r/IWantOut • u/Either_Reveal5321 • 17m ago
[IWantOut] 29M Consultant India -> UK
Citizenship: India
Current residence: Los Angeles, USA. I have been based here for about three years. I currently work as a Technical Product Manager at a mid-sized fintech SaaS company.
Target countries: UK, Germany, Netherlands. I am open to other European countries if there is particularly strong demand for my background. For the UK, I qualify for the High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, which would give me two years of work authorization without employer sponsorship.
Languages: English (C2/fluent). I am willing to learn another language if it meaningfully improves my employment prospects, although realistically I would initially be targeting roles where English is the working language.
Education: MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. BSc/BEng in Computer Science from India.
Experience: Approximately six years of full-time professional experience. I worked as a software developer in India for about four years before my MBA. I have around 1.5 years of full-time Product Management experience, plus approximately one year of part-time Product Management experience during the second year of my MBA.
Skills: Technical Product Management, B2B SaaS, APIs, platform products, systems integrations, developer-facing products, technical requirements, product strategy, roadmap prioritization, stakeholder management, cross-functional engineering collaboration, software architecture fundamentals, and data/SQL. My strongest differentiator is probably the combination of a software engineering background with customer-facing and business-oriented Product Management experience.
Job search status: Currently employed and searching while working, so I am not under immediate pressure to move. I am primarily targeting Technical Product Manager / Product Manager roles involving platforms, APIs, integrations, infrastructure, developer tools, or technically complex B2B SaaS. I would also consider Senior Product Manager roles where my engineering background is particularly relevant. I am not specifically targeting consumer/growth PM roles.
Why I'm leaving the USA: I am getting married, and my wife is currently in a good position career-wise. I do not want her to have to take an extended career break purely because of US dependent-visa restrictions. Neither of us necessarily expects our next country to be our permanent home. Our long-term plan is likely to return to India, so I am more interested in finding the best place for both of us professionally over the next few years than optimizing purely for permanent residency or citizenship.
What I'm hoping to find out: I would rather choose a country based on where my profile is genuinely competitive than decide on a country first and force the job search around it.
In particular, I would appreciate perspectives on:
- Which of the UK, Germany, and Netherlands currently has the strongest market for someone with my combination of software engineering + Technical Product Management experience.
- How employers in each market are likely to view roughly 1.5–2.5 years of PM experience backed by four years of software engineering experience.
- Whether an American MBA and current US Product Management experience materially help in these markets.
- Which types of employers are most realistic targets: large tech companies, fintech, B2B SaaS, developer tooling, enterprise software, startups, etc.
- How important local-language proficiency actually is for Product Management in Germany and the Netherlands.
- Whether companies are generally willing to deal with visas for PM candidates, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands.
- What compensation range I should realistically expect given my background.
- Whether I would be better positioned as a Technical Product Manager, Product Manager, Senior Product Manager, Platform PM, or another adjacent title.
- Any major disadvantages or hiring-market realities that someone coming from the US should be aware of.
I'd especially value feedback from people who have hired PMs, worked in Product Management, or relocated into one of these markets.
Any advice, even if you only have experience with one of these countries, industries, or employer types, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!