Market Insights at Zeren: Technology & Product This morning I caught up with Bryonny Barton, Director in our Technology practice. I asked her the question we’re hearing most often: What’s really happening in the tech and product market right now? Her view was clear — the market isn’t booming, but it is stabilising and recalibrating. Looking at the detail: 📊 A busier start to 2026 — but targeted Across VC, PE and Corporate, activity has picked up. More roles are being hired. But: Corporates remain cautious Growth is happening in pockets AI implementation is a clear investment priority This isn’t a surge. It’s disciplined capital deployment. 🔥 Where demand is strongest Four areas stand out: 1) AI / LLM Engineers 2) Cloud and Data talent across engineering 3) Commercial Product Leaders (CPO / VP Product), particularly in PE-backed businesses 4) AI capability is no longer optional. Companies want it embedded into operations in ways that drive commercial impact. On the product side, one signal was telling: most CPO / VP Product candidates exploring new roles are already in active processes. Demand is real. 🚀 Product: from enabler to growth engine Two years ago, product was often seen as a support function. Today, boards expect it to drive: Innovation Revenue Competitive advantage The conversation has shifted from “What are we building?” to “How is product driving the business?” Roadmaps aren’t enough. Product leaders are expected to talk about revenue, profitability, pricing and go-to-market impact. In short: product is no longer supporting the business — it’s expected to drive it. Engineering expectations are evolving in parallel. Technical strength is assumed. Commercial awareness is differentiating. ⚠️ The gaps emerging There’s a growing shortage of commercial product leadership — leaders who connect product decisions directly to financial outcomes. In a tougher economic climate, that gap hurts. The second gap? Strategic thinking in an AI-enabled world. Many companies are experimenting tactically with AI. Far fewer are rethinking product strategy from first principles. AI isn’t just a feature layer — it changes cost structures, user expectations and competitive dynamics. From chatting to Bryonny, I think there are 4 key points here for anyone building Technology teams: 1) Technology leadership is being judged less on what it builds — and more on what it delivers commercially. 2) Execution still matters. 3) But commercial clarity is now the differentiator. 4) Curious if others are seeing the same shift.
Tiago Rocha
1mo
Thanks for sharing Chris, this is rather interesting. Having been on "the other side of the fence" (Operations), but working closely with product, I do think this evolution makes a lot of sense. Making Product closer to business goals, in particular commercial / revenue ones, will ensure the tech roadmap is closely tied to overall strategy and streamline discussions around tech capacity allocation. Product teams will surely benefit from increased alignment, exposure and fair recognition within the company. For the rest of the business, they will know that the tech roadmap will be closely aligned with core business goals.
Genuinely curious what changed here... because everything described as "new" product leadership sounds a lot like what good product leadership has always looked like. Connecting product decisions to revenue. Owning go-to-market impact. Thinking about pricing and profitability. That wasn't invented in 2026. What's actually shifted, I think, is the bar for tolerance. Boards are less patient. Budgets are tighter. So leaders who were getting away with output-focused, feature-shipping approaches are now being exposed. The standard didn't rise. The hiding places disappeared.
If companies weren't using Product Management to manage the business of the products before i.e. commercially, I'm not sure they were really doing product management before. As product leaders we are, and have always been, responsible for coaching those coming up on these skills. Unfortunately the systems many operated in didn't support or reward it, and now here we are... I'm glad the shift described is real. But it's less a shift and more a correction. Long overdue in UK anyway! The CPOs and VPs who were already connecting product decisions to financial outcomes weren't ahead of the curve, they were doing the job properly. Unfortunately now there's a generation of 'product people' who've been optimised for the wrong things and now need to reorient. And fast. So, now the challenge, how do these companies accelerate those capabilities needed now rather than just hiring for it? For businesses that can't wait for that reorientation, this is exactly where fractional product leadership can be extremely valuable. Either way the ones that sort this asap will pull away faster in my view.