains vital, particularly in fast‑moving sectors like artificial intelligence. Speaking on the same podcast in August, Ng said the primary constraint in AI startups is no longer the speed of engineering but the lag in decision‑making that governs product direction. In a world where prototypes once took three weeks to build but can now be completed in a single day, waiting an additional week for user feedback introduces costly inefficiencies. According to Ng, this heightened tempo of innovation reinforces the need for disciplined product managers who can make timely, high‑quality calls, guiding teams through rapid cycles of experimentation and iteration.
Through this lens, LinkedIn’s transition from traditional product management to a “full‑stack builder” ethos encapsulates a larger industry recalibration. It reflects an acknowledgment that the boundaries between roles are blurring and that tomorrow’s most effective creators will be those who can navigate technology, design, and business strategy seamlessly. For LinkedIn, the new Associate Product Builder program is not simply a change in training methodology but an embodiment of a broader shift: one that envisions the future of tech work as more integrated, agile, and human‑centered — even as automation takes over much of what once defined the job.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-product-manager-apm-full-stack-builder-2025-12
